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Vol. 9, No. 4 April, 2010
"The 1953 'Strapless & Straps' Affair" "Minting Swedish Copper Plate Money"
Above: Sir John Bowring, LL.D, from the frontispiece of his 1854 work "The Decimal System in Numbers, Coins and Accounts". This British work was the standard on which the decimal system in the English world was based - although Britain herself did not adopt it until 1970.
The Mid-Island Coin Club, Dues: $12 per year Mailing Address: Mid-Island Coin Club, c/o West Coast Stamp & Coin, Executive Officers: President: Felix Stawski
The March meeting was attended by 36 members and guests, a larger-than-usual turnout. Keep it up.
Speaker for the evening was CPO Randy Scott who delivered a speech on the tokens, medallions and insignia of the Pacific Command, Canadian Navy. The speaker for April , by the way, will be Phil Harris who will deliver a talk on foreign paper money. Should be interesting since FPO is really "foreign territory" for many of us whose primary interest has been - and is - Canadian only. Plan to give a listen.
The March meeting was also the 100th for M.I.C.C., counting from its founding in December, 2001. As well, March also saw the appearance of the 100th issue of our Numismatic Journal and, to mark the occasion, Master-of-Ceremonies Jeff Ross presented Editor Wayne Jacobs with a coronating crown, various other regalia (regal and otherwise) and a speech of complimentation which floored our exceedingly humble, painfully shy scribbler. He can only mumble his thanks.
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The 1953 "Strapless & Straps" Affair.
As any collector of Canadian coins is aware, there are major varieties of all the denominations dated "1953". For every obverse there exists two varieties: (1) those where the shoulder straps of the Queen's gown do not show up ("Strapless") combined with legend lettering having a marked flaring and (2) those with the same shoulder straps visible and prominent, combined with lettering possessing straighter sides. We should note that even the "Strapless" coins actually had them on the coining tools; they just didn't strike up due to excessive relief. The affair starts in 1952, the following quotation from the Royal Canadian Mint Report of that year (p.11) which reads: "New Effigy Queen Elizabeth II. As soon as the plaster cast of Her Majesty's effigy was received from the Royal Mint, a cast was taken from it in intaglio for the carving of the inscription which reads "ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA". When coining dies are subsequently prepared from plaster models, the pantographic die-cutter is used to engrave the master dies, taking the place of hand engraving with graver tools and punches. A large copper electrotype, chromium plated, 8" or 9" diameter, 120 thousandths of an inch thick, is grown in a plating tank from the plaster model. From this electrotype an intermediate steel matrix in relief 3¼" diameter is mechanically reproduced on the reducing machine with the utmost fidelity to the artist's original model. The hardened steel matrix can then be used as the model from which to engrave the punches for the sizes of dies required to strike the various denominations of coins. This was the procedure followed here to execute the design of the Queen's effigy and inscription for the obverses of the new coins, except that, to preserve the original master punches from damage and wear, another matrix for each denomination was struck from this "reduction" punch, a working punch was then struck, which is the tool actually used for producing the dies which strike the design on the coins. Eighty-nine obverse working dies were made in 1952 for the 1953 coinage." Before looking at the coins denomination by denomination, it is best to also quote what the Mint Report of 1953 has to say. First the "Press Room Report": Denomination No. Good Pieces Coined No. Dies Used Obv Rev Dollar 1,074,578 166 82 50 Cents 1,630,429 86 65 25 Cents 10,456,769 274 223 10 Cents 17,706,395 451 309 5 Cents 16,635,552 227 161 1 Cent 67,806,016 232 163
Die and Medal Branch
The Die Department prepared 2,685 matrices, punches and dies during 1953 for coinage and medal work, compared to 2,154 in 1952.
