1874H F76 (Gouby K+h; Freeman 7+I) (R18)
This rare reverse, struck only by the Heaton Mint in Birmingham, is recognisable by the wide date numerals and the sea on the left side not crossing the linear circle. Also on this rare die-pairing, the date figure 1 almost touches the linear circle.
It is sometimes difficult to differentiate between reverses g and h on worn 1874H wide date pennies but, because the border tooth count differs on the two reverses (g has 138 teeth and reverse h has 136 teeth) the relative positions of the legend characters to border teeth varies between the two reverses. This is exemplified by the position of the Y in PENNY as can be seen below:
Reverse g – the Y spans 2 complete border teeth |
Reverse h – the Y spans 3 complete border teeth |
Example 1
Sold by Croydon Coin Auctions in July 2003
Example 2
Photographs courtesy of Dix, Noonan & Webb
Sold by Dix, Noonan & Webb in July 2006 as part of the Laurie Bamford collection (for £1764)
Example 3
Sold by London Coins in September 2010 (for £222)
Resold by London Coins in June 2017 (for £234)
Example 4
Sold by London Coins in September 2010 (for £491)
Resold by London Coins in June 2017 (for £643)
Example 5
Sold by London Coins in June 2013 (for £819)
Resold by London Coins in March 2016 as part of the Elstree collection (for £257)
Example 6
Sold by London Coins in December 2013 (for £760)
Resold by Spink in September 2015 as part of the Andy Scott collection (for £806)
Example 7
Sold by London Coins in March 2014 (for £526)
Example 8
Sold by Spink in December 2014 as part of the Trevor Legge collection (for £520)
ex-Michael Gouby (2007)
Example 9
Sold in June 2015 by London Coins (for £351)
Example 10
Pictures courtesy of Mike Hopkins
Example 11
Held in a private collection
Example 12
Posted on the Predecimal Forum in October 2018
Example 13
Sold on Ebay in June 2019 (for £410)
Example 14
Sold by London Coins in September 2019 (for £1053)
Example 15
Sold on Ebay in October 2019
Example 16
Sold by London Coins in December 2019 (for £643-50)
Example 17
Sold by Dix, Noonan & Webb in February 2020 as part of the Hiram Brown collection (for £7728)
Example 18
Held in a private collection
Example 19
Pictures courtesy of Steven Clegg (see the note regarding the position of the Y in PENNY for example 21)
Example 20
Sold on Ebay
Example 21
Although very worn, the reverse is identifiable by the alignment of the Y in PENNY to the border teeth
Reverse g – the Y spans 2 complete border teeth |
Reverse h – the Y spans 3 complete border teeth |
Reverse h – the Y spans 3 complete border teeth |
Example 22
Pictures courtesy of Martyn Gillmor
Example 23
Sold by London Coins in September 2023 (for £327-60)
Example 24
Held in a private collection