New Variety Recognized for U.S. Philippines Half Dollar
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PCGS now recognizes over 100 different varieties within the various U.S. Philippines series. The most recent variety is the 1944-S 50C Obverse of 1907-1921. There are four main differences to look for to determine if your coin has the Obverse of 1907-1921. Pictured below are both examples.
Check out the link for an even closer look at these key differences: https://www.pcgs.com/news/pcgs-recognizes-1944s-50c-us-philippines-obverse
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Comments
How do we get PCGS to recognize different types of US coins?
The normal obverse looks like it was struck from a heavily worn die. Are there 44-S halves that have better detail where the comparison still holds up? The texture of the volcano and its separation from the S in CENTAVOS seems to be the most sure-fire difference. The relief of the volcano also seems higher in the normal obverse, but that could be an illusion.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
The so-called "Normal" obverse looks like it was struck from a die hubbed by a rather worn-out hub, The other coin looks like it was struck from a die hubbed by a relatively new hub. Look at 1968 vs. 1969 Lincoln cents for comparison.
I wonder if the so-called 1907-1921 hub coin was struck from a die actually hubbed during the 1907-1921 period and retained in the Philadelphia Mint's die vault for 20+ years, perhaps for reference, or if Philadelphia made a new hub in 1944 from the original artwork?
Agree
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
Looking at additional halfs of 1918-19 and 1945 on CF, the most obvious difference to me is the presence or lack thereof of a small "knob" on the left slope of the volcano. In addition, the left edge of the caldera is higher than the right edge on one variety, of same height in the other.
Ed. S.
(EJS)
I wonder how common this will turn out to be. I have but one example of this date and mm and it appears to be the mule...If my luck holds it will most likely it will be more common than the non-mule.
bob