New Dies made in 1953 were as follows: For Coins. The obverse and reverse punches and dies for all denominations to improve the designs and overcome difficulties in striking. The first dies made with the Queen Elizabeth effigy were slightly higher in relief than the 1952 dies of King George VI, and small technical imperfections appeared in the reduction punch that was not apparent in the large plaster model. The coins struck from these dies therefore suffered materially in reproduction, and gave rise to great difficulties from the mechanical point of view. Not until the Mint engraver lowered the relief to ¾ , and strengthened the weaker parts of the design by hand on the intermediate steel reduction, to arrive at the literal interpretation of the artist's model on the reduced size of the striking or working dies, was it possible to produce well executed coins. Dies for 25¢ coins were increased in diameter from .912" to .923" to allow for the wider "flat" on the 25¢ coin, and to increase the diameter of the finished coins from .930" to .940". Greater die life has resulted from the improved flat or rim at the edge, and from the lowered relief on the obverse, and a much better looking coin is being turned out." This rather bare-bones report tells us quite a lot but leaves out quite a lot as well. For instance, we know that not only the 25-Cent denomination was changed; all the denominations save the 1- and 10-Cent pieces had their reverses revamped in some way - the 5-Cent particularly, but with no mention of it above. The problem with the first 1953 coins, of course, lay with the use of the new reducing machine - but probably only with the skill with which it was used. The reducing machine could make the diameter for nearly any denomination coin plus the relief could be increased or lessened as well. In this case, it seems that the tools produced by this machine were all cut in too high relief. The straps were there - they just didn't appear on the finished coin. Therefore it was back to Square One with new tools cut with a relief reduced by 25% and everything worked quite well from then on. (It's worth noting that Canada alone seemed to be excited by the lack of shoulder straps - New Zealand, for instance, issued "No Shoulder Straps" denominations from 1953 to as late as 195 7 , some of the later years even overlapping, before the conversion. Without controversy.) Along with the new obverses now acquiring the requisite shoulder straps, new lettering was also substituted on them, letters such as "I" deemed as having too much flare were made straighter, others having points blunted. The mint report of 1953 says that the Mint Engraver (Thomas Shingles at this time) "strengthened the weaker parts of the design by hand on the intermediate steel reduction" but makes no mention of the lettering being changed. This causes something of a mystery: the legends on all denominations are precisely the same in regard to positioning with the effigy on both the early "flared letters" and later "straight letters". Trimming the bottom sharp points of such letters as the D and E would be done on a positive die (the intermediate reduction punch, indeed) but "I"s have been "unflared" by the body of that letter having been widened, and that could only be done on a negative die. Yet they are all the same, giving no evidence of handwork variation. So there must have been another step of which we are uninformed. The models, of course, as supplied by the Royal Mint, had no inscriptions - just the effigy.
Lt.: "Strapless" or NSS obverse. Rt.: "With Straps" or SS obverse. Although the above are from the silver dollar, all denominations of both types had exactly the same relationship of the effigy to the legend: The bottom front of the effigy points to the lt. upright of N; the back just to the rt. of the L upright; top ribbon points to lt leg of H; bottom ribbon to rt. point of E; top laurel leaf points just to lt. of center G. The denticles, being applied last to a master die, do not correspond with the positioning of the legend letters. By denomination we have:
Silver Dollar. The early "Strapless" dollars not only had flared obverse lettering but both sides had "wire rims" as well. The first reverses also had longer rim denticles. The later "With Strap" dollars had straighter letters on the obverse, flat rims on both sides and shorter rim denticles on the reverse. The diameter of the dollar had been marginally increased, from an even 36 mm to 36.07 mm.
1953 "Strapless" Dollar. Flared lettering. 1953 "Straps" Dollar. Straighter lettering. On the dollar, the denticles nearly match, there being but about a "half-denticle"difference. Note the "wire" (lt.) and "flat" (rt.) rims that was also used on the reverses. So far as we know, there are no mules between the two obverses and two reverses, even though twice as many obverse dies were needed to strike the 1953 issue. For both types of silver dollar, the 1,074,578 coins required 166 obverse dies (6473 coins per die) and 82 reverse dies (13,105 coins per die). The Mint never kept track of the number of "Strapless"-versus-"With Straps" coins struck that year but rather lumped them into a single figure. Using a highly-flawed method of "collectors' experience" as exemplified in relative Market Value (but still all we have), it seems that twice(+) as many "Strapless" dollars were struck as "With Straps" (say, 700,00 to 750,000 Strapless versus 300,000 to 250,000 With Straps). But this might not be valid; the first year's coins of an entirely new type (as were the Elizabeth NSS of 1953) tend to be saved in much larger numbers than normal - certainly proportionately more than any that come after.
