1959 Broken S Roosevelt Dime

[Mr. Smith Guesser]

Does anyone know anything about the Broken S of JS that can be found on the 1959 Roosevelt dimes? (as seen below)

 

 

The only reference to it that I've ever seen is on RichardsRooseveltReview.com: here

 

The only thing that's mentioned there is this:

There appears to be some deterioration of the designer's initials on the coins from 1959. They are often indistinct and the "S" may appear to be little more than a blob. On many examples, the bottom of the "S" is broken off. This "broken S" is also found on the proof issues of 1959. It would seem that the origin of this problem is likely to be from an imperfect hub.

I've found a handful of other examples on eBay. Here's one:

 

But, as you probably know, eBay photos are not always so clear, so trying to make out the details of the tiny JS initials are often impossible.

 

Here's what I want to know...

 

Has any writer mentioned it in any book or anywhere else? It's not mentioned in Kevin Flynn's The Authoritative Reference on Roosevelt Dimes. It's not in Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins that I could find. It's not listed as a variety by CONECA, Fivaz-Stanton, Wexler/Miller, or any other variety book or website that I've seen. As already mentioned, the only reason that I became aware of it was through RichardsRooseveltReview.com.

 

The examples that I've found on eBay have all been on 1959-P dimes. Even though RRR mentions that it can be found on proof coins, I haven't seen one. Can they also be found on Denver-mint dimes?

 

If RRR is correct about that "the origin of this problem is likely to be from an imperfect hub," could this be considered as a "variety"?

[cpm9ball]

Since you state that RRR is the only resource that mentions it, perhaps the others feel that it is not sufficiently significant to list as a variety.

 

Chris

[World Colonial]

Since you state that RRR is the only resource that mentions it, perhaps the others feel that it is not sufficiently significant to list as a variety.

 

Chris

 

This was my thought. How many recognized varieties are there for the 1959 FDR dime?

[Mr. Smith Guesser]

Since you state that RRR is the only resource that mentions it, perhaps the others feel that it is not sufficiently significant to list as a variety.

 

Chris

 

This was my thought. How many recognized varieties are there for the 1959 FDR dime?

Yeah, I also didn't think it was significant enough to be listed as a variety. But was wondering if it could be considered as a variety...not that it will be...but if it was the result of an imperfect hub would qualify it as a variety. And also, if it is discussed anywhere else in more detail.

 

As far as varieties on the 1959 dime, yeah, there are already quite a few. CONECA lists:

 

1959-P: 3 DDRs

1959-D: 1 DDR and 4 RPMs

1959 Proof: 3 DDOs and 4 DDRs

[cpm9ball]

Since you state that RRR is the only resource that mentions it, perhaps the others feel that it is not sufficiently significant to list as a variety.

 

Chris

 

This was my thought.

 

Despite this, I think I would still keep it. I might even consider having it graded with the Mint Error noted on the insert. Who knows! Maybe one day down the road, it will be listed as a variety. That's what happened to me with the 2005-S KS Silver SQ. It was originally attributed as a Mint Error, but 7 years later, it was added to the CPG as FS-901 and it became the Top Pop.

 

Chris

[World Colonial]

Only eight? With a mintage of about 87 million, I thought there might be more. When extrapolated to the entire series, this potentially results in several hundred just for the silver 1946-1964. By my standards, that is a very large number especially when I doubt I would consider any of them that different from any others.

 

However, I agree with Chris, keep it anyway and see what happens.

[CaptHenway]

It does appear to be the result of a chipped hub. I have never heard it mentioned before. This may or may not indicate that there is little or no interest in it.

 

It is possible that one or more working dies from this hub in this state may have made it to Denver. However, it is also very possible that all of the dies made from this hub in this state were made in one batch that, through the luck of the draw, were assigned to Philadelphia. I can't imagine that the hub was used for long in this state before the defect was noticed and the hub retired.