Can you tell me about the MM on this Franklin please?

[KarenHolcomb]

Hi y'all. I know that there are no D/S MM's on the Franklin Half. So since there isn't any damage, that I can see, in the same area on this one I am at a loss to explain why it looks like there is an S underneath that D. I am expecting a microscope to be delivered tomorrow!!!

These are the only photos out of about 50 that were within the site parameters for uploading. I hope one of them is seeable.

[Mohawk]

Hi Karen,

First off, let me start off by saying that I am by no means an expert on Franklin Halves as I do not collect nor sell them and hopefully someone who is more knowledgeable regarding them will chime in.  That said, I think what you have is some post minting damage to the mint mark.  It looks like a regular D mintmark from that era to me that got dinged on the bottom point of the D.  I don't see anything that looks like an under S to me.  But, as I said, I am no Franklin Half expert.  I could be wrong in my assessment.

Hopefully I was of some help

~Tom

[KarenHolcomb]

47 minutes ago, Mohawk said:

Hi Karen,

First off, let me start off by saying that I am by no means an expert on Franklin Halves as I do not collect nor sell them and hopefully someone who is more knowledgeable regarding them will chime in.  That said, I think what you have is some post minting damage to the mint mark.  It looks like a regular D mintmark from that era to me that got dinged on the bottom point of the D.  I don't see anything that looks like an under S to me.  But, as I said, I am no Franklin Half expert.  I could be wrong in my assessment.

Hopefully I was of some help

~Tom

Thanks Tom/ Mohawk, which do you prefer? 

I figured as much as by now somebody would have noticed a D/S on a silver dollar, but I was dreaming again. At least it is Silver, ay.

[Mohawk]

Hi Karen,

Tom works. Mohawk is just my online persona. My eBay name is mohawk8088, and since I sell a lot of stuff on here, I use a form of Mohawk as my name here.  Plus I'm a big Gremlins fan.  And you might be surprised.  Not too long ago, a new doubled die was discovered on a 1919 Mercury Dime almost 100 years after the coin was first struck.  It escaped notice for almost a century.  So you must allow for the unexpected discovery.  And at least you have a silver half dollar.  But I stress again that I am not an expert on Franklin Halves by any stretch of the imagination.  I've never collected them (I don't really like them, personally.  But that's true of me with most US coins.  Country-wise, I tend to collect from Canada, East Germany and other Eastern Bloc countries and Turkey with the occasional US coin that depicts a bird or another animal) and I do not sell them as part of my little eBay venture.  So don't view me as any kind of a final authority here.  Maybe someone who knows Franklins better than I do will see something there that I do not.

It's like I tell my mother in law when she finds a coin that isn't a rarity or variety....keep hunting.  Eventually you'll find some treasure!

~Tom

[Just Bob]

It doesn't appear to match either of the 1952D rpms on Variety Vista, so I am going with pmd, as well.

[KarenHolcomb]

2 hours ago, Mohawk said:

Hi Karen,

Tom works. Mohawk is just my online persona. My eBay name is mohawk8088, and since I sell a lot of stuff on here, I use a form of Mohawk as my name here.  Plus I'm a big Gremlins fan.  And you might be surprised.  Not too long ago, a new doubled die was discovered on a 1919 Mercury Dime almost 100 years after the coin was first struck.  It escaped notice for almost a century.  So you must allow for the unexpected discovery.  And at least you have a silver half dollar.  But I stress again that I am not an expert on Franklin Halves by any stretch of the imagination.  I've never collected them (I don't really like them, personally.  But that's true of me with most US coins.  Country-wise, I tend to collect from Canada, East Germany and other Eastern Bloc countries and Turkey with the occasional US coin that depicts a bird or another animal) and I do not sell them as part of my little eBay venture.  So don't view me as any kind of a final authority here.  Maybe someone who knows Franklins better than I do will see something there that I do not.

It's like I tell my mother in law when she finds a coin that isn't a rarity or variety....keep hunting.  Eventually you'll find some treasure!

~Tom

Yeah, yeah, yeah...you're no expert and I will keep hunting. Lol. Didyou get you MiL into collecting? I do love hearing about the 1919 Dime. I love the Dime. Idky but they are my favorite coin. It is nice to know there's still stuff out there to be had. Thanks for your input and your time, Tom.

[KarenHolcomb]

16 minutes ago, Just Bob said:

It doesn't appear to match either of the 1952D rpms on Variety Vista, so I am going with pmd, as well.

Well Hells JB. Idt I'm ever going to find anything good. But if I'm nothing else I am patient. So I have about 2 weeks left searching all my pennies and then my patience will start to run out cause I won't have anything to keep me busy. Hohum......

[JKK]

I'd have to concur about PMD, unless your new microscope turns up evidence to the contrary.

If you want to cherrypick some more, start watching your local Craigslist for coin collections for sale. There are all sorts of people out there who think their huge jar of pennies must surely be worth big bucks. Most of them are worth more in copper than in numismatic premiums, but they can be fun to go through. Just don't overpay. But do pay fairly, with special care if the seller asserts zero numismatic knowledge. It is my view that when we present ourselves as knowledgeable and someone places trust in that knowledge, we have a high duty of fairness.

[KarenHolcomb]

5 hours ago, JKK said:

I'd have to concur about PMD, unless your new microscope turns up evidence to the contrary.

If you want to cherrypick some more, start watching your local Craigslist for coin collections for sale. There are all sorts of people out there who think their huge jar of pennies must surely be worth big bucks. Most of them are worth more in copper than in numismatic premiums, but they can be fun to go through. Just don't overpay. But do pay fairly, with special care if the seller asserts zero numismatic knowledge. It is my view that when we present ourselves as knowledgeable and someone places trust in that knowledge, we have a high duty of fairness.

I am askeered of CraigsList. Lol! I am also a believer in Karma and that if I screw somebody she will most certainly screw me back and 10x harder.

I'm so excited about my microscope coming today. My luck it will be broken.

[JKK]

4 hours ago, KarenHolcomb said:

I am askeered of CraigsList. Lol! I am also a believer in Karma and that if I screw somebody she will most certainly screw me back and 10x harder.

I'm so excited about my microscope coming today. My luck it will be broken.

Just wanted to prepare you for the moment when someone views you as a greater authority than they are, because at the rate you are going, it's nearer than you might think.

The microscope is a new education. It'll show you the flow lines of uncirculated coins. It'll show you all the little flaws on the coin you thought was hot stuff. (It still is. Unless it's evidence of damage or cleaning or alteration, flaws invisible to the naked eye don't count in grading.) It'll let you blow mint marks up to grotesque sizes. And it will definitely show you the signs of abrasive cleaning.

[Just Bob]

9 hours ago, JKK said:

 It is my view that when we present ourselves as knowledgeable and someone places trust in that knowledge, we have a high duty of fairness.

Big ol' plus 1:

+1

[Conder101]

What I see is a D mintmark that was punched very hard into the die raising a slight mound in the die face around it that wasn't subsequently removed by surafce grinding/polishing which has resulted in the mint mark sitting in a depression on the coin.  The D appears to have suffered a hit on the lower left serif resulting is a distorted area that resembles the serif of an S.  Is that what you see?

[KarenHolcomb]

13 hours ago, Conder101 said:

What I see is a D mintmark that was punched very hard into the die raising a slight mound in the die face around it that wasn't subsequently removed by surafce grinding/polishing which has resulted in the mint mark sitting in a depression on the coin.  The D appears to have suffered a hit on the lower left serif resulting is a distorted area that resembles the serif of an S.  Is that what you see?

That's where I was looking.