I was a bit surprised to find, in the comments section, that Numista proposes separating out sub-types on the basis of weight, seeming to imply that dates with the mint-mark on a raised plinth (1951-6) are heavy, while those with the mint-mark ‘flat’ (19757 only) weighing less. So I weighed my examples, all of which are at least AU, so that wear is not a factor.
The official weight of this type is 1.5g. My examples weighed as follows:
1951 1.59g
1952 1.56g
1953 1.45g and 1.47g
1954 1.48g
1955 1.53g
1956 1.59g
1957 1.45g
Clearly the mint did not control carefully the weight of its planchets, with the variances noted above of up to 6%.
I would suggest that Numista withdraws the current Comments, and just draws attention to the placement of the mint-mark in 1957 [as happens with other denominations as well]
Stephen Eccles
(703) 508-8997
