United States Uf? 1877s dime?

detectorhead

Now that I have reached the home of the experts, can someone explain to me why the "o" in "of" looks more like a "U". Grease-filled die?
This one I found about 8 years ago during a street construction project. Only coin found during a 3 hour search. And, yes it came out of the ground looking like this and has not been cleaned in any way (other than a soak in warm, soapy water.) Link to seated dime.

JoyofCollecting

Sorry, would love to help. But, the scan you have included is too small to see any detail of the lettering.

Barry

It's a weak strike.
From Greer's Seated Dime Book:
"Usually weak at Liberty's head and on the reverse rims. Example grading F-VF on the obverse may not always have full rims..."

Conder101

The scan isn't clear enough but another possiblity is a hub break. the letter on the hub that created the die sometimes breaks away. This is commonly seen on the reverses of shield nickels, the top of the D in United on two cent pieces and several different seated liberty coins. i don't know if a hub break on the O in OF is known or not.

detectorhead

Sorry for the poor image. How about this view.

Conder101

I'd say it looks like a broken hub. I don't have a copy of Ahwash or Greer here so I can't do a good search for infomation. Does anyone else here have copies of those books they can check?