Flat spots on denticles for an old bust half

ziggy29

I was looking through Teletrade to see if there were any upcoming items in my sweet spot, and I found this one. I LOVE the luster on this coin, but I'm not sure I care for the flat spots on the rims on both the obverse and reverse (at 4:00 and 10:00 on the obverse and at 2:00 and 8:00 on the reverse). Now it certainly looks as-struck and it's not after-the-mint damage, but what would sort of striking problem would cause this?

coinfreak499

i'm not sure. but that is a nice coin

Betta285

jim

tjkillian

You need to remember that these are open collar strikes and therefore subject to uneven striking. It is normal.

Tom

coinbuf

Looks like a sm clip to me.

Chris

OnlyBuffalos

Look like Overton 103 to me. The milling on that variety left a lot to be desired. On many 103s, the milling appears to be almost non-existant in spots. The milling on the coin you pictured is much better than the typical O.103.

dorkkarl

excuse me for saying this, but if you don't like those "flat spots", you should not be buying bust coins. that kind of CHARACTER is what makes this series so wonderful to the collector.

if you want perfect rims, collect roosevelt dimes.

btw, i would pass on that coin becuase it's been dipped to he11, not because the rim has character.

K S

Conder101

Looks like a small rim clip to me.

seanq

Small rim clip. Someone wear that sucker down to Fine so I can afford it.


Sean Reynolds

JrGMan2004

Yeah, that was my first thought, small rim clip. At 10 o'clock Obv, which is 8 o'clock Reverse. The weakness of the denticles would be from the Blakesley effect, correct? The leakness at 4 and 2?

And clips are fairly rare on Bust coins, or at least large clips are, because their intrinsic value was supposed to equal their denomination. So a piece that was too under or overweight, would be melted back down... so, I guess a planchet that would have been overweight, but was clipped just right to make the weight correct might have escaped....

ziggy29

Well, this coin just closed its bidding. Yeah, I think it was probably dipped, but it still looked like it kept most of its luster -- I've seen dipped coins that looked far worse. And the more I learned about how the rims came to be and the Blakesley effect and all that, the more this became kind of charming to me and the more I was willing to consider bidding on it.

I was actually bidding on this coin for a while -- but when it hit over $450 I was gone. Looks like it's going for $633 with the juice.

Still, it's probably a good thing; I have the rest of my life to find a nice AU-58 Bust half, I have no selt-imposed deadline, and there's a good chance I'll eventually luck into one that's more natural and yet still vibrant. Even if I pay as much as this one went for or more, I'm sure something else will come along -- preferably with more original appearance but not dull and gray.

I would have paid $633 with the juice -- and maybe more -- for an AU-58 if it looked original and like an MS-62/63 with a trace of wear -- but not for something that looked dipped.

lordmarcovan

That is a fantastic-looking coin. I can see why it would have caught your attention.