Belgium: 10 centimes 1903 large date? Do they exist?

Large date French text

N#747

Large date Flemish text

N#289

Inspired by this thread https://en.numista.com/forum/topic149739.html#p1182233 I started to search for the 1903 coins with LARGE dates. To now, I haven't found a single image of any 1903 with a proper large date.

Have any of you one in your position, then please send your image?

I thought I had both in my collection, but no, studying them they both showed up as small dates, which I had gotten in swaps as large dates!

Thanks for your time and efforts

Ole

Looked on ucoin first of course. Ucoin does not even have a listing for large date 1903.

So next stop - ebay.

I found two 1903 Belgian 10 centimes coins with different size dates:

Then compared the larger date to a 1904:

So definitely not large date like 1904 but seems to be two 1903 date sizes.

Here are my two, which are supposed to be one of each….

I only have the 1903FR with a small date (I think)

I'm not entirely convinced that this actually shows a difference even though I made it. It's too easy to not get the edge of the coin exact meaning a slight difference in magnification causing an apparent difference.  Much easier and better to have both coins in hand when doing something like this.

With the naked eye you can NOT see a difference, so I will say “small” and wait until a real “large” one shows up, but I start to doubt that. I still hope our Belgian friends will be able to show the differences?

Sjoelund

With the naked eye you can NOT see a difference, so I will say “small” and wait until a real “large” one shows up, but I start to doubt that. I still hope our Belgian friends will be able to show the differences?

I have to agree with you.

Sjoelund

With the naked eye you can NOT see a difference, so I will say “small” and wait until a real “large” one shows up, but I start to doubt that. I still hope our Belgian friends will be able to show the differences?

Normally you can easily spot the difference between small and large date with the naked eye. I'm sure the moment we'll see a large date 1903 we can see the difference too with the naked eye.

But I have to admit, there are two major Belgian catalogs and one of them doesn't make a distinction between small and large date, although that catalog is the one with so many variants.

I'm going through the auctions of a Belgian auction house. Unfortunately, there's no search function so I'll have to check the auctions one by one. 25 % done but still no large date for the 1903 (for FR nor for VL)

Thanks for your efforts.

I've got a message from the author of one of the Belgian catalogs (Catalogus van Belgische Numismatische Uitgiften):

He never saw the 1903 with large date yet, and the reason why they are not in his catalog (yet) because there are not 3 known copies yet.

Next week I see the author of the other Belgian catalog.

Here is perhaps some more information. 

The 10 centimes under Leopold II were minted between 1901 and 1906. The years from 1901 to 1903 feature small date (probably the same size as the 5 centimes). From 1904 to 1906, the coins were minted with large date. The year 1903 was a transition year, during which the decision was made to switch from small to large dates.

When we consult the book by Dupriez (1949), we see that only the French 10 centimes from 1903 are described in a proof (épreuve), with both small and large dates (Dup. 1452 and 1453). For the Dutch version, only a proof  (épreuve) with small date is described (Dup. 1455). Additionally, for the 'regular' coins with small date, we find both the French version (Dup. 1454) and the Dutch version (Dup. 1456) mentioned.

gr,

Laurens Aernout

Essor Prof

I've got a message from the author of one of the Belgian catalogs (Catalogus van Belgische Numismatische Uitgiften):

 

Update :-)

Aernout86

 

When we consult the book by Dupriez (1949),

This is the book Laurens is talking about: Dupriez, Charles. Monnaies et Essais Monetaires du Royaume de Belgique et du Congo Belge. (Brussels, 1949). Three volumes, two of text one plates. 425 pages, 45 fine phototype plates with tissue interleaves.