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SunandAnchor - Silver Crowns


	Quick Finder - major die design variants, read also about N over inverted N


	Detailed search - 23 listings Estimated Relative Numbers in Existence


Silver Crowns
One ounce silver ( approx 30 gms ), approx 42 mm in diameter, value V
				Year
Reference	Year	Description / Photograph Links	Mintmark	Rarity

CR-5	1649	Obverse (1) with inverted N in England	sun	R5
CR-10		Standard, with different obverse (2) and reverse		R6

CR-15	1651	New reverse and obverse (3) design	sun	R4

CR-20	1652	Large 652 over small 652 in the date, small circular beading on reverse	sun	R
CR-25		Large 2 in the date, very coarse beading on reverse
CR-30		Small 2, narrow date, coarse beading
CR-35		Medium 2, wide date, coarse beading on reverse
CR-40		Medium 2, narrow date, coarse beading

CR-45	1653	Shallow scallops to reverse shields, various dies	sun	N
CR-50		Deep scallops to reverse shields, various dies
CR-55		Upside down A over V in VS on reverse, deep scallops

CR-60	1654	New reverse and obverse (4) design, fine cross hatch	sun	R3

CR-65	1656	6 over 3 in date, old 1651 style obverse (3), see CR-55	sun	S
CR-70		6 over 4 in date, 9 strings to the harp, 54 obverse (4)
CR-75		6 over 4 in date, 10 strings to the harp, 54 obverse (4)
CR-80		6 over 4 in date, 9 strings to harp, new obverse (5)
CR-85		6 over 4 in date, 10 strings to the harp, new obverse (5)
CR-90		Large 6 over small 6 over 4, 9 strings to harp, new obverse (5)
CR-95		Large 6 no overdate, 9 strings to harp, new obverse (5)

CR-100	1658	Cromwell Crown, 1658/7 in date	none	S
CR-101		Cromwell Crown, Dutch Copy		R3
CR-102		Cromwell Crown, Tanner Copy		R4

CR-105	1660	Anchor fantasy piece dated 1660 but based on a 1652 crown	anchor




		FOR GREATER DETAIL THE PIE CHART IS SCALED IN PERCENTAGES.





				* any percentage below 1%, be concerned about the potential accuracy.


	N over Inverted N does not appear to exist ....

This phenomenon, we read occured on crowns dated 1651 thru’ 1653. Before in 1649 two different obverses are in use - one with a conventional letter N and another obverse with an inverted letter N.

Examples of crowns dated 1651 thru to 1653 are shown and none of these examples even hints that the second N in ENGLAND has been punched twice with a reorientation of a punch. So the idea that these crowns have a letter N over an inverted letter N seems a little odd. The precision on placement probably exceeds that which was possible in the 1650’s with manual techniques.

As a double check closeups were also taken of the 1654 crown and that looks as solid as the 1653 crown, letter N, although the font is different.

Below are closeups of the 1653 crown and the 1649 crown with the letter N inverted. This gives some idea of just how difficult it would have been to use the inverted N punch twice and not show any double imaging or lack of registration.

Looking for a match to the 1649 punch the closest appears to be the centre image of the 1652 date.

So does the N over inverted N exist? Probably not and if it did it would be highly exceptional and not as widespread as the suggested spread over 3 years.


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	Die Study


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Feature Dimensions

Feature Dimensions - Size of “V” in Value, 4.2mm to 5.0 mm

One characteristic which may give us a clue as to who made what is the size of the letter V in the value. As can be seen this varied across the range of crowns. The most common size is 4.8mm seen on the 1649 crowns. The 1651 crowns had a smaller V which is also seen on three die variants of the 1652 crown. In the same year dies with larger V’s were made suggesting that perhaps three parties were making the 1652 reverse dies. After that for 1653 thru to 1656 over 4, the 4.8mm V was preferred. Two late 1656 dies with large sixes have 4.5mm V’s which may suggest these two reverse dies were made by a newcomer to Tower mint.