1947 Fifty Cent Varieties

My contribution to the Maple Leaf, a straight 7



According to the Special Section at the back of the 2014 Charlton #68, the details of known variety are:
Round back 9, Wide date, Low straight 4 (as opposed to the flared 4), straight 7/7/7

And that's what I see in my photo, seems all also have a die chip in the "4", the tripling is most evident on the inside of the "7".

As for the far more valuable 1947 Maple leaf, curved 7:
Flat back 9, narrow date, Straight 4, Curved 7 (no doubling)

Here are my 3

MG

1947 50 Cents Straight 7

Round Back 9, Wide Date, Straight 4, Straight 7/7 Die 6 R448f







1947 50 Cents Curved 7

Flat Back 9, Narrow Date, Straight 4, Curved 7, Die 8






1947 Maple Leaf 50 Cents

Round Back 9, Low straight 4, Straight 7/7/7
(top corner of 4 broken die)

Silver Dons 7/7 is the die that was repunched with the maple leaf.

Oh I just discovered I'm unable to add the variety to my photos because it's more than one day.

Oh well, here goes - 6 photos in my above post.

1. Amending it to Die 9, the same as Jimmy's example.
2. Die 8 - Narrow date, curved 7
3. Die 11 - Wide date, curved 7/7
4. Die 6 - Wide date, straight 7/7
5. Die 6 again
6. Die 4 - Wide date, straight 7/7

I'd very much appreciate confirmation or otherwise.......going cross-eyed. What a cool variety 1947 is though!

wildflowerAB
Looking at your variety listing of your 6-1947's,
the only one I would question is #2 which you have as Die 8.
I think this should be another Die 9.
Die 8 has a lower 4.
This is only my observation though, don't take it as 100%

A true story

I grew up on a small town and my father and several of his friends collected coin. When I was quite young in and around 1965 I recall a hot local debate over 1947s 50c --- of the "7"s, which was curved and which was the straight variety?

Eventually it seems the majority of locals had become convinced that straight was curved and curved was straight. Particularly with the rare ML curved 7 variety, maybe they thought they'd lucked out on a little pot at the end of the rainbow, I don't know. But indeed the description is rather confusing and I notice I tend to get it backwards as well.

Anyway, my dad for whatever reason took it upon himself to finally settle the great debate. I don't remember which side he was on but I do recall going with him to visit the coin store in Red Deer, about an hour away by gravel roads at the time. I think Mr Tippie was the coin-man's name and I remember watching fascinated as he patiently and carefully drew these pictures of "7's" on a paper:




There must have been an accompanying catalogue or list of some sort #1 - 4 to correspond with his drawings, which my dad took back home to show others for definite proof of what was what.

A few decades later, I was utterly surprised to find that he had kept this paper for almost 30 more years, even though by then he often purchased Charlton catalogues. I suppose to him it was an amusing memory as well. On the paper I also notice Mr Tippie added some prices, good salesman that he was, and I also vaguely recall that my dad became very interested in purchasing the ML curved variety for quite some time but he was disappointed that there was absolutely none to be found. In those days, without Internet or email it's difficult to imagine now, but it must have been a real challenge for collectors who didn't reside near large urban centres with numerous coin shops.

So this 50 or so year old drawing has now become my amusing memory and it's also the reason why the 1947 50c is my favourite variety of all. In it is perhaps a lesson - don't throw away absolutely every piece of paper if it might be memorable to others in future years...