As with the larger silver denominations, the sixpence series incorporates the two very different portraits of the monarch. The young head was designed by John Croker, while the old head was probably produced by Johann Sigismund Tanner, who had joined the Mint as an apprentice around 1728.
Provenance marks are: plumes (silver from the Welsh copper Company), roses (silver from the mines in the West of England), roses and plumes (silver from the ‘Company for smelting down lead with Pitcoale and Seacole’), all of these in the reverse angles, LIMA below the head for coins struck in silver captured by Admiral Anson in Peru during this voyage.
The young head sixpences should be collected in at least very fine condition. Much detail is missing on fine condition coins, especially on the hair and eye. This example with a plain reverse, and thus Rare in Unc is an absolutely beautiful coin. The catalogue only goes up to Extremely Fine.
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