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 Replies: 25 / Views: 4,466 |
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New Member
United States
47 Posts |
hello everyone, I am new to this community and this is my first post. I recently ran across what looks like a one sided 1976 Kennedy proof, as is in one side is mirror like and the other side has the appearance of a regular business strike. At first I thought it was painted or something, but lacquer thinner did not touch it at all and %90 of paints would melt a little with lacquer thinner, then I thought perhaps it is plated with another material. But weighing it turned out to be the same weight as another type of that same coin (11.3 grams). I figured that if it were plated with some material the weight would be a little higher. So at this point I am a little stumped as to what this error is and whether or not it is a true error coin or a post-process "after-the-fact" addition to the original coin. I am not familiar enough with the process of making proofs to know whether this is even possible. Any thoughts?   |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7840 Posts |
 It's not a proof...highly polished, or chrome plated...no "S" mint mark Edited by oih82w8
04/10/2012 12:05 am
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
Benny: First of all, Welcome to the CCF!
I am not surprised you are a little stumped!
My guess is that the obverse die was polished but not later etched to produce the cameo effect. This die was put into the coining press with a normal business die.
The fact that it has no 'S' mint mark suggests that the die was never intended to be a proof die.
I have a suspicion that a few were struck like this before the mistake was found, and a normal obverse business die installed into the coining press instead. The wrongly struck coins should all have been removed to be melted, and not left the Mint. This one seems to have escaped from the Mint.
If that is the case, this piece is a Mint error.
Normally, proof coins are struck with dies that have polished fields, and the planchets are also specially prepared by polishing the surfaces. In this case, a normal business non polished business planchet would have been used.
Perhaps some evidence of this can be found by much closer examination of your coin in the hand.
Edited by sel_69l
04/10/2012 12:07 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1302 Posts |
It is possible, only remotely so, that a proof dies could have been used. I have seen this happen only once in person and that was not for a Kennedy Half- but it was a 1970s era coin.
If you believe the coin was not tampered with- and that the proof side (yours has no cameo- that would be something that would cause me some concern) of your coin is real- then send it into ANACS for grading and attribution.
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Rest in Peace
United States
1943 Posts |
I agree the coin was polished or plated or both and it has nothing to do with the dies.
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Valued Member
United States
304 Posts |
Quote:
I agree the coin was polished or plated or both and it has nothing to do with the dies.
I agree as well, but the evidence may lie in what the edges/reeding looks like. Can you post a clear pic of the reeding on the side of this coin? |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
It doesn't really look like a proof. The coin has been polished or plated.
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Moderator
 United States
188892 Posts |
to the Community! I am with the consensus here, polished or plated. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2224 Posts |
It does not look like a proof from the era from which it was made. Most mid-70's proofs are full cameo, and if this was, as described above, a coin in which a Proof die was used in error and then changed, it being such an early Proof strike the cameo effect should be very pronounced. I would have to go with plated; proofs just didn't look like this in the mid 70's unless the dies had been well used.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
62064 Posts |
It is a polished coin. If it were plated it would look the same one both sides.
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Moderator
United States
188892 Posts |
It is possible to plate only one side, but I do feel it is very unlikely that anyone would have made that effort.
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New Member
 United States
47 Posts |
Dear All,
Thank you for all your informative replies. I myself thought plated as well, but if that were the case the weight would be fractionally higher but it is not. Both coins in the photo weigh 11.3 grams (i.e. both the coin in question and the one next to it that I included for a comparison).
Then I too thought polished, but if that were the case the high points would be pretty pronouncedly worn and while the coin shows signs of having circulated it is not really worn much ...
Later tonight I will try to take a half-way decent photo of the reading (edge) and post it to see what the thoughts are on it.
Thanks again for all your input.
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Moderator
United States
188892 Posts |
Quote:
I myself thought plated as well, but if that were the case the weight would be fractionally higher but it is not The actual amount of metal added during the plating process (even if it were on both sides) is insignificant. The total weight should stay within tolerance. Quote:
Later tonight I will try to take a half-way decent photo of the reading (edge) and post it to see what the thoughts are on it. Excellent!  |
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New Member
United States
47 Posts |
Hello again, once again thank you for all of your reviews thus far. I have now taken photos of the reeding (edge) of the coin. The first photo is of the coin in question, the second is of a regular business strike, in both photos the "heads" side of the coin is facing upwards. Hopefully these are decent enough to view here. I appreciate any opinions based on these added pictures. Just to add, in vignette. Based on everyone's feedback and data. I see the following: - I don't think it is plated. The reasons to support this view are: A) The weight is the same as a regular business strike coin (11.3 grams) plating the coin would increase the weight slightly. This not being the case I rule out the possibility of the coin having been plated. B) Doing a one sided plating job would be extremely hard (in my humble opinion) - I know a lot of folks thought the coin had been polished. If it was only "shiny" then I would concur, but the thing is that it is mirror like -- not just shiny. Even inside the small "o" in the "in god we trust" inscription. Now I have done a lot of polishing of metals (aluminum, stainless) and even had to bring some of it up to near mirror like level. How anyone could polish a minute area (like that inside the "o") boggles me. I don't think it is possible (perhaps under a microscope with minute polishing tools and many hard hours... but then that is stretching it a little don't you think?) But then to say it is a bonafide one-sided proof is also not correct, the reason for this is: A) The only proofs made of this coin were in the San Fran Mint, however this coin bears no "S" mint mark B) The actual JFK head is not cameo Thus I would conclude that when this coin was struck the die had not been sandblasted yet (I read that this is done prior to minting with the die when making business strike coins) and thus left a mirror like impression on the coin in question here. I am not sure what type of error category this would then fall into... or if this reasoning is sound but that is what conclusion I have been able to arrive @ based on all the data I have been able to get and evaluate. Whats your take on that? (Sorry to go on for so long)   |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
There is no such kind of error, the coin is just polished. The closest thing to what you describe are proof-like or deep mirror proof-like coins from very early state or polished dies (most well known from Morgan dollars). They can affect a single side of a coin, but they look nothing at all like your coin. It is very, very common to find polished and plated half dollars. I have at least half a dozen in my junk box. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Quote:
A) The weight is the same as a regular business strike coin (11.3 grams) plating the coin would increase the weight slightly. This not being the case I rule out the possibility of the coin having been plated. How do you know it is not the case? If it was plated you don't know what it weighed before it was plated. A clad half can weigh any where from 10.89 grams to 11.79 grams and still be within mint tolerances. So there is no way to know if the weight has been changed or not. Quote:
B) Doing a one sided plating job would be extremely hard (in my humble opinion) Take coin, paint one side with melted wax. Let cool. Plate coin. Warm coin and remove wax. Very simple. Dies are not typically polished to mirror finish at the mint. Usually they are shipped to the Canadian mint, polished and then sent on to San Francisco. Where would a polished Philadelphia die have come from? Slight chance it was shipped to Canada by accident, polished, noticed and returned to Philadelphia before sandblasting. But why would they have used it in that condition? And if they did there would be a lot more of these known. It is an interesting piece though. |
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Replies: 25 / Views: 4,466 |
Posted 04/10/2012 12:05 am