50 Cents. This denomination also had two obverses and reverses in 1953. The early "Strapless" had the usual flared lettering and on the reverse the "953" in the date was of "Small Figures", a carryover from the last days of George VI. The later "With Straps" had the straighter lettering on the obverse and the "953" of the reverse date is in "Large Figures". Despite the blowup pictures suggesting that an early combo of "wire rims" gave way to later "flat rims", examination of the actual coins seems to show both are much the same - a given obverse or reverse may be struck slightly off-center so that the same side may show a "wire rim" directly opposite a "flat rim" on the same side. Actual measurement shows no discernible difference in diameter between the two.
Top row: 50-Cent 1953 "Strapless", Obv. flared letters, "Small Date" reverse. Bottom row: 50-Cent 1953 "Straps", Obv. subdued flares, "Large Date" reverse.
But unlike the dollar, the 50-cent does have a mule, an early "Strapless" obverse being mated with a later "Large Date" reverse. In total, 1,630,429 Fifty-Cent pieces were struck in 1953, using a total of 86 obverse dies (18,958 coins per die) and 65 reverse dies (25,084 coins per die). The mintage for the mule is unknown, but if there were only a single "crossing" of the dies, we can see that it could well be much more scarce than we suppose. Both major varieties are so common as to render "collectors' experience" nearly meaningless in circulated grades. However, if we confine our calculations to the lower Uncirculated (MS-60 to -62) grades, market value indicates the "Strapless" to be the more common by a ratio of 7-to-4. In terms of the total mintage, "Strapless" equals about 1,000,000+ and "With Straps" about 600,000 or slightly less.
25 Cents. It seems odd that the Mint would have singled out the 25-Cent piece for its only notation of change beyond the lower-relief obverse, when changes of some kind were made on all denominations except the 1- and 10-Cent (or at least that we can detect). While the Mint Report notes the 25-Cent was changed from a "Wire-" to a "Flat-Rim" in 1953, in the process widening the coin itself from .912" (23.62 mm) to .923" (23.88 mm), it fails to note that the date on the reverse was also shrunken, the "Large Date" that had been used throughout George VI's reign to this, the first year of his daughter's, to a "Small Date", the size of which has been more or less carried on since.
Lt .: Rev. of the 1953 "Strapless" 25-Cent. Large date, wire rim. The prongs at 1 and 9 are the same as on the modified reverse but were weakly struck and didn't show up well. Rt .: Rev. of the 1953 "With Straps" 25-Cent. Small date, flat rim. The same rims appeared on the obverses. So far as we know , the obverse/reverse changes were made simultaneously: the early "Strapless" obverse always mated with the Large Date reverse and the later "With Shoulder Straps" obverse always with the later Small Date reverse. Could there be a mule? Well, they exist on the 50-Cent and 5-Cent. When we consider that in 1953, the Mint used a total of 274 Obverse dies mated with a total of 223 Reverse dies to strike the 10,456,769 "quarters", there is certainly the possibility. Even so, collectors have failed to detect such an animal after nearly 60 years, so prospects look slim. The 1953 "quarter" is a common coin and, as such, can skew any judgment we might make as to the ratio between the two types. Not unsurprisingly, collectors' experience (Market Value) indicates that the two types were struck in roughly equal numbers, using MS-60 as a guide. We might assume that if anything, the SS/Small Date had the smaller production; in the higher MS grades, they typically sell for about double the early type. However, the first coinage in any new type such as that of Elizabeth 's first year could be expected to be put away as BU rolls and higher MS grades in larger numbers than a second type of the same year. It always happens, just as a Curio phenomenon.
10 Cents. The 10-Cent of 1953 is one of the "quiet denominations". Apparently, nothing was changed beyond the new "Shoulder Straps" obverse replacing the one before, complete with the change to less-flared lettering. Rims stayed "flat" - or seemingly so on such a small-diameter coin - and no change was made on the reverse (in date or otherwise) so far as we can tell. And with no reverse change, no mule. The 10-Cent is another common coin, 17,706,395 having been struck using 451 Obverse and 309 Reverse dies. Even into the low MS grades, collectors tend to value the two types equally, so they may have actually been struck half-and-half initially. In the highest grades, the later "Shoulder Straps" pulls ahead in Market Value by 2-6x, but this may again be a reflection of the "storage phenomenon", with the earlier being saved in greater numbers.
