Home U.S. Coin Forum

Franklin Half Mis-Strike Question

I have been working on upgrading my Franklins and came across some very nice MS60-64 coins at my local shop. They had taken these in just as I arrived one day, and I leapt on them pretty hard.

I was catalouging these coins and putting them in holders last night and the 1954 coin struck me as odd. I placed it in a locking plastic case for the time being and I squared up the front running the 1954 date line in line with the bottom square corner of the holder.

When I turned it over, I noticed the back was about 5 degrees off counterclockwise. I opened the case and squared the back and the front was off. It certainly appears to have been mistruck somehow.

Has anyone encountered this in Franklins, and is it just poor mint quality, or possibly an error coin? I have never heard much about Franklin errors, and the 5 or 6 degree disparity from one side to the other doesn't seem glaring to me.

Can any one throw a little light on this for me?
"I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my Grandfather did, as opposed to screaming in terror like his passengers."

Comments

  • krankykranky Posts: 8,709 ✭✭✭
    That's what's called a "rotated reverse" error. Five degrees off is extremely minor, but it's still interesting. The interest level and value would rise with more rotation, with 180 degrees being the most desirable.

    I don't know specifically about Franklins, but in general a 5-degree rotation would be considered a minor error. The cool thing about rotated reverses an an error is that they can go undetected for a long time.

    New collectors, please educate yourself before spending money on coins; there are people who believe that using numismatic knowledge to rip the naïve is what this hobby is all about.

  • The mint considers any rotation of 15 degrees or less to be within spec.
  • Sarasota:

    Most Franklins that I've encountered are somewhat off center - around 5 degrees or so. If you look at the pictures on my registry set you'll notice that most of the reverses are slightly off center. All I did was flip the coin over and take the picture.

    Regards,

    Frank
  • robertprrobertpr Posts: 6,862 ✭✭✭
    I've noticed that minor rotations of 10% or less are quite common in the franklin series, particularly with the proofs. I think PCGS requires the coins to be 15% or more off to be considered a mint error (I could be wrong)

Leave a Comment

BoldItalicStrikethroughOrdered listUnordered list
Emoji
Image
Align leftAlign centerAlign rightToggle HTML viewToggle full pageToggle lights
Drop image/file