76 Ike dollar What think it’s not. Any thoughts? 1 1

[Posso]

Hi all

I came across this, any thoughts, it’s always not what I think it is, it’s also struck off center. Any thoughts? 😃

Edited December 9, 2022 by Posso

[JKK]

Looks to me like it took a hit that pushed up some metal around it. It's the sort of impact that is only getting notice because it happens to be located in the legend.

[Posso]

On 12/9/2022 at 10:16 AM, JKK said:

Looks to me like it took a hit that pushed up some metal around it. It's the sort of impact that is only getting notice because it happens to be located in the legend.

I can the polishing marks in there.

[Posso]

It looks like a small s, closer to the rim you see it protruding out also. Maybe it was rounded like a normal s, but the polishing changed it. I guessing.

[Coinbuf]

It looks like simple impact damage from what I see, also the coin is not struck off center.   To be classified as off center both sides would need some portion of the rim, design, and or lettering to be missing, at best this might be considered as MAD (misaligned die), but it is so minor that I doubt anyone would care.

[Posso]

On 12/9/2022 at 10:46 AM, Coinbuf said:

It looks like simple impact damage from what I see, also the coin is not struck off center.   To be classified as off center both sides would need some portion of the rim, design, and or lettering to be missing, at best this might be considered as MAD (misaligned die), but it is so minor that I doubt anyone would care.

The big S is in good shape. Could a compacted filling have dropped on the planchette prior to striking? Like a dropped letter. and than got polished down. In the darker close up you can actually see the what looks like polishing marks.

[Coinbuf]

On 12/9/2022 at 11:06 AM, Posso said:

The big S is in good shape. Could a compacted filling have dropped on the planchette prior to striking? Like a dropped letter. and than got polished down. In the darker close up you can actually see the what looks like polishing marks.

Coins are not polished after they are struck (coined).   To be a dropped letter the letter would have to be the same size as one on the coin, the only one that could work is the s from "E Pluribus Unum" and that s has a different shape than the contact mark you see.   And secondly to be a dropped letter it would be incuse, but the portion above the larger s is raised not incuse so there is no possibility of this being a dropped letter.   What I see is a combination of a well-placed hit, a small die chip above the large S and metal flow lines that happen when a coin is struck.

[VKurtB]

On 12/9/2022 at 12:19 PM, Coinbuf said:

Coins are not polished after they are struck (coined).   To be a dropped letter the letter would have to be the same size as one on the coin, the only one that could work is the s from "E Pluribus Unum" and that s has a different shape than the contact mark you see.   And secondly to be a dropped letter it would be incuse, but the portion above the larger s is raised not incuse so there is no possibility of this being a dropped letter.   What I see is a combination of a well-placed hit, a small die chip above the large S and metal flow lines that happen when a coin is struck.

Ding! Ding! Ding! 

[Sandon]

 The depressed area and surrounding raised metal in the "S" are clearly from a nick or gouge.  The coin isn't "off center" either.  The obverse die was slightly misaligned, meaning that it wasn't mounted in the press so as to be perfectly perpendicular to the coins it was striking. Coins struck from misaligned dies are quite common and generally command no premium. They are considered to be examples of poor quality control rather than mint errors.  An off-center strike would be off center on both sides of the coin.  Here are NGC photos of a 1988-D Kennedy half dollar that was struck about 80% off center: While this is a particularly dramatic example, the two sides would always be about equally off center.  (I previously placed this response under the duplicate post.)