Lem E

Another step closer with the AWQ project. The Eleanor Roosevelt rolls came yesterday.

I finally found a 53 Philly that I liked to fill the slot in the set. Down to 4 coins to complete the 38-64 circ set.

My first coin purchase in months and it is one I didn’t already have an example of. Now down to 5 coins to complete the 38-64 set. This is the easier to find of the 2 reverses.

Here is another RPM I was able to acquire a few weeks ago. There are a ton of RPMs in the Jefferson series. The 1943 Philly coins alone have a bunch and I’m sure I will never have an example for every one of them. VP-008 / CONECA RPM-025 Mintmark repunched north of first impression.

Every once in a while I pick up varieties from the Jefferson series. Sometimes I can get them at a good price with a lower grade example such as this one. When it comes to these, I’m not looking for high grade examples. I just like to see these with my own eyes to further my education in the series. This is the FS-501 D/D RPM. CONECA lists this as the RPM-001. The mintmark was repunched east of the first impression.

In 1939 there were 2 different versions in the design of the steps. The reverse design was reworked to improve the steps. The PCGS coin you are showing is known as the Reverse of 38 which was the original design and they are generally graded as a whole unit because none of them are technically full steps. They get a little bit of leeway in the grading room. Your example is the reworked version known as the Reverse of 40 and the design is much sharper in the step area. The FS designation is very subjective between different graders. Some will give a set of steps a pass and others will be more harsh while grading. In technical terms, you should be able to see the horizontal lines in between the steps with no hits or breaks that will blend 2 steps together. There can be a small hit as long as it does not go deep enough to interrupt that line. 4 complete lines will indicate a 5 step coin and 5 lines will indicate a 6 step coin per NGC grading standards. PCGS does not differentiate between 5 and 6 steps and will just give a FS designation if they determine there are at least 5 steps. Generally with a 5 step coin the bottom line is gone and the rest of the lines above are visible. You will see coins with a full step designation that technically shouldn’t deserve it. Like I said, it is all up to how the grader sees it. The hubs and dies were reworked several times over the years and beginning around 1987 the step detail is much better and becomes much more common.