I recently purchased this for my date set. The color is nice in hand and no doubt to me original from sitting in an album. But there is one area im concerned about. The reverse A and states and the area below it. Is this due to a weak die strike or post mint damage? The coin is in a PCGS AU53 holder. Thanks!
Typical weakness in the strike. Look at the obverse directly opposite this area (the lower portion of Liberty's bust). A lot of metal has to flow into the recesses of both dies at this location. These coins were struck on a screw press and very often did not have enough pressure to fully strike up CBHs. Look at areas of the reverse where the field is located on the corresponding spot on the obverse. These areas are almost always fully-struck because metal does not have to flow into recesses of the obverse die so the metal can flow into the recesses of the reverse die. (In other words, where the dies are further apart the coin can be weakly struck and where the dies are closer together the coin is usually fullt struck.)
Thanks for the input everyone! This is one of the last few I wanted to upgrade. I have to say, Im not a fan of this date in general due to all of the strike issues. I like the color on this one though and will hold on to it until I see a really nicely struck example.
Hi Ankur, I sent you this privately but here it is in case anyone else is interested. Lance. That's an O.116 R1, small date, small letters, which is often weak around A1 and URI. It is one of the three die marriages made from a reworked hub (the other two are 113 and 114). Collectively they're called the "abominable bast*rds". Some speculate that the reworked hub, which everyone agrees was a disaster, was an attempt to try to add design elements so as not have to add them to working dies. So not PMD or grease or even a weak strike. The reverse on yours looks like one of the latest die states as more seems to be obliterated.
I am not really getting your point. While O.116 was created with the reworked hubs, it is my understanding that the letters are stamped into the dies, not the hubs, so that makes little sense to me why the A would be weak because of the hubs. I have also seen countless CBH's of all dates with the same general weakness around A1 and the ribbon. I always thought the cause was the explanation HOBO provided, the heavy portions of the bust on the obverse starve the reverse of the needed metal. So the area in question is greatly effected from a weak strike. Just trying to learn something if I missed anything. Mike
I have a couple 33's like yours Ankur with that weak strike on the reverse. Although mine are VF35's. It wasn't an isolated incident like on your 34, the same weak strike can be found on a number of years during the 1830's.
You are right, Mike. There is a typical weakness in those areas. But not a persistent one. Yet it seems to be the case with this variety even though the typical strike for 1834's was quite good. Much of this comes from Souders (Bust Half Fever). He calls 1834 "The Year of Kneass' Experimentation". Lots of changes were happening to design in '34 (date sizes, letter sizes, even a smaller Liberty). The theory is a lot of it was driven by widespread counterfeiting. Chief Engraver William Kneass was trying to find methods to standardize design elements to deter it. Edge devices were still punched into the dies by hand in 1834. But for these three varieties Kneass started experimenting. He re-engraved master dies, and then reworked and lowered relief on the subsequent hubs. Then a working die was used to test results. (This is different from the usual practice of punching working dies.) Master dies were re-annealed, existing hubs were re-pressed into master dies to improve relief, and lousy results called for more hand tooling of hubs. It goes on. Further experiments were done to try to hub more elements, Souders asserts. Almost all the CBH's for these "abominable bast*rd" varieties show the same weakness. Given all this experimentation it seems logical that it was at least partly responsible. Lance.
Very nice coins. No worries, that is not all from wear. Looks like a weak strike like some have mentioned before. Looks great, love the toning.
Great coin. A real looker. And I too thought it was just a weak die. But from reading Ikeigwin's posts that is possible too. But we agree it is not PMD I take it
That is a fantastic coin, and that has to be weakness in the strike. I don't want to repeat what Hobo already told you, but he is spot on. I can remember a time when Hobo made mistakes...seems like a long time ago.
