VF30 might be a stretch but certainly VF20.

troubadour, I liked your 'if legit' remark. See full image with PCGS grading. I'm wondering if they are that inept,
or was the original swapped out.

Anyone care to offer an opinion on this?

Update. I've now identified 12 unique reverse dies based on die breaks and positioning of the '70' and 11 unique obverse dies based on die breaks and legend character attributes. So far twenty die pairs have been identified which is probably getting very close to the limit of what I believe is no mo...

Very nice example of this variety and excellent images. After seeing the post I decided to recheck my 1882 lot. Happily, I did have one example (only a VG) out of a reasonably randomly acquired lot of of about 100 x1882s currently under my care. That gives a very basic idea of its rarity. If one acc...

Please explain this. I don't understand. Would anyone actually purchase this for the asking amount? If so, why?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/235681217031?i ... SwJ4peCV-Y

BTW, there are there are hundreds of delusional listings like this.

Very interesting Bill. I haven't been able to get my hands on Griffins' large cent references yet. Always assumed there was just one 'thick 4' reverse die, especially since only 11 unique reverse dies were supposedly consumed. I reviewed some old notes and it looks like I've confirmed 8 unique rever...

Yes a CERT 'thick 4'. The primary die break between the AD in CANADA and the secondary die break just after the A in REGINA is confirmatory. The 'thick 4' is not as rare as some may believe. At least 40,000 1894s using this reverse die were minted and it was paired with at least 4 unique obverse die...

We won't put this to bed quite yet. One more story to tell. Yours looks to be an early die state of the die pair shown in the attached, so the die breaks may not be visible yet or extremely faint. Let me know if you see any of them.

Not a 7/7 die. The one you have is paired to at least 3 obverse dies (but possibly 4 depending on one's REGINA marker assessment) and is the reverse with the most pairings of all six 1897 reverses.

Concur. Very interesting stuff.

But what if the originator of a system, no matter how good it may be for a particular denomination, would prefer you didn't use that system to catalogue and publish information for other years? What do you do then? If you are forced to develop another system, that may or may not be accepted as readi...

The advantage of a universal system is it can be used for any denomination. I like Rob's system too, but it is tailored for the Victorian Large Cent. Attached is a sample of a rudimentary reverse die study I conducted on the 1871 10c which hopefully most will be able to open if they have the necessa...

Bill, I'm not too disappointed at not being able to use the 'Turner system'. My system can be used for any denomination not just large cents. I initially used it when I was studying Victorian 50c minted in the 1870s. As you know, each die group has unique physical attributes common to all dies withi...

Thanks for the kind feedback. During the peak COVID lockdown period I decided to study my large cents. Rob Turner's book Dies and Diadems was inspirational in this regard. Unfortunately he was reluctant to allow other researchers to use his die numbering system to publish additional studies. So I ca...

I have one more thing to add. Based on your description of the obverse of the second (lower) coin in your original image I stand corrected and believe these two reverses are the same die. I lifted the left side of your lower image a wee bit and that tilted the 5 clockwise. Both 5s are now essentiall...