Joseph Moore Patterns
These pattern pennies were originally struck by Joseph Moore as trials for the forthcoming “recoinage” in which bronze pennies, halfpennies and farthings would replace their copper counterparts. Specimens were struck in silver, gilt, bronzed copper and copper from 2 obverse dies and 4 reverse dies in 1860 but were not adopted by the Royal Mint for mass production.
In 1886, a Mr E Shorthouse discovered these dies in Moore’s warehouse and a number of pennies were re-struck from the dies which by then had suffered several significant spots of rusting. The “laureate” die then underwent two successive attempts to polish out these rust spots and further strikes were made from this die (paired with all 4 reverse dies which had also suffered some rusting) after each stage of polishing. Some of these re-strikes are found in gilt but Peck states that they were probably struck in copper or bronzed copper and were later gilded, probably by an unknown person. All the dies were formally destroyed after the re-striking, in front of witnesses.
Examples of both the original strikings and the later re-strikes are all rare.
I find it hard to distinguish between some of the pattern pennies of Joseph Moore (and so do most auction houses it seems, as many if not most of these coins appear to be mis-catalogued). There are 2 obverse designs, one with a laureate portrait of Victoria and one with the queen wearing a coronet instead of a wreath. These are obviously quite different, but there are 4 recorded “varieties” of the laureate head which differ subtly in terms of the state of rusting of the die as described above. These differences may well be hard to detect on worn specimens (see definitions below).
Laureate portrait |
Coronetted portrait |
Obverse 1: From the die in its original unrusted state |
Obverse 2: From the same die but showing a conspicuous cluster of rust spots across the neck and jaw, and another cluster, low down at the side of the neck, close to the “corkscrew curls” |
Obverse 3: As obverse 2, but with both groups of rust spots partially polished away |
Obverse 4: As obverse 3, but with the lower patch still further reduced by polishing, and parts of the hair similarly flattened |
There are 4 reverse designs
Reverse A | Reverse B | Reverse C | Reverse D |