1889 Obverses



SX 1887 Jubilee head Sixpence (Obv. 1) Shown for reference		SX 1887 B J.E.B. on the truncation

SX 1887 to 1889 Jubilee head Sixpence (Obv. 2)		SX 1887 to 1889 J.E.B. below the truncation "Hollow" bust - above J. E. B.

SX 1889 to 1893 Jubilee head Sixpence (Obv. 3)		SX 1889 to 1893 J.E.B. below the truncation "Rounded" bust - above J. E. B.

Obverse 1 - Has been shown for reference purposes as J. E. B. (Joseph Edward Boehm -

the Austrian born British designer) has his initials placed on the base of Victoria's

new Jubilee head bust. This apparently was decided very early on after the release

in 1887 as being the incorrect place for his initials and were quickly removed.

Examples with his initials on the bust are very scarce as examples are not that easy

to come by.

Obverse 2 - With the disapproval of the J. E. B. initials being on the base of Victoria's bust a

2nd obverse was quickly made using the same bust design but the over zealous

Royal Mint engraver dug far to deeply into the base of the bust to remove the

initials thereby leaving a distinct "hollow" where the original J. E. B. initials had

been. The J. E. B. initials were now placed in the clear space directly below the

base of the bust where they had originally been and the border teeth.

This 2nd Jubilee obverse remained in use for two years (1887 to 1889) until it

was decided that the "hollow" at the base of Victoria's bust was unsightly and

that she needed to have he bust restored with an elegant rounded edge.

Obverse 3 - In 1889 this third Jubilee obverse bust was designed. I have been unable to

find any changes in the legend or spacing with the border teeth nor with the

size or shape of Victoria's bust. However, now the "hollow" at the base of

Victoria's bust has now been 'in-filled' and carefully rounded out.

Thereby putting right the two possible mis-judgements found with obverses 1 & 2 !

I am pleased to say that the difference between obverse 2 and 3 was brought to my

attention by a collector in early June 2022 (just before the 'Platinum Jubilee Celebrations

of Elizabeth II '- good timing !). The collector, however, did point out that it was not his

discovery but that he had seen the article written by another collector in the Pre-Decimal

forum of 12 March 2021. http://www.predecimal.com/forum/topic/13911-jubilee-head-sixpence-die-pairings/?tab=comments#comment-197350