Specimen Dies Used In Production - 1948 50c Obverse

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Author	Replies: 3 / Views: 1,576
kbbpll Pillar of the Community United States 4233 Posts	Posted 02/28/2023 01:43 am I've had a 1948 50c for most of my life, recently graded MS63 by ANACS. It's struck well enough to have a lot of distinct die polish features visible, so I looked for them in specimen images. Yup, the RCM used the obverse die for circulation strikes. The features in the images below are from an SP66 Convex. I found the same features on multiple other SP Convex examples. It was difficult to find MS coin images good enough to show these. My coin has all of them, but I don't have images (i.e. trust me). The intriguing question for me is, since the SP die is convex, are the circulation coins also convex? Die lines from O to rim and across the inside of E, SP66 left, MS64 right. Mine also shows the line from inside G to E. Group of die lines at bridge of nose, long vertical die line extending from tip of nose. My coin has all of these, but the MS64 (right) doesn't show them all. Pair of die lines extending from X; mine distinctly shows these. Die lines at bust near HP; my MS63 matches exactly. Report this Post to the Staff

Dollar 1935 Valued Member Canada 321 Posts	Posted 02/28/2023 3:41 pm Very nice discovery again Kbbpll! I've seen a few 25c 1948 designed as specimen with what seems to be a Business strike reverse die, I wonder if its similar to this one... ''Buy the very best, stretch to buy it. It means if you can't afford to buy it, buy it anyway." -Steven Duckor Edited by Dollar 1935 02/28/2023 5:04 pm Report this Post to the Staff
SPP-Ottawa Moderator Canada 10458 Posts	Posted 02/28/2023 7:30 pm For some years, it was the other way around. The RCM took production dies and polished/over polished them like crazy to then strike specimen coins on polished planchets. You can see the strong die trails on the reverse of this 1951 specimen cent, and the removal of details on the obverse, like the bridge of the nose. "Discovery follows discovery, each both raising and answering questions, each ending a long search, and each providing the new instruments for a new search." -- J. Robert Oppenheimer Content of this post is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses...0/deed.en_US My eBay store Report this Post to the Staff
kbbpll Pillar of the Community United States 4233 Posts	Posted 03/01/2023 10:42 pm I'm curious if you or anyone have any comment on the fact that this die produced both convex specimen coins and circulation strikes. Both concave and convex specimens were produced for the 1948 50c and I've always found that quite interesting. The concave specimens are fully struck on the reverse, perhaps due to the curvature of the die(s), whereas on the convex ones the reverse is weakly struck in the lion's paw and upper left shield. The same weakness is seen on many/most circulation coins. To your point about die polishing @SPP-Ottawa, I've noted that the reverse of the convex specimens (left) have detail below the lion's leg and inside the C that is missing from the reverse of the concave specimens (right). Here's a related quiz. This old HA auction from 2006 https://coins.ha.com/itm/canada/wor...bnail-071515 of a 1947 50c Maple Leaf Curved Right 7, says in part Quote: The obverse dies were later used to strike the concave version of the 1948 Specimen 50 Cent. True or false? Report this Post to the Staff
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