Strike-through? or post-mint damage (PMD)? 1795 half-dime

TallahasseeCoinClub · August 4, 2026 4:53AM

Opinions please, on the nature of that rather broad, depressed area over a fair portion of Liberty's face.

I am interested in this coin for research purposes only if it is a strike-through anomaly and not PMD. In case it matters, there are no evident adjustment marks.

MFeld · August 4, 2026 6:17AM

I don’t see obvious post-strike damage.

jmlanzaf · August 4, 2026 6:38AM

I vote slight damage. Appears to be some flattening in the reverse opposite.

messydesk · August 4, 2026 7:11AM

The Y and stars 9 and 10 look a little fuzzy, as if something interfered with the strike there, but that could just be a combination of weakness and noise in the image. Nothing looks like damage.

Typekat · August 4, 2026 7:28AM

It looks natural ‘as made’.
Maybe the planchet was a bit thin at the face area….?

johnny9434 · August 4, 2026 10:40AM

@Typekat said:
It looks natural ‘as made’.
Maybe the planchet was a bit thin at the face area….?

Thats what it looks like to me as well

jesbroken · August 4, 2026 11:25AM

I do not see PMD. As stated perhaps a thin spot in planchet. It appears to be an LM-5 to me, as the 5 enters the bust and the M in AMERICA, but just my opinion.
Jim

messydesk · August 4, 2026 11:32AM

@jesbroken said:
I do not see PMD. As stated perhaps a thin spot in planchet. It appears to be an LM-5 to me, as the 5 enters the bust and the M in AMERICA, but just my opinion.
Jim

LM-3. Date spacing, 5 into bust, radial crack through R in LIBERTY.

yosclimber · August 4, 2026 11:51AM

LM-3, straight from the Quick Finding Chart in the LM book.
Rev D : 2 inner 1 outer berries under left wing - narrows to LM-3, 4, 5
Obv 3 : 7 curls - narrows to LM-3

TallahasseeCoinClub · August 4, 2026 12:19PM

@yosclimber said:
LM-3, straight from the Quick Finding Chart in the LM book.
Rev D : 2 inner 1 outer berries under left wing - narrows to LM-3, 4, 5
Obv 3 : 7 curls - narrows to LM-3

Correct attribution. What is fascinating is that there are multiple existing examples that appear to show the exact same depression over Liberty's face. I propose that it was caused by something adhering to the die.

MFeld · August 4, 2026 12:37PM

@TallahasseeCoinClub said:

@yosclimber said:
LM-3, straight from the Quick Finding Chart in the LM book.
Rev D : 2 inner 1 outer berries under left wing - narrows to LM-3, 4, 5
Obv 3 : 7 curls - narrows to LM-3

Correct attribution. What is fascinating is that there are multiple existing examples that appear to show the exact same depression over Liberty's face. I propose that it was caused by something adhering to the die.

I thought I’d remembered seeing others with the same feature. I did a quick search, looking for one to post, but didn’t have any luck within the time I allotted myself.

jesbroken · August 4, 2026 4:44PM

LM-3. Date spacing, 5 into bust, radial crack through R in LIBERTY.

Thanks for info and correction @messydesk and @yosclimber. No excuse, just didn't have book and coinfacts didn't list the LM-3. Shouldn't have attempted w/o documentation but did anyway.
Jim

TallahasseeCoinClub · August 5, 2026 4:14AM

Based on the discussion above, I decided to purchase this coin - an expensive proposition but hopefully it will produce a little bit of interesting research material. Thanks for all the comments.

jacrispies · August 5, 2026 10:14AM

@TallahasseeCoinClub said:
Based on the discussion above, I decided to purchase this coin - an expensive proposition but hopefully it will produce a little bit of interesting research material. Thanks for all the comments.

Congrats on the big purchase! The surfaces and preservation are easily appreciated despite the planchet/strike defect. It has the appearance of a strikethrough. The odd texture continues from Liberty's face and out into the field and stars. I would like to hear your thoughts of that in-hand.

Curious on your last post, on what other 1795 half dimes did you see this same depression?

messydesk · August 5, 2026 11:02AM

@TallahasseeCoinClub said:
Based on the discussion above, I decided to purchase this coin - an expensive proposition but hopefully it will produce a little bit of interesting research material. Thanks for all the comments.

Not to give you buyer's remorse, but did you see this coin in hand or just from the picture? It looks very dark from the picture, such that I'm wondering if it has environmental damage.

IkesT · August 5, 2026 11:26AM

@TallahasseeCoinClub said:
Based on the discussion above, I decided to purchase this coin - an expensive proposition but hopefully it will produce a little bit of interesting research material.

Research material for whom?

TallahasseeCoinClub · August 5, 2026 11:31AM

@messydesk said:

@TallahasseeCoinClub said:
Based on the discussion above, I decided to purchase this coin - an expensive proposition but hopefully it will produce a little bit of interesting research material. Thanks for all the comments.

