Okay, here goes...
Starting, obviously, with the reverse. What can we see? Certainly the rings and the band (the center ring with STATES and UNITED incuse). These elements are the same on almost all Fugio reverse dies; they're stamped from a master hub, and the new die only becomes unique when WE ARE ONE is punched in.
Believe it or not, the rings on a Fugio are not perfectly symmetrical. In particular, one of the links is more narrow than the others, like the rings are cutting into each other. This one is visible at about 90 degrees on your bottom pic. The letters on the center band always line up the same way with the rings, and we can still see the deep uprights of the two T's in STATES:
Most Fugios have WE ARE ONE punched in so that STATES is left, and UNITED right, so looking for letters in the mess in the center oriented that way, there looks to be an O-shaped blob pressed up close against the band between T-A. What reverses have the O in ONE in about that position? P... S... but M looked particularly good. Nice thing about M is, the late die states are heavily clashed, with the negative image of the exergue (the section with MIND YOUR BUSINESS) clearly visible in the rings at top of the reverse:
In case of any doubts, here's the M reverse, rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise:
One side down! The M reverse was only paired with three obverses, 12, 19, and 22. 19 was likely used first in the minting; it's not found with this clashed state of M. Newman is of the opinion that 22-M is likely always found in "medal turn." I think your second pic is right-side-up, and we can see the ghost of the exergue:
So, hold the coin top and bottom this way up with thumb and forefinger, and rotate. If the reverse clash I showed you is at the top, probably 22-M. If it's at the bottom, probably 12-M.
Now, that's what I call fun!
Posted 06/27/2013 7:59 pm
