1858 Half Dime ~~ Grade Opinions

Danegeld

Here is a nice little 1858 Half Dime, might be an INVERTED date, but I can't tell for sure.... Anyhow, what grade would you put on the flip? Thanks for taking a look.

Take Care
Ben

Dennis88

Nice coin

EF-45

BECOKA

I don't know this series but I would go vf30. Can't really offer much of an opinion without a larger photo. Looks like it may have been dipped or cleaned at some point. I would expect the coin to be a bit darker for as much circulation as it has seen.

duck620

looks cleaned to me.still a nice coin @ ef-45.

RYK

XF-45 details, cleaned

Longacre

35, no sticker.

robkool

XF 40 details...

Danegeld

Much appreciated, thanks for the input.

Ben

MrHalfDime

I can't offer much new to what has already been said about the grade of your 1858 half dime. I see it as perhaps EF-40, with wear patterns seen on the usual high points of Miss Liberty's thigh, breast and head. I can, however, offer you some insight on how to determine if it is an "Inverted Date" example.

By 1858, the Mint was routinely using a four digit gang punch, or logotype, when punching the dates into the working dies. Rather than striking individual date numerals, one at a time, into the exergue of the working die, all four date numeral punches were ganged together into one tool and punched simultaneously. This not only saved a little bit of time, but also presumably kept the date numerals in horizontal and vertical alignment. Unfortunately, when things went wrong using the gang punch, they went spectacularly wrong.

For the date 1858 in the Liberty Seated half dimes there are two very similar and well known repunched date errors, now designated as V9 and V10, or more popularly, as 1858 Inverted Date (V9) and 1858 Doubled Date (V10). While these repunched date errors are very similar in the manner in which they were created, they differ significantly in appearance. In both cases, the gang punch was used to hold all four date numeral punches in the same tool while the date was punched into the working die. However, for the Inverted Date variety, the first punch was struck completely upside down. It was pretty well centered, but inverted. The die sink realized his error, heavily lapped the die in the date area, and then repunched the date making sure to have it properly oriented. Despite his best efforts, the first-punched date was not completely effaced, and can still be seen on the struck coins. The Doubled Date V10 differs from the V9 in that the date was first punched right side up, but was too high in the exergue. The die sink again tried to efface the errant date, and then repunched the date numerals in the proper position. Both varieties (V9 and V10) exhibit strongly repunched date numerals, but it is in the precise location of the errant numerals that proper identification can be determined.

For the 1858 V9 Inverted Date, the errant numerals can be seen between the final date numerals. For the 1858 V10 Doubled Date variety, the errant date numerals can be seen within the final date numerals. On your example, I believe that I can see the first-struck date numerals between the final date numerals, making your coin an Inverted Date variety as you suspected. You will need to take a closer look yourself to confirm this. You should see the top of the last 8 upside down and in between the 1 and first 8 of the properly oriented date. The other digits appear in similar fashion, in between the final date numerals. However, if the errant numerals are seen within the final date numerals (particularly the loops of the first 8 seen within the loops of the last-struck 8, and the base of the first-struck 1 seen half way up the upright of the final 1), then your coin is a V10 Doubled Date. Both varieties are available with a little searching, but the old estimate of the Doubled Date being ten times as rare as the Inverted Date seems to remain approximately accurate. In the last Liberty Seated Collectors Club census survey of half dimes, there were forty (40) examples of the V9 Inverted Date reported, and twenty-nine (29) examples of the V10 Doubled Date reported. Although this would at first seem to disprove the apparent ratio of availability, it more likely reflects collector habits.

NumisOxide

XF details, cleaned