1972 S Kennedy Half Dollar Error?

Here is a pic of a Proof 1972 S Kennedy Half Dollar. It is still in the mint plastic. I hope someone can shed some light as to what could have caused this small, raised dot that is visible in the pic just under the third star on the 2nd row of stars on the reverse of the coin and just above the "UR" in Pluribus.

The first picture was taken with my coin usb microscope, and the 2nd picture was taken with my tablet that doesn't have a very good camera on it, so it's a bit hard to see, I just used it as a reference point as to where the dot is.

If you need further pics, just ask and I will post more, but this is the best one I have of it, and any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

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Is the dot raised or indented?

 

I'm no detective, but so many things could have caused that. It looks like it's raised. Supposing it is, here's one way it could have happened. Something of that shape and size was on the planchet when the die struck the planchet and it was of such density and hardness that it left that indent in the die. Then, the die struck the next planchet, i.e., this planchet, and made this coin. That's just one way that I know that happens sometimes.

 

The dot is raised, sorry, thought I put that info in the original post, I know it was a bit long, but I tried to include as much info as possible. Also, I was wondering, since it is a proof coin, would there have been a series of coins, like several in a line that this occurred to, or would it have only just happened to this one coin? And, would it make this proof set any more or less valuable?

Here is some background as to how I got this particular proof set.

I bought this from an indoor flea market type place. There were a total of 5 proof sets in a mint sealed, unopened, original box with 5 sealed proof sets inside. I opened the box and then each set looking for possible missing mint marks or ddos and ddrs. I didn't find any of those, but I did find this, so I was wondering, since this is the first time I've encountered anything like this, if it would be worth a premium, or, perhaps the reverse, would it detract from it's "grade" if I were to submit the set to a 3rd party grading service like PCGS or NGC?

 

If there was something on the planchet when the die struck it, wouldn't that make an indention in the die instead of a raised dot on the coin? You would think, or at least this is the way my head is trying to wrap around this, is that the die was flawed with an indentation in the die in that spot causing the dot to appear, because aren't the dies indented and pressed into the planchet, pushing everything down except the coin design? But since that dot isn't part of the coin's intended design, could something on a previous planchet have dented the die in that spot, and then this coin came up and got minted after that happened and it somehow got through the quality control process and ended up in this set? And if a few coins (or more) went through and got pressed with the damaged die, then there could be more proof sets out there with 1972 S Halves that have this same dot in the same spot if they made it out of the mint without their quality control catching them...?

 

I don't think this is possible. The planchet is much, much softer than the die steel and a foreign object, no matter how hard it is, would be impressed into the planchet before it could ever make a dent in the die.

Chris

 

Read what I said slower. Yours would be one of the subsequent planchets struck by that damaged die.

 

Nonetheless, it's happened. There are struck-throughs that have damaged dies.

 

It is possible that something damaged the die prior to being put into service. It's really hard to tell from such a small photo. Even if it was determined to be a die dent, I'd be surprised if NGC or PCGS would attribute the error because it is so small. Your tablet photo is proof of that. I could be wrong, but that is just my opinion.

Chris

 

Yes, some kind of die-damage. Just one possibility.

 

There are? Show us some examples.

Chris

 

Damn are you predictable. Go look it up yourself.

 

I won't bother. You just don't know what you are talking about. By the way, the general category of such an error is called a strike-through, not a struck-through.

Chris

 

I'm perfectly fine! You're the one with the problem. Just ask Rick.

Chris

 

Oh, I'm sure I'm going to do that. Grow up.

 

Don't disagree with Eddie, he da man!

 

Ah, Chris, see? Even though he's facetious, I gave him a like, I like his style.

 

Nobody comes back from "hell". Give this cartoon a rest.

 

I have alway called these die gouge dots...you can see them often on proofs. Attached is a photo of one on the ribbon of a 50c 72S DDR-004.

Larry Nienaber

 

OK, God, whatever you say.