What the hell happened to this half dime?

Cladiator

Other than being harshly cleaned what happened to this thing? The periphery of the reverse looks clean of all detail. The obverse is 100% normal with no lines around the edge and no details missing.

savoyspecial

my vote would be encased.....you see many cents that have the edges worn in this pattern from encasement

Cladiator

<< <i>my vote would be encased.....you see many cents that have the edges worn in this pattern from encasement >>

Would that make damage to only one side or both?

Barndog

R-8

STONE

My initial reaction was COOL, a perfect circle of detail has been erased on this coin.

Then looking closer I notice that the bottom portion of letters and design do potrude through the unusual void.

My guess is PMD, but for an unknown reason.

savoyspecial

.....or perhaps set in jewelry somehow


when i saw the title of your thread i thought that somehow you were posting a pic of my newest arrival that i got today in the mail (thanks again Steve!)

savoyspecial

>>Would that make damage to only one side or both?>>

in my experience with cents, only one side......the more i look at your pic i dont know if encasement would have gone that far inward

TomB

There appear to be fine, parallel lines going around the rim in the area of missing detail and this makes me think it might have been partially planed; possibly for a love token?

Unknown

This content has been removed.

Cladiator

At first I thought it had been machined or milled to remove the metal from the periphery of the reverse. Once I saw there was still detail in the "void" area, look at the olive branch leaves, I figured milling wouldn't be the cause.



<< <i>Can we see the other side by any chance? >>

Sure. I've added the obv. image to the OP.

Barndog

I agree with TomB on this one

Cladiator

<< <i>I agree with TomB on this one >>

Yeah that was my original thought but how do you explain the leaves being untouched?

Barndog

didn't plane that area?

Cladiator

I suppose so.

What's funny is the seller doesn't mention this at all. They do point out the cleaning though.

MrHalfDime

I will assume that the coin is not (yet) yours. When and if it is, you should weigh it to determine coin metal loss. The details appear to be ~AU, so the coin should be expected to weigh ~1.30 - 1.34 G, minus the damage. If the weight is much less than that, we can assume that the coin suffered post Mint damage in the form of scraping, machining or milling. If the coin weighs close to 1.35 G, we can assume Mint caused damage, which I highly doubt. Cool coin, nonetheless.

dorkkarl

very severe counting machine damage???

weird effect, almost looks like a ufo!!!

K S

Quarternut

I concur that it is PMD created by being planed down.

My guess as to the leaves that remain would be that this area is actually lower than the rest of the perimeter of the coin, either due to a sunken die or even a slight bend in the coin itself. It also may have been at a slight angle when the coin was worked on and due to not being perpendicular to the cutting tool.

Are there any marks on the edges that would be the result of the coin being clamped into some sort of vise to hold it in position while it was being planed?

QN

Blackborder

<< <i>There appear to be fine, parallel lines going around the rim in the area of missing detail and this makes me think it might have been partially planed; possibly for a love token? >>



Bingo, first thing I thought.

lasvegasteddy

the size of half dimes probably gives a false size appearrence of the planning (or lathe turning) i would suspect was done for making a ring as half dimes would make a non gawdy ring size

Cladiator

To answer a few questions...

Don't own, don't plan on owning it.

No idea what the edge looks like. All I've got to go by are the pics in this thread.

A 15.5mm ring would be incredibly small, I can't imagine anyone except an infant that would be able to wear that.

lasvegasteddy

<<<A 15.5mm ring would be incredibly small, I can't imagine anyone except an infant that would be able to wear that.>>>

big rings can be bothersome and in the way

small on fingers huge off the neck saves alot of headache