1855-D $5, is this a strike through?

Wahoo554

All of the below obverse images of 1855-D half eagles (medium D variety) have the same indentation below Liberty’s chin. Is this a strike through? If so, it would mean that some foreign object stuck to the die for multiple strikings. Any ideas on what type of foreign object would cling to a die like that? If not a strike through, what do you think caused the indentation?

Smudge

Just quickly looking at CoinFacts I see the same thing on some of the large D’s as well.

Wahoo554

@Smudge said:
Just quickly looking at CoinFacts I see the same thing on some of the large D’s as well.

I actually pulled several of these images from the large D category on CoinFacts. They are medium D examples that have been misattributed.

Smudge

@Wahoo554 said:

@Smudge said:
Just quickly looking at CoinFacts I see the same thing on some of the large D’s as well.

I actually pulled several of these images from the large D category on CoinFacts. They are medium D examples that have been misattributed.

I see.good mystery, hopefully someone here will be able to provide some answers.

Oldhoopster

Teeth marks?? Maybe people were checking to see if it was real gold.

Actually, what you found is very intriguing. I'm interested to see what you find

chesterb

Since it's incuse, it would have to be something raised on the die like a clashmark. Not sure what else it could be that would survive repeated strikings. So my guess is a clashed die

jwitten

They all have a large indent on the liberty neck as well

Jimnight

What @jwitten said.

cmerlo1

I have handled around 12 1972 Die 4 doubled die obverse Lincoln Cents. At least half of them had the same strike-thru below the '2' in the date, so it is possible for something to 'stick' to the die, creating similar impressions on multiple coins. I believe this strike-thru is also visible on the example on coppercoins.com, and the Coinfacts MS63 BN example shows it as well:

Smudge

So what Is is it and why does it keep moving? Pretty sure it isn’t Underdog or Shoe Shine Boy.

Winchester1873

Interesting. I do know that some 1855-D $5’s have planchet flaws (also in Quarter Eagles of the same year.) The indentations in the photos above appear to be in similar but slightly different locations in relation to the fold of Liberty’s neck crease.

Here is a 55-D of my own with a small planchet intention below the bun. Looks like the dents in the photos in the OP, kinda-maybe???


(Heritage Auctions Photo).

CharlotteDude

Looks similar to strike-through marks sometimes found on Charlotte HEs and QEs. This is most likely a result of something adhering to the dies, resulting in multiple examples with the same marks. Here's a pic of one: