Please help identify

Started by brandm24, June 24, 2022, 09:40:30 AM

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brandm24

I'm curious as what the inscription EDINBURH / AUG 4 refers to. I may be wrong but it looks like Edinburh is a misspelling of Edinburgh. Without the G it makes no sense.

Not sure if this is counterstamped or engraved. The coin is a 1965 penny. Apparently. it's a reference to some event that occurred in Edinburgh on August 4 maybe in 1965. Your thoughts or comments are appreciated.

BruceEdinbur(g)h-Aug 4-1965 Penny.png
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Figleaf

That would typically be the time of the annual Tattoo, when tourists and Britons alike congregate there, get royally drunk on the Royal Mile and buy trinkets by the cartload.

Botched souvenir. Can you still smell the alcohol?

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

brandm24

#2
Quote from: Figleaf on June 24, 2022, 09:57:47 AMBotched souvenir. Can you still smell the alcohol?

Peter

Maybe they should have stamped the coin before they broke into the adult beverages. They must have soaked it in some cheap booze to get the toning. ;D

Thanks, Peter.

Bruce
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Figleaf

IF there was a tattoo on 4th August, the most likely year can be calculated: 1973. That's because the tattoos always take place on a Saturday and the coin is dated 1965. The next Saturday 4th August was in 1979. In 1973, pre-decimal coins would still have been around, but the 1965 pennies would would have been worthless, even to collectors.

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

brandm24

Thanks for that, Peter. I thought maybe the stamp referred to some event in 1965 but apparently not.

Bruce
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FosseWay

The only other thing that comes to mind is that the Queen Mother's birthday was 4 August, and she was Scottish. But it's a bit of a stretch, I guess.

brandm24

I did a general search of things that might have happened  on Aug 4 of 1965 and a few years before and after...Got crickets  ???

I didn't find anything about the Queen Mother's birthday but by checking only a few years I wouldn't have.

Bruce



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FosseWay

As Peter said, 1965 is probably irrelevant.

The coin is in circulated condition, so it was probably not new when countermarked. Moreover, unlike in the US, there is often a considerable lag before coins with a new year's date appear in circulation, with occasional exceptions for commemoratives. When I was a kid (granted, 20 years later than 1965), I found most new coins the year after their date of issue.

And as Peter said, I think decimalisation is important here. I suspect this countermark was made on a coin that was no longer worth anything but still fresh in the public consciousness and available freely. The Queen Mother thing is purely a guess, and I suspect the Air Tattoo connection is more probable, but if it does have to do with her, it could well be for a round birthday. She was 70 in 1970 and 75 in 1975, for example.

JBK

Just an observation....

Wouldn't a European date be shown as "4 Aug"? 🤔

The stamping is very well done with no visible distortion. It could be engraving but it looks so much like a counterstamp. 

I'd love to see the other side.

FosseWay

Quote from: JBK on June 26, 2022, 04:24:03 AMJust an observation....

Wouldn't a European date be shown as "4 Aug"? 🤔


The UK is somewhat inconsistent on this. For numerical dates, it always uses the European d/m/y format, but for dates with the month written (in full or abbreviated) that isn't always the case. A frequently encountered example of this is in the banners of newspapers, showing the date of publication. Traditionally they wrote "June 26, 2022". Many papers that want to stress their adherence to tradition continue with this format, while those that want to show that they are modern and progressive use "26 June 2022".

But the date format is a possibly a slight pointer towards something organised under the auspices of a newspaper.

JBK

Thx for that insight...very interesting.

brandm24

Quote from: JBK on June 26, 2022, 04:24:03 AMJust an observation....

Wouldn't a European date be shown as "4 Aug"? 🤔

The stamping is very well done with no visible distortion. It could be engraving but it looks so much like a counterstamp. 

I'd love to see the other side.
I'd thought about the presentation of the date too but forgot to mention it. In this case then it wouldn't be important.

I'll see if I can find a pic of the reverse but if I remember correctly there were no blemishes of any importance. As you know, JBK, if a coin is counterstruck lightly the disturbance on the other side may not show, especially on heavy robust coins...cartwheel pennies for instance. This isn't one of them but...

Bruce
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brandm24

Well, that was easy. As you can see the reverse of the coin shows no distortions. I'm thinking more and more that it's engraved.

Bruce
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brandm24

Whoops, forgot the picture. This from a guy who sometimes goes out without shoes on. ;D

Brucersz_1rsz_edinburgh_1965.png
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