Not to give you buyer's remorse, but did you see this coin in hand or just from the picture? It looks very dark from the picture, such that I'm wondering if it has environmental damage.

For a research project I am not concerned about "grade" or so-called damage, provided the die-struck anomaly (which I believe it to be) is clear. It won't be a coin for resale... well, not from a profit standpoint anyhow.

@IkesT said:

@TallahasseeCoinClub said:
Based on the discussion above, I decided to purchase this coin - an expensive proposition but hopefully it will produce a little bit of interesting research material.

Research material for whom?

Myself.

BillJones · August 6, 2026 4:32AM

Is the coin flat, or is it concave/convex? If the latter, it’s PMD. If not, it was probably struck that way.

TallahasseeCoinClub · August 6, 2026 5:19AM

Bill, I do not have it in-hand yet - going to be a couple of weeks before I pick it up at our Tallahassee Coin Show. However, I am told that the reverse shows no convexity at all, and the photos seem to support that as well.

lilolme · August 6, 2026 6:31PM

This reminded me of the Morgan belly button thread.
I am not saying that is what the OP is but just that it reminded me of it. I don't know what to think of the OP coin.

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1113179/1885-o-morgan-vam-question-belly-button

TallahasseeCoinClub · August 7, 2026 5:36AM

@lilolme said:
This reminded me of the Morgan belly button thread.
I am not saying that is what the OP is but just that it reminded me of it. I don't know what to think of the OP coin.

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1113179/1885-o-morgan-vam-question-belly-button

You are onto something! I do believe the half-dime was struck off of a partially filled obverse die, caused by a strikethrough, and believe those "belly button" 1885-O dollars were similarly produced. I have run across them from time to time myself.

lilolme · August 7, 2026 2:10PM

@TallahasseeCoinClub said:

@lilolme said:
This reminded me of the Morgan belly button thread.
I am not saying that is what the OP is but just that it reminded me of it. I don't know what to think of the OP coin.

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1113179/1885-o-morgan-vam-question-belly-button

You are onto something! I do believe the half-dime was struck off of a partially filled obverse die, caused by a strikethrough, and believe those "belly button" 1885-O dollars were similarly produced. I have run across them from time to time myself.

.
On the Morgan belly buttons the information in the link indicates that they were not a filled die or struck through but something weird happened with this die or die pair. Here is the one image with some information from the previous thread. The previous thread has some links for it. While I would not say this is the same as the OP, I did think it might have some implications of what can/could occur.

Coinscratch · August 7, 2026 2:18PM

@MFeld said:

@TallahasseeCoinClub said:

@yosclimber said:
LM-3, straight from the Quick Finding Chart in the LM book.
Rev D : 2 inner 1 outer berries under left wing - narrows to LM-3, 4, 5
Obv 3 : 7 curls - narrows to LM-3

Correct attribution. What is fascinating is that there are multiple existing examples that appear to show the exact same depression over Liberty's face. I propose that it was caused by something adhering to the die.

I thought I’d remembered seeing others with the same feature. I did a quick search, looking for one to post, but didn’t have any luck within the time I allotted myself.

Here is one similar from PhotoGrade MS61.

yosclimber · August 7, 2026 9:32PM

@Coinscratch said:

@MFeld said:

@TallahasseeCoinClub said:

@yosclimber said:
LM-3, straight from the Quick Finding Chart in the LM book.
Rev D : 2 inner 1 outer berries under left wing - narrows to LM-3, 4, 5
Obv 3 : 7 curls - narrows to LM-3

Correct attribution. What is fascinating is that there are multiple existing examples that appear to show the exact same depression over Liberty's face. I propose that it was caused by something adhering to the die.

I thought I’d remembered seeing others with the same feature. I did a quick search, looking for one to post, but didn’t have any luck within the time I allotted myself.

Here is one similar from PhotoGrade MS61.

This is Obverse 7, though. (LM-8 or 9).
So it would not likely have the same die adhesions theorized for the original coin in this thread.

kaz · August 8, 2026 7:57AM

On CoinTalk, Eduard posted a very similar example
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/please-grade-this-1795-half-dime.423411/#post-26848118

WinLoseWin · August 8, 2026 4:11PM

@TallahasseeCoinClub said:
Based on the discussion above, I decided to purchase this coin - an expensive proposition but hopefully it will produce a little bit of interesting research material. Thanks for all the comments.

Hope it is certified by a service that guarantees authenticity.

I have no reason to suspect it, but see the thread on the 1797 Dime for how accepted and sometimes certified coins can be discovered not to be authentic. At least with the right slab you are guaranteed if things change.

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/14131776/#Comment_14131776

Strike-through? or post-mint damage (PMD)? 1795 half-dime

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