10 centimes 1853 MA Marseilles - unrecorded variety

[davidrj]

Picked this one up recently on Ebay



note the orientation of the scallop shell, the normal one is on the left



This variety is not in Le Franc X, but the inverse shell is the normal for the 1853K 5 centimes

CGB say they haven't seen this one before, and will be asking readers of their Bulletin Numismatique to check if other examples are out there

Always nice to find something new in a series I thought I knew well



David

[Figleaf]

At this time, the dies were produced centrally at the Paris mint and sent to the provincial mint, where it was finished with the marks of the mint (MM) and the mint director (Beaussier). As Beaussier's appointment is dated 9th August 1853, the punch was unfamiliar to mint personnel, which may explain why they applied it upside down. However, it is also possible that the person responsible for applying the punch to the die made an unconscious decision about the direction of the punch and the director noticed only too late.

BTW, 1853K coins have a leaf, rather than a shell.

Peter

[davidrj]

the inverse shell is the normal for the 1853K 5 centimes

OOps! should read "the inverse shell is the normal for the 1853 MA 5 centimes"

The leaf of the 1853 K 10 centimes also occurs in two orientations



David