1871-S Half Dime: Now In PCGS Plastic!

My Half Dime has had an interesting journey. Hopefully a few Forum members will enjoy the story.

I wonder if anyone remembers this coin? I posted it early last year, as my first topic for CCF. It was an ebay purchase that was slabbed as MS-63 PL (proof-like) by PCI. Here are the original images from February, 2007:





I originally posted it to ask for opinions because it looked "dished" inside the slab. The obverse bulged out towards the viewer while the reverse looking somewhat concave or sunken. There was no visible edge or surface damage or any crease that I could detect. I don't think the forum reached any consensus about whether it was damaged, but I later sent it to NGC for crossover. They determined it was "bent" and would not put it in their plastic. At that point I figured PCI had slabbed a problem coin and I had made a bad purchase.

I recently cracked the coin out and examined it closely. I still could not find any visible surface or edge damage, but when placed obverse-side down on a flat surface it would easily rock back and forth. When placed reverse down, it was rock-steady. Possibly it wasn't a bent coin in the usual sense of being folded, but clearly it was not flat like a normal coin.

I wouldn't want to sell my Half Dime without identifying it as a problem coin and I figured that as such it would only be worth a fraction of what I paid. Therefore, I decided to attempt a repair.

We have a manual arbor press at work that we use for punching out samples of filter sheets. It can apply a couple hundred pounds of pressure over a small area. I figured that might be enough force to flatten out the bend in my coin. I put the coin between two pieces of canvas (cut from a coin bag) and put flat rubber sheets above and below the canvas. I put that assembly on the press, in between two steel plates. I pulled on the press handle for a few seconds, then removed the coin and checked. The bend was still obvious. I returned it to the press and applied more pressure. Gradually I was able to flatten it to the point that it would lie flat on both obverse and reverse. I could not find any indication that this repair process had caused new problems. The question now: had I successfully eliminated the problem? I figured PCGS would be able to make that call.

I included my coin in my latest PCGS submission and lo and behold, no problem! It's now safely back in my collection, graded MS-63 by the top TPG.

I'd call that a happy ending!