Oddities of the Banal!
This coin is a truly banal oddity!
Created at the Royal Canadian Mint in 1872, this fifty cent piece isn't just rare like any other 1872 50c coin - When the coin was minted, they made a slight error!
Now, coins are created by literally stamping blank metal disks with huge hydrolic presses. The press uses what is basically a mould (called the 'die'). In those days, each die was created by hand, and as each die was used more and more, it would gradually begin to wear down. Every once in a while, the engravers would have to re-engrave the lettering on the die to make it more readable. It was much like working an old printing press, you'd take each letter out of its box and stamp it into the die.
Only on this one the engraver made a mistake - see if you can spot it in the picture above! Don't read any further if you don't want to know the answer!
The Engraver mistook an A for a V - and, when he engraved the Queen's name 'VICTORIA,' he accidentally used an upside-down A instead of a V!
Bloody drunk Engravers! Incorrigible! Worse than Accountants I tell you...
In accordance with British common law at the time (and given the grave nature of the etymological slight to the reigning monarch), the Engraver was convicted of treason before being drawn and quartered (dragged to the place of his hanging, cut down shortly before death - only to have his entrails cut out and shown to him - and his head and limbs severed from his body).
Created at the Royal Canadian Mint in 1872, this fifty cent piece isn't just rare like any other 1872 50c coin - When the coin was minted, they made a slight error!
Now, coins are created by literally stamping blank metal disks with huge hydrolic presses. The press uses what is basically a mould (called the 'die'). In those days, each die was created by hand, and as each die was used more and more, it would gradually begin to wear down. Every once in a while, the engravers would have to re-engrave the lettering on the die to make it more readable. It was much like working an old printing press, you'd take each letter out of its box and stamp it into the die.
Only on this one the engraver made a mistake - see if you can spot it in the picture above! Don't read any further if you don't want to know the answer!
The Engraver mistook an A for a V - and, when he engraved the Queen's name 'VICTORIA,' he accidentally used an upside-down A instead of a V!
Bloody drunk Engravers! Incorrigible! Worse than Accountants I tell you...
In accordance with British common law at the time (and given the grave nature of the etymological slight to the reigning monarch), the Engraver was convicted of treason before being drawn and quartered (dragged to the place of his hanging, cut down shortly before death - only to have his entrails cut out and shown to him - and his head and limbs severed from his body).
DamnThe.com - "Lowbrow Humour for Highbrow People"
your home on the internet for comedy, humor, stories, pranks, jokes, photography, art, movie posters, short films, viral videos, music videos, satire, ridiculous recipes, and more...
your home on the internet for comedy, humor, stories, pranks, jokes, photography, art, movie posters, short films, viral videos, music videos, satire, ridiculous recipes, and more...
More Oddities of the Banal:
There are more than 5,000 pennies in this antique style peanut or gum-drop dispenser - all of the coins are dated 1962, 1963, or 1964 - and all of them mint uncirculated!