5 Cents. Of all the denominations, the 5-Cent of 1953 proves that as collectors, Canadians are not all that attentive at times. For many years - in fact up to the late 1990s - the Charlton catalogue listed this denomination only by its obverse, as a NSS giving way to an SS in 1953. The Haxby/Willey catalogue was slightly more detailed, even from its first appearance in 1970, noting and illustrating the fact that there had been a change made on the reverse as well, the "Large (and lower relief) Beaver" of 1951 becoming an even "Larger Beaver" (1953-4). The two reverses of 1953 could be most easily differentiated by the left maple leaf on the early one being relatively far from the denticles, while the new one had the same leaf nearly touching the denticles. Even so, the coins were listed for decades on the assumption that the early NSS obverse was always mated with the Far Maple Leaf reverse and the later SS obverse with the Near Maple Leaf reverse. Only in the very late 1990s (nearly 2000, in fact) was it realized that mules of these two sides existed - in both directions. The early NSS obverse could be mated with the later Near Maple Leaf reverse (and is slightly the more scarce of the two) or the late SS obverse could be mated with the early Far Maple Leaf reverse.
Prev. page: NSS. Obv.: Flared letters; Rev.: Leaf far from denticle. This page, above: SS. Obv.: Straighter letters; Rev.: Leaf close to denticle.
Since all the 1953 5-Cent pieces (16,635,552) were struck using 227 Obverse and 161 Reverse dies, we readily see that they were rarely installed in the presses as sets, but rather in a seesaw fashion, with the Obverses predominating with about 3 changes to every 2 of the Reverse. Since the mules exist in both directions, it shows that at least two coining presses had been dedicated to the striking of the nickels and that they went from early dies to late without a break. But the number of mules would be limited by the average of the side with the poorest production; in this case it would be the Obverse, each of which struck only 73,284 coins. Somewhere within that number, the changeover occurred each time that caused the mule. Mules aside, Market Value is about equal for the two varieties. In a "normal" year, this would indicate mintages of about 8-million apiece but considering the commonness of the 1953 5-Cent and the presumed greater "putting-by" of the first strikings, such an assumption is largely meaningless. One Cent. The cent is the other "quiet denomination" with changes apparently limited to the obverse alone. As with the others, the lettering was rendered with less flare than before, along with lowering the relief in order that the straps might be seen on the finished coin. On all denominations, the relationship of the legend to the rim denticles changes with the adoption of the new obverses, denticles being applied as a last step in die production with greater concern that they synchronize with one another rather than they be in the same place as before. In the case of the cent, even quite worn coins can be classified by noting the relationship of the "I" in "DEI" to the denticles: On NSS it points between denticles and on the SS, at a denticle. A total of 232 Obverse dies and 163 Reverse were used to strike all 67,806,016 cents of 1953, both types. Market Value gives equal value to both types up to MS-60, but in the higher grades much greater value, typically 5 to 7 times greater for the later SS. This would seem to be well outside normal expectations due to the tendency to save more of the earlier in relation to the last. Probably more of the NSS were initially struck than the SS but the coin is so common as to make little difference.
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Once the change had been made, the obverse effigy remained frozen in place until the introduction of the new Machin portrait of the Queen in 1965.
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Moneta.
Roman Republic . Silver denarius. Coined 46 BC by Titus Carisius. Actual size: 19mm; Actual weight: 4.15 grams.
