I was searching under the scope for die varieties on this 1967 Kennedy Half Dollar and noticed these circles. Can anyone tell me anything about them...besides being posible crop circles? Thank You, Larry Nienaber
It appears to be Post Mint to me! The circles either occurred by accident or may have been intentionally man made. The circles look like they were done with the head area of a retractable ballpoint pen.
I have another one of these circles. This one is much larger and is on a 1966 SMS Kennedy Half Dollar. Any ideas? Thank You Larry Nienaber
Want to make several more? Just take a retractable ball-point pen, retract the point, put the coin on a flat surface, place the circular opening in the bottom of the pen on top of the coin, strike the top of the pen with a hammer, move on to the next one. Voila!
Roy, I see at least that someone agrees with me! However, I did like the crop circles theory!:rolling: :rolling:
The photos from the second one I sent are from an ANACS slabed, Special Mint Set half dollar. Do you really believe someone has intentionally damaged this half? That doesn't seem logical to me. Are there any serious suggestions out there? Larry Nienaber
There's a whole bunch of illogical folks out there my friend. I can't speak for anyone else, but I am dead serious.
They are unlike any other defect I've come across. They may or may not be examples of post-strike damage.
Just my opinion, but I think They are a planchet flaw, where a small bit of silver fell on the roll of metal while rolling the silver to the correct thickness before the planchets are cut. I have seen this effect in rolled steel.
Larry, Looking at both coins, there is symmetry evident and something that looks similar to a marker (if I’m not mistaken) in the 1966 SMS Kennedy.The '66 validates the plausibility of a mint oriented error, not the result of "coin graffiti" - why go through the trouble? A.J.
Yesterday I was looking through a bunch of 70D Kennedy Half Dollars under my scope, and saw a couple more examples of this defect...different sized circles in the fields. Captainkirk's idea of a planchet flaw, where a small bit of metal is rolled into the planchet material makes a lot of sence to me. Thanks for all the imput. Larry Nienaber
And Spock said, "There is no logic in this theory Captain"! These so called bits of metal, first - would have to be perfectly round and, second - they would have to be made of a metal that is harder than the planchet's metal to make the impression, otherwise they would have smashed into a blob (not a perfect circle) on the surface of the coin and would have made only a minor impression into the surface.
What if they are equal hardness, and go through many rollers to thin the metal? A blob would be flattened equally to a circular form. Of course, this remains a theory.
What is begining to make some sence to me is that there are small beads of metal, different sizes, same material as the planchets, getting on the planchet sheets and are being rolled over and pressed into the planchets. What do you think? Larry Nienaber
