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Obv. 1861 Shield back sovereign               Incorrect repair to the E of DEI

 

An interesting repair to an 1861 Shield back sovereign. The DEI has been repaired or strengthened but the repair to the E has gone slightly wrong. The D & I only show slight traces of doubling.

 

 

     The Leg of the E                 The Leg of the E added to above scan

 

To see what could have occurred I have copied the leg of the E from the original scan (cleaned away the centre bar)

and added it to the original scan. I slid the E all the way up to the centre of the E and it fits perfectly.

 

So in conclusion the E needed repairing but the 1st (test strike at an angle - foot & heel of E) showed that the repairer got his positioning very wrong - he had used the CENTRE bar of the E thinking it was the base line. That is why there is so much sticking out at the back. He did however make a near perfect 2nd strike to complete a near perfect repair (except for the 1st mistake) !

 

Very unusual to have a repair to a obverse sovereign die as they were normally destined to be used on the farthings once their use was considered over. 

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