Error Experts... what caused this? (Franklin Half)

thecoinlook

I am sure some are going to come right out and say PMD, and at first I thought it was.

But I took to one local error expert, and he said get it checked out further.

I showed it to Larry Briggs and after inspecting it for a good 10 minutes and discussing with someone else, they said it definitely happened at the mint, but couldn't explain why.

I overheard "dropped letters", but Briggs said it still didn't explain something about it.

Anyone here have any ideas as to what happened?

Thanks!

LoveMyLiberty

Please show the whole coin, obv/rev. in large image.

lordmarcovan

Interesting.

I'm no expert by a long stretch, but it doesn't look like PMD to me. And yet I'll be danged if I could explain it.

PS- funny how y'all's two avatars are practically mirror images of one another.

CaptHenway

A "dropped letters" scenario would go something like this:

Prior to this coin, a scrap of metal got onto the reverse die. Could have been a piece laminated off of a struck coin, or a stray piece of metal. It was struck into the reverse die and received a raised "ALF" or perhaps a bit more. After that strike it moved up a bit and was struck under a new planchet. It was pressed into the reverse die and got a second image of "ALF." It then moved up a bit more and was struck under this coin. The two raised images of "ALF" were indented into this coin, which left the dies and entered circulation.

That is a strong possibility, but I would want to see the coin first before saying it was so.

TD

CaptMorgan

Is it the only area of the coin effected?

frnklnlvr

Have you found out anything about this yet?

errormaven

I agree with Captain Henway's analysis, although the error he describes would not be a "dropped letter". A dropped letter is produced when a plug of compacted die fill falls out of a recess in the die face and onto a planchet. It is one of several sources of normally-oriented, incuse design elements.

In the case of this half dollar, the incuse letters were probably caused by a thin, multi-struck metal fragment. As CH says, it could have been a flake off of a planchet. But there are any number of other sources of thin metal wafers.

CaptHenway

I was explaining the concept of "dropped letters" as quoted from above, and think that "dropped letters" (plural) would still be a correct term because the two letters retained their relationship to each other, but if you wish to say "struck thru thin struck fragment" that would be correct also.
TD

errormaven

You can sometimes find conjoined dropped letters and even large patches of contiguous dropped fillings, but to warrant the term "dropped filling", they must have been produced by a large areas of detached, compacted die fill. True conjoined dropped fillings are rare, while normally-oriented incuse design elements derived from thin, multi-struck metal fragments, detached die cap bottoms, and dislodged die caps are fairly common.

I believe my use of the term "dropped filling" conforms to the overwhelming consensus on how the term should be defined. But I have seen alternative and more expansive definitions. Non-standard applications of well-established terms is a perpetual problem in the hobby.

CaptHenway

"Dropped filling" would obviously result from a filling that dropped out of (or popped up from) a die, but "dropped letters" is a different term.

cmerlo1

I once owned a lincoln cent that was struck through a thin shifted die cap, that had an effect that looked like that (although it was the entire obverse of the coin). Could it be that a fragment picked up several impressions (shifting a little each time) and was then thin enough that the impression was pushed into the surface?

errormaven

<< <i>"Dropped filling" would obviously result from a filling that dropped out of (or popped up from) a die, but "dropped letters" is a different term. >>



As I understand it, "dropped filling" is a general term that encompasses dropped letters, dropped numbers, and dropped anything else.