Here's the image...1804 Draped Bust Half Cent, Plain 4, No Stems, 65 BN

[Elcontador]

[MAULEMALL]

That Is Cool......

[DonHeath]

What a pretty coin. Looks like a very nice planchet.

[MarkFeld]

Elcontador ,

 

Tell everyone what that "thingamajig" is in the left obverse field at approximately 8:00 and what is different/special about it.

[TomB]

That's a beauty!

[Elcontador]

A seu vontade, Marcos!

 

That is something that was in/on the die when the coin was struck, which affected the planchet. I think it gives the coin some personality; Breen makes no mention of it in his discussion of this particular Half Cent.

 

Somehow, there is original mint RD in this area, even though the rest of the coin is a medium brown. Perhaps Tom B might be able to explain this, as he is a chemist and knows a bit about how metals react with one another, etc.

 

The coin is a bit lighter than the image, and the strike is better than average. There aren't many contact marks, and only one of them is in a grade sensitive area.

[James_OldeTowne]

Take a look at this half-cent:

 

 

Note - it's scanned, not photographed. As you can see, there's an odd cresecent of brilliant mint RED on the obverse lower-right. The rest of the coin is dark brown with heavy patina. I've never come up with a suitable explanation for this.

 

James