Posted 05/13/2012 07:20 am
Hi wert
I've collected these 1977 1$ short waterline varieties for years now and I've found that there are degrees of variation in the length of waterline, both on the front and the rear of the canoe. They can range from short lines, medium lines, full length lines, lines that just barely touch the canoe, others where they make full contact, cases where one or two touch and the others do not, and even times where the ends of the lines at the front of the canoe nearest the beads are quite strong but near the canoe are quite weak. To my mind these varieties look like a progression of over-polished dies rather than a spot or two of grease on the die. SPP is correct in his reasons for loss of detail on various coins, but the rest of the detail on the reverse of the 1977 dollars always seem to be pretty strong throughout, so IMO the varities you're describing are a result of good old over-zealous polishing.
And is that a nice chain die crack running through the beads I see in your coin?! Doubly sweet! And check for attached beads/not attached beads on the queen's crown on the obverse. There's a couple of minor varieties there, too, in the "distance" the beads appear to be from their mounting.
Hope this helps!
I've collected these 1977 1$ short waterline varieties for years now and I've found that there are degrees of variation in the length of waterline, both on the front and the rear of the canoe. They can range from short lines, medium lines, full length lines, lines that just barely touch the canoe, others where they make full contact, cases where one or two touch and the others do not, and even times where the ends of the lines at the front of the canoe nearest the beads are quite strong but near the canoe are quite weak. To my mind these varieties look like a progression of over-polished dies rather than a spot or two of grease on the die. SPP is correct in his reasons for loss of detail on various coins, but the rest of the detail on the reverse of the 1977 dollars always seem to be pretty strong throughout, so IMO the varities you're describing are a result of good old over-zealous polishing.
And is that a nice chain die crack running through the beads I see in your coin?! Doubly sweet! And check for attached beads/not attached beads on the queen's crown on the obverse. There's a couple of minor varieties there, too, in the "distance" the beads appear to be from their mounting.
Hope this helps!