In the pantheon of Roman deities, Juno was the wife of Jupiter and the patron goddess of "matrons" - married women. She was the exact counterpart of the Greek goddess Hera, wife of Zeus. The secondary appellation "Moneta" applied to Juno's name is not quite a clearcut as we might expect, for the word is rather "made up". The most common explanation is that it originally meant "warner" ( to warn = mon e re ) since, according to legend, geese at the temple of Juno in Rome warned of - and prevented - an enemy sneak attack with their clamour. Yet another explanation is that it originally meant "adviser" ( to advise = monuit ), with particular application to the legend of the Romans being advised by her to prosecute the war against Pyrrhus "with justice". So long as they did, they were assured of the means to do so, even though funds were low. After the Roman victory, it is believed that the first Roman mint was established in, or beside, the temple of Juno who subsequently became known as "Juno Moneta". "Moneta" came to be the Latin term for both "mint" and the "money" struck there. While by way of Norman French, our "money" still has its roots in "moneta", our "mint" came by a different path - from the Anglo-Saxon "mynt" of the same meaning. The coin above has an obverse which is self-explanatory - the head of Juno Moneta. But the reverse is somewhat more obscure, even though commonly claimed to be the first illustration of minting tools. Chances are good that they are not, but rather show ordinary blacksmith tools of the time. In fact, this very coin has tended to lead researchers down an erroneous path, simply because the reverse is mis-interpreted. The long-handled hammer is a blacksmith tool, not a coining hammer - which had a short handle. The long pincers has been used as "proof" that coins were struck hot; they weren't - but rather softened by heat (annealing) and then allowed to cool before striking, still in their softened state. The "coining anvil" is probably just an ordinary one since it shows none of the particular characteristics of one used for coining. Lastly, what has been called an "upper die" is probably actually the helmet of Vulcan, patron god of blacksmiths.
Vulcan, from Museum of Antiquity (1880) In the old illustration above, we see the distinctive metal helmet of Vulcan, and that is probably what is shown on the denarius.
Minting Swedish Copper Plate Money.
Blessed with abundant deposits of possibly the best copper in Europe, Sweden was nevertheless poor in gold and silver. For this reason, large "plate-money" copper coins were struck and issued during the period 1710-68. In keeping with the economic wisdom of the time, it was necessary that they contain full bullion value and, therefore, at current prices, each plate weighed the equivalent of its face value in copper. The plate at above left is a ½-daler denomination, minted at Avesta in 1718 (the illustration is actually slightly reduced). At upper right is a view of such copper-plate coins being struck at the Stockholm Mint during the period 1714-18. It is somewhat unusual in that the trip-hammer is being operated by a capstan manned by Russian prisoners-of-war, Sweden and Russia at war at the time. Usually, the trip-hammer was powered by a water-wheel as: The wheel turned a horizontal shaft of large diameter - almost a drum - on which were located teeth. At one position, four teeth operated a trip-hammer, allowing it four blows per revolution. As each tooth engaged the handle of the hammer, the head was raised and allowed to drop as the tooth passed, the head weighing some 100 pounds. A smooth-faced hammer flattened the bars into plate and these hammer-marks may be clearly seen on surviving plates. The next trip-hammer had the corner design die in its head and after each blow, the plate was turned. It was then passed along to the next position where there was but one tooth, operating the trip-hammer with the die for the central validating design. Some works maintain the plates were struck while hot but it seems more likely that the plates were heated to soften them and then struck cold. A lot of these plates were bought by foreigners for the stated face value and exported as that much top-quality Swedish copper for their own use. But in Sweden , these plates were legal tender although it seems unlikely they actually circulated to any great extent. They were probably backing for the paper notes. Lesser known is that the Russians also struck copper plate money in 1726, although the status of the pieces appears to be somewhere between an actual coin and stamped bullion. In their case, they used a hammer weight in a frame similar to a guillotine. The heavy head was raised by a rope and allowed to drop on the plate, care being taken that the hammer's bounce was arrested in time to prevent "double-striking".
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Offa's Muslim Gold.
Very little in the way of gold coin was struck by the Western rulers during the early Middle Ages. It's value was just too great for most commercial use. Even so, there were some gold coins around, practically always from Byzantium or the Arab countries. A couple of the few forays into gold coin made by the British rulers was by Offa, the powerful king of Mercia (AD 757 - 796) who actually coined two types, both extremely rare today. One of those is shown above in about triple-size. The coin itself is a slavish copy of an Arabic gold dinar of Caliph Al Mansur, dated 157 A.H. (equivalent to A.D. 774), with only the addition of OFFA / REX on the obverse. The diesinkers, probably illiterate even in English let alone Arabic, copied all too well. Here we see the coin of a Western Christian king proudly displaying the Muslim legend "There is no God but God". No doubt Offa - and the rest of his subjects - would have been appropriately shocked, had they known.
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April 2010"The 1953 'Strapless & Straps' Affair" "Minting Swedish Copper Plate Money"
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