New 20p problems....

The Royal Mint do seem to be having problems with the quality control of their new coins. Besides the well popularised undated mule of old obverse and new reverse dies for the 20p there appear to be production problems.

I came across this coin in change the other day that looks to have been made from an obverse die that was breaking up or suffering from some damage that resulted in two raised lines coming down from the queen's nose.

On top of that there is evidence of die clogging on the reverse obscuring some of the raised pellets that border the shield.

Carausius medallions and a German victory

Just added a page about the three known Carausius medallions that are all in the British Museum plus some thoughts on how they interact with the VICTORIA CARAVSI A coins.The page can be found HERE.

Gallic prototypes of Carausius

My latest Carausius acquisition affirms my hypothesis that a number of the coin types of Carausius were inspired by those of the Gallic Empire.

This early unmarked Carausius INVICTVS with a star in the left field is clearly modelled on the coins of Victorinus.
Similarly this early Carausius PAX AVG has field marks of V and star, again mirroring Victorinus.
Indeed PAX AVG coins were very popular in the Gallic series, just as they are with Carausius, vertical sceptres for Postumus and Tetricus I, transverse sceptres for Victorinus. I think that this needs further investigation.

Carausius and Sol again

I noted in the previous post that a British Museum specimen, purchased in 1863, could be traced to Kennedy's "Oriuna" from 1751. Here are the two illustrations of the coin - it really goes without saying that the line engraving is the one from 1751!