Lemchuck Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 I have a 1952-D Franklin half dollar that seems to have a RPM and some doubling in the motto, eagle, bell mount among others. But 1952-D is only listed in varieties as a "Bugs Bunny" or an "S/S/S" and nothing else. I'm just trying to determine if looking at coins for errors is worth the time and effort if they are not listed in variety. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KaileeS CS Posted September 9 Administrator Share Posted September 9 Hello @Lemchuck, Thank you for contacting us. Hope you are doing well! Unfortunately, we cannot confirm via photos if your coin has a variety. To determine what constitutes a variety NGC can attribute, please see the link HERE. Additionally if it helps, NGC recognizes these US varieties: All varieties listed in VarietyPlus (complete catalog available online) Most Cherrypicker varieties by FS numbers Half cents by Cohen numbers Large cents by Sheldon (1793-1814) and Newcomb (1816-57) numbers Half dimes (1794-1837) by Logan-McCloskey numbers Dimes by John Reich (1796-1837) and Forton (1837-1891; Top-100 only) numbers. Quarter dollars (1796-1838) by Browning numbers Half dollars (1794-1836) by Overton numbers Half dollars (1836-1839) by Graham-Reiver numbers Silver dollars (1794-1804) by Bowers-Borckardt and Bolender numbers Selected silver dollars (1878-1935) by VAM numbers (limited to 8TF, 7/8TF, Top 100, Hot 50 and Hit List 40 varieties, as well as only those others listed on VarietyPlus) Please let us know if you have any additional questions. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandon Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 Welcome to the NGC chat board. As NGC does not provide free advice regarding specific coins, you should questions about your coins on the "Newbie Coin Collecting Questions" forum for the opinions of forum members. The links provided by @KaileeS CS are helpful in that they identify the varieties that NGC will attribute. NGC will generally not attribute varieties that are not listed on VarietyPlus. On 9/9/2024 at 9:52 AM, Lemchuck said: I'm just trying to determine if looking at coins for errors is worth the time and effort if they are not listed in variety. Mint errors and die varieties are two different classifications of coins. A mint error is specific to an individual coin. Die varieties are characteristics of dies that may strike thousands to hundreds of thousands of coins, most or all of which will exhibit such characteristics. See Variety vs. Mint Error | NGC (ngccoin.com). What mint errors and die varieties have in common, however, is that they are advanced topics in numismatics. It is important to understand more basic topics such as the history and types of U.S. coinage, grading, and how coins are made before getting into these more advanced areas. It is quite unusual to find any mint error, die variety, or other coin of substantial value in change or in accumulations of common coins. Based on the images that you provided, the reverse of your 1952-D Franklin half dollar exhibits strike doubling, a.k.a. machine or mechanical doubling on the lettering, mintmark and some of the devices. This is caused by a die that is slightly loose in the press, is very common, is not considered to be either a mint error or die variety and has little or no collector value. See Double Dies vs. Machine Doubling | NGC (ngccoin.com). powermad5000 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemchuck Posted September 10 Author Share Posted September 10 Kailee and Sandon, Thank you both for the information. I wasn't asking specifically about the coin, just showing what I have. I did use the wrong terminology..my bad, as I did know it's a strike error. I guess my question is more this. Doubling is shown for some years (like the 51S, but not 52D) on the variety plus page. Is it specific to that year or does it cross years? If it doesn't cross years then what makes it a variety on one year but not the other? Someone, somewhere, makes that distinction and I guess I'll try to find the references online that Kailee gave. My apologies if it seems like a mundane question, but I tend to overthink things sometimes and should look at my coins, make notes about any doubling or errors and move on. Again, thank you for your time. Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandon Posted September 10 Share Posted September 10 All of the U.S. varieties (including doubled dies and repunched mintmarks) that NGC attributes are listed, usually with images, on VarietyPlus, at United States Categories | VarietyPlus® | NGC (ngccoin.com). There are other, usually minor varieties for more recent U.S. coins that are listed on such sites as doubleddie.com and varietyvista.com. What makes a coin a die variety are the characteristics of the particular die that struck the coin. Dies are generally used during only one year, in modern times striking tens to several hundred thousands of coins before wearing out, so, no, a particular variety generally doesn't "cross years". In any case, die varieties are classified by the date and mint of the coin. There are other sites (as well as print references) that deal with varieties for older U.S. coins, some of which are identified in the following forum topic: Please re-read the last paragraph of my previous post and read the NGC article I linked therein. The only form of "doubling" on coins that constitutes a die variety and may have collector value is die doubling, also known as a doubled die. Other, much more common, causes of "doubling", such as strike doubling and die deterioration doubling, are considered neither die varieties nor mint errors ("strike" or otherwise) and are referred to as "worthless doubling." The vast majority of coins that newer collectors post on these forums claiming to be doubled dies in fact exhibit "worthless doubling". If you are looking for die varieties, you must learn to distinguish between die doubling and the far more common forms of "worthless doubling", such as exhibited by your 1952-D Franklin half dollar. See https://www.doubleddie.com/144801.html and the links on the bottom of that page for further explanations and illustrations of the types of "worthless doubling". powermad5000 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powermad5000 Posted September 11 Share Posted September 11 On 9/9/2024 at 8:52 AM, Lemchuck said: I'm just trying to determine if looking at coins for errors is worth the time and effort if they are not listed in variety. NGC will only attribute those coins they list on their Variety Plus page. I am of the persuasion that I want my coins properly attributed if they are in fact a minor variety but still of 100 percent certainty they are such minor variety. So in my humble opinion, it is worth the effort to check coins for these minor varieties but you have to be good at verifying they are of such variety and some are very difficult. I have a workaround you might like. Say you do find a coin that is of some minor variety but it is one that NGC does not recognize. What I do is submit the coin and have NGC grade it (do not check the box for variety plus), and when I get it back, I put my own sticker on the slab with the minor variety designation. I do think your Franklin Half here has die erosion doubling however and is not an actual DDO or DDR. Hope this helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
