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Collecting Canadian Coins

Victorian Large Cents

Mintage & Mintmarks

Victorian Cent Obverse Types

The Hybrid Obverses

Victorian Cent Reverse Types

1884 Obverse 1 Cents

1891 Cent Varieties

1892 Obverse 2 Cents

Victorian Cent Error Types

Hybrid Dies 

The sinking of the dies required they undergo multiple (probably three) cycles of pressing with the punch, annealing (heating the die) to soften the die, and slow cooling.  Since multiple punches were available, sometimes the diesinkers used different punches to accomplish the iterations of pressing on a single die.   If the punches had the same obverse design, then the differences between them were usually indistinguishible.  In cases where the diesinkers used punches with different obverse designs to sink a single die, the differences between the two obverse designs left visible reminders of the different punches.

Obverse 1A over Obverse 1

Numerous known dies, used to mint both 1881H and 1882H cents, were sunk using both an obverse 1A punch and an obverse 1 punch.  On these dies, the effigy exhibited the smooth rounded chin indicative of both obverses 1A and 1.  The top jewel of the tiara stopped short of the nearest bead, also a feature of both the obverse 1A and 1 designs.  All these dies showed the rounded truncation tip of obverse 1A (see white arrows below) and the pointed trucation tip of obverse 1 (black arrows).

Obverse 2 over Obverse 1

Three known dies, all used to mint 1882H cents, were sunk using both an obverse 1 punch and an obverse 2 punch.  On all three of these dies, the effigy exhibited the smooth rounded chin indicative of obverse 1.  The large top jewel of the tiara covered a portion of the nearest bead, a feature of the obverse 2 design.  All these dies showed the larger lower left effigy truncation of obverse 2.

1882H Obverse 2 over Obverse 1

This obverse die shows no visible punch doubling.  A die crack from the rim through the main stem of the letter "C" in VICTORIA provides the best marker for this die.  Of the three known 1882H obverse 2 over 1 dies, this die is by far the most common.

1882H Obverse 2 over Obverse 1

This obverse die shows minor signs of punch doubling in the legends CANADA and REGINA.  More dramatically, it also displays very visible doubling of the rim denticles from the "C" in VICTORIA to the "N" in CANADA.  This die is considerably scarcer than the obverse 2 over 1 die shown to the left.

1882H Double Die Obverse
Obverse 2 over Obverse 1

This die displays major punch doubling of the obverse legends.  The doubling is visible in all of the legends, but most pronounced in the legends CANADA (see the picture below) and REGINA.  Other minor doubling shows in the details of the effigy.

Most die states of this die had a die crack from the rim through the open center of the "C" in VICTORIA.  In later die states, this die crack developed a noticeable die chip within the middle of this letter "C".

This die appears to be the scarcest of the three known obverse 2 over 1 dies.