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 Replies: 8 / Views: 1,601 |
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Valued Member
United States
309 Posts |
Here is a nice Civil War era half dollar for your viewing pleasure. What I don't recall is the hash marks on the raised vertical lines in the shield. In heraldry those represent black and white representations (such in as steel engravings) of particular colors, when rendered in the full palette of heraldic regalia. What color do these diagonal lines tell us the vertical bars in the shield should be? I'm guessing "Red" or "Blue." Which is it? Does anyone have a colorized version of this Seated Liberty motif?   |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
4911 Posts |
im not completely sure what you are asking but the bars are supposed to be red and the top is blue.
Feel free to call me Will.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1801 Posts |
I have several half dollars from the 1860's and none of mine exhibit the lines through the vertical bars of the shield. That feature would concern me on the coin.
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
Yeah, I'm kind of in the weeds here.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1566 Posts |
The diagonal slash marks are not normal.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1625 Posts |
I checked a number of '61s on Heritage and didn't find any with those lines. My GUESS would be some type of post mint damage.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6370 Posts |
What he's asking is: if the shields were colored (or in teal life), what color would the bars be?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
The colors used in heraldry are Or (gold), Argent (silver), Azure (blue), Gules (red), Purpure (purple), Sable (black), and Vert (green). These are represented in drawings by dots, plain, horizontal lines, vertical lines, right diagonal lines, cross hatch lines, and left diagonal lines.
If the crossed lines are on the coin and were done by the mint they would probably be considered to be sable. Sometimes lines that that can appear on the lines of the shield due to the photography. This is due to an interference between the lines on the image and the grid arrangement of its presentation. These lines are an example of a moire pattern.
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Valued Member
 United States
309 Posts |
Let me speak plainly. This coin t'aint right. The vertical lines in the shield have been given diagonal slashes, but in a regular pattern, neatly done, and I think for a reason. My guess was that someone (perhaps a newspaper illustrator who works with steel engravings) spent some time during a boring day in the Civil War with a graver to "improve" Longacre's Seated Liberty design by carving the supposed to be "red stripes" with a diagonal "shading" pattern that I wondered if anyone could confirm as the B&W representation of "red." Or perhaps blue? So is the consensus that horizontal shading on the top of the shield represents a field of blue over alternating red and white stripes? I know patriotic postal covers might have a similar "Union Shield" illustrated in color that ought to lend evidence about whether the diagonal lines have a colorful meaning, or are simply meaningless PMD. |
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Replies: 8 / Views: 1,601 |
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Posted 03/26/2015 9:06 pm
