Full Strike Details

Full details can enhance coin's value

2/6/2006

By Mark Ferguson
COIN VALUES Market Analyst

Full-strike details are often sought after when collecting Mint State, or Uncirculated, coins. Weakly struck areas on a coin are often mistaken for wear, especially for some circulated coins in the Extremely Fine or About Uncirculated grades. Many, but not all, of these details have designations that, when present, add greatly to a coin's value.

You may be familiar with many of these designations. The most popular are found on 20th century coins: "full steps" for Jefferson 5-cent coins, "full bands" for Winged Liberty Head dimes, "full head" for Standing Liberty quarter dollars and "full bell lines" on Franklin half dollars.

Coins possessing these full strike characteristics can be worth two or three times the values of coins graded the same without those characteristics, or even more than 10 times the value of coins without those characteristics.

Full strikes are rare on the very common Franklin half dollars minted during their last few years of issuance, in the early 1960s. In part that's because when the reverse master die was reworked for 1960 (it had worn from being used every year since 1948 to make working hubs), Mint technicians did not restore the two sets of horizontal lines on the bells to their original 1948 strength. It took an exceptional strike to form full bell lines on the 1960s Franklin half dollars, so full bell line examples are extremely scarce for these otherwise common Franklin half dollars. Mint State 65 Franklin half dollars, without and with full bell lines, respectively, go from $160 to $1,800 for 1962 coins, and from $60 to $1,000 for 1963 coins.

Pre-1960 examples can be rare, and expensive, as well.

To illustrate an extreme example of a very common coin that is very rare when fully struck, the 1953-S Franklin half dollar is almost nonexistent with full bell lines. The Coin Values Valuing Section lists a 1953-S Franklin half dollar at $75 in Mint State 65 (without full bell lines) and at an amazing $11,000 in MS-65 with full bell lines!

Another extreme example in a different series is the very common 1945 Winged Liberty Head dime. It lists for a mere $25 in Mint State 65 without full bands, and a whopping $8,000 in MS-65 with full bands. The bands involved are the cross-bands running horizontally across the fasces on the reverse of the dime. It has been said that these full bands should replicate the distinctiveness of the golden arches of McDonald's restaurants with a full, rounded set of split cross-bands.

In addition to the commonly sought after designations for the coins mentioned, many discriminating collectors also look at other full-strike details. For example, on the Indian Head 5-cent coin, fastidious collectors look for fully struck up hair just above the knot in the braid near the Indian's chin. Full hair on the bison's head, along with a full horn, is also sought, as are full hair on the bison's shoulder and a split in its tail. Some date and Mint mark issues regularly are found with all these strong details, and are not worth additional premiums. However, those issues that are normally found weakly struck are worth very strong premiums when encountered with fully struck details.

Even fully struck coins in series for which no full-strike designations exist can bring a premium. For example, fully struck breast feathers on a Morgan silver dollar's eagle, and well-struck hair over the ear on the Morgan dollar's Liberty portrait, are characteristics collectors look for. Standard price guides do not use separate grading columns for well-struck examples of Morgan dollars, but such pieces bring premiums over typically struck pieces nonetheless.

It's important to recognize that grading services often will not give a coin a higher grade, when it seems deserving, if these areas are weakly struck on a Morgan dollar (and for some, like New Orleans Branch Mint dollars, Liberty's hair and the eagle's breast feathers are usually weakly struck). For example, a Morgan silver dollar that's equally free of contact marks and abrasions as a similar coin graded MS-65, may only receive a grade of MS-64 because of soft striking in these areas.

So, if you want to form an outstanding collection, these striking details, among others, are what discriminating collectors look for. You can learn about the characteristics of each series that interest you by reading specialty books, looking at numerous coins, discussing a series with dealers and fellow collectors, and using your gut instincts.