Hey gang! I just picked this up at a little local coin show this past weekend. Whatever is going on with the collar there are a set of doubled reeds directly across from each other on this piece. The only thing that I can think of is a broken collar? Or a collar not properly in place. Anyone ever seen one of these before? I sure haven't.
It's a type of broken collar. Specifically, it's a bilateral split collar. No part of the working face of the collar has broken off. Instead, the collar split at opposite poles. This type of collar break is relatively common on reeded issues. I've seen it on quite a few half dollars. Bilateral split collars are only worth a significant premium when the split is particularly wide. This particular specimen shows a relatively narrow split.
Hi I just noticed this old post. I own 13 NGC Certified Small Collar Die Break and 1 raw all from 2002 P mint. Never seen one from 1982. Here is a sample of one of them.