1860 seated half dime with navel, is this common?

[toyonakataro]

A few days ago, I recieved a 1860 half dime from seller and noticed it had a small and round raised spot on liberty's stomach.

I checked other images of 1860 HD and noticed some have these raised sopts and some don't. Is it common for seated coinage to see these spots?

Any idea what causes these spots?

 

Navel variety

 

Another "with navel" variety

 

No navel variety

[MikeInFL]

I've seen similar artifacts on large cents that were used to space the stars/letters on the die, IIRC. But those are more in the center of the coin, and the bellybuttons on your coins are not centered. My guess is it is a die gouge, but I am anything but an expert on these coins...Mike

[Conder101]

In 1860 a new obv die was created for the half dime. There is a chance that when they made the first master die they sank the central device and then used a compass to layout the positioning of the letters of the legend. This would leave a small depression in the center of the die and a slight raised dot on the master hub and on the coins.

 

Since the master hub could be lightly polished it would be possible to polish off the raised dot, If more than one master hub was created the dot could be polished off on some and not on others.

[cpm9ball]

I was waiting for someone to try to give a reasonable explanation before I inserted my ..................................pregnancy!

 

Unfortunately, the navel is not centered on the coin so you can rule out the use of a compass to lay out the lettering.

 

Chris

[physics-fan3.14]

Well, I guess we know Miss Liberty is an outie not an innie

[toyonakataro]

I didn't know how the die is made. Thanks for filling me in, Condor101.

 

But, as Mike and Chris pointed out, the dot is not on the center of the coin and it's a bit upper left from the center.......although it's on the center of her stomach.

 

 

[cpm9ball]

although it's on the center of her stomach.

 

That looks to be about where it should be during pregnancy.

 

Chris

 

 

[MikeInFL]

If you look at this coin, you will see an example of a compass mark. It is the small dot on the left side of Liberty's ear:

 

 

You will notice that the dot is perfectly centered on the coin and was used, IIRC, to correctly place the stars on the die.

 

Because the half dime's dot isn't centered, I don't understand how it could be a compass mark.

 

Have a happy Thanksgiving...Mike

 

 

[physics-fan3.14]

Well, I looked through dozens of pictures of seated coinage on Heritage and this is what I found

 

1837 seated half dime

1862 half dime

1872 s seated half dime

1872 seated half dime

 

and it's not just on half dimes

 

1861 dime

1876 s dime

1890 quarter

 

So, is this some little known die characteristic that only shows up on well struck coins? Is it some artifact of the die making process? Is miss Liberty's gown just to thin for modesty? You tell me!

[toyonakataro]

I see possible navel in the image of 1872 half dime, but I can't find in other images.

 

I'm supposed to recieve that 1862 half dime you linked in a few weeks and have a chance to examine it in person, by the way.