1945 50 Cent Variety

One comment about this particular sample, at some point in time it's appears as its been dipped:-( But no, I'm not noticing any obvious clashmarks. Any particular location?

Thanks for your comments pg!

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Trivia -
I think it's interesting to look at 50c mintages and imagine a time 70 years ago..... In 1945 WW2 came to an end......
1943 - 3,109,583
1944 - 2,460,205
1945 - 1,959,528
1946 - 950,235
1947 - 424,885
1947ML - 38,433
1948 - 37,784
1949 - 858,991
It wasn't until 1950 that production increased. The 50c appears to have been far more common in circulated coin during that era compared to silver dollars.
$1.00
1939 - 1,363,816
1940 to 1944 - none
1945 - 38,391
1946 - 93,055
1947 - 65,595
1947ML - 21,135
1948 - 18,780
1949 - 672,218

For that reason I'd speculate there many 50c collections still being passed down through the generations by parents and grandparents and for that reason I hope some of these 50c threads may serve as a helpful reference to others. It certainly was to me - I'd go so far as to say it was attempting to determine varieties of 50c that got me hooked into furthering the collection that I was given, as opposed to selling it. Adding examples is my way of giving back and I look forward for other forum members sharing in the same way as well:-)

After the point of no return, I was missing afew of the wide and narrow date varieties. So I began searching ebay to buy at a reasonable price. As very few sellers identity 50c varitities and often photos can be misleading several times what I thought I bought didn't turn out to be. Other times what I'd already identified in my collection was proven wrong. I never returned any, just added it to my other duplicates. Now I finally understand why it was no simple task. Later I decided to add some hoof through varieties, they're far more obvious!

Now that I'm becoming aware of even more varieties, I don't see an immediate end in sight.

Interesting to reflect on though, 50c once very common, then slowly and quietly becoming extinct while at the same time the lower decimals flourished, until the end of the penny of course.

Here's a few more 1945 varieties. The description is above each photo.

A flat 9, narrow date and with a trace of 5/5 above the tail of the "5".
Zoell R446h




Round 9, still narrow but not quite as narrow as that above. also 5/5 with the top of the 5 rotated 30deg clockwise.
Zoell 446b




Flat 9, wide date and the tip of the 5 is quite blunted.
Zoell J446d




A cool die crack and filling.
Zoell minor FP446n

You're very welcome Rockfish. Part of my personal mission is to learn to take better photos and it surely doesn't come easy.

Anyone with any '45s to share, feel free to add them here. If you're unsure of your variety, no problem!

Here are a couple more one with the five nearly touching the ring and the other is touching it.
Are these both considered wide date?
I know that it was only the last two digits that were hand punched into the die but were there two different masters used? Maybe just an illusion but take a look at the spacing between the one and nine on these two.

Cheers, Bill

Hounddog Bill, I also notice that the gap between the "1" and the "9" appears to be abnormally wide in your last photo. If it's an accurate pic of the coin, I'm hoping pginrh might comment on why that might be. None of my '45s reveal variance in spacing aside from the placement of the last two digits.

Your first photo may be Zoell major variety R446g - a very nice narrow date, flatback 9, with a high 5. "5/5 inside loop and on tail of 5".

The last two photos appear to be both wide dates and indeed, your photographic skills are nothing to sneeze at (that's an old saying, if others don't know, means A-OK)