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Is my 1840-O Half Eagle a Broad Mill?
IwantNonCCs
Posts: 369 ✭✭
Bought it on message board a long time ago.
Seller said it might be a broad mill.
Always wondered, but can never find side by side pictures to compare.
Still curious.
Thanks in Advance
David
Seller said it might be a broad mill.
Always wondered, but can never find side by side pictures to compare.
Still curious.
Thanks in Advance
David
0
Comments
OK,i will ask. What is a broad mill?
Beat me to it.
OK,i will ask. What is a broad mill?
Beat me to it.
Maybe it's another word for broad struck.
It looks like my mintmark is above the "VE" of Five and not above the "V" of Five, which would knock out die 3, but unsure how to eliminate die two.
1840-O Half Eagle Coin Facts.
Latin American Collection
David
[URL=http://s1219.photobucket.com/user/jonruns/media/1840-O 5 PCGS VF20_zpsnftfgxnl.jpg.html][/URL]
[URL=http://s1219.photobucket.com/user/jonruns/media/1840O_5_P40_CAC_zpsxrrnsxwr.jpg.html][/URL]
Thank you. Guess the only real difference is the actual coin diameter? I wrongly assumed it had to do with the width of the border around the design.
David
No as DCarr said, it is both the width of the border and a slight variation in the actual coin but the mill is referring to the border.
Latin American Collection
I'm certainly no expert, but I think it is the broad mill based on the position of the mintmark...NGC recognizes the varieties and yours seems to match the Broad Mill - NGC Page.
Variety 1 (broad mill) and 2 (narrow mill) have the same mm placement. Variety 3 another narrow mill has a different mm placement.
Latin American Collection
The absence of these along with the mint mark placement can confirm a broad mill without measuring.
Latin American Collection
My YouTube Channel
If I understand correctly. Variety 1 and Variety 2 are the same, front and back except for raised scratchs between the I and B (probably due to polishing at some point, but not necessarly did the polishing occur at the same time as the change to smaller collars.
Doug Winter calls the small mill on these "medium mill," as the difference isn't as great as the philidelphia issue, I think.
From staring at the NGC picture of what they are calling a wide mill, the border looks to be the same width as the stars, while the medium/narrow mill the stars are noticably larger/wider then the border.
The stars on mine seem to match my later Orleans half eagles (1843,1844) as far as the width of the border and the comparison of size of stars to width of border.
Therefore, since I am not going to crack it out and buy a caliper to due precise measurement, I am concluding that I do NOT have a wide mill but the most common variety (Die 2)
Still, coinfacts estimate only 237 examples remain of this date.
Latin American Collection
Variety Three: Narrow Mill. The coin is 21.8 mm. in diameter. The date is lower than on Variety Two with the 1 further from the truncation. The 1 shows light repunching at its base. The mintmark is small and round. It is placed over the V in FIVE. There are raised die lines between the border and the letters in STATES. Many of the vertical stripe lines extend into the horizontal shield lines above. A light clashmark connects the right wing and the lower beak.
This variety is rare in all grades.
Latin American Collection