1870 50 Cents

[rjd65]

Does anyone have credible information, with reference, detailing how many obverse and reverse 1870 dies were utilized or consumed? Perhaps someone knows of a researcher who has conducted a rudimentary study with images? I've identified 5 unique reverse dies based on die breaks, and position of '0' in the date, from a very small sample size of 18 pieces. I suspect at least 10-12 reverse dies were utilized. The first instance of The Royal Mint publishing die use data was 1884, so the 1888 50c is the first official documented correspondence of die use for that denomination.
Thanks, RD

[rjd65]

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 more than 25 pairs. Some of the dies identified were done so with just single examples. I'd like to have at least 2 examples of each die identified for confirmation and study credibility. If anyone has an 1870 50 Cents with either obverse or reverse die breaks can you please forward an image of the coin. The reason I'm doing this study is that The Royal Mint has no information on dies consumed for the early issues of Canadian Victorian coins. BTW, if you have an 1871 50c with die breaks those images are also most welcome.
Thanks in advance, RD

[Bill in Burl]

Well, the 50 cent guru for 50 cents is/was "pginrh", but I don't know if Paul is still collecting. He was the guru for George 50 cents and wrote some great articles on them and all the varieties/dies, including the Charlton variety sections. I don't know if he ever stepped back to do anything with Vickies, but maybe. He was a very dedicated researcher, but not with Vickies. You should try to email him through one of the coin sites and I think that he always used pginrh as his moniker. I haven't seen any posts or answers from him in over a year, but maybe he checks in. He was having some health issues, so maybe he no longer visits the sites. All my "variety" work was with Vicky large cents, I can't help you.