Looking at the profile of Ben Franklin it appears as if he has "buck teeth" like bugs bunny. Apparently the result of a die clash from what I've read. I may be wrong, someone else here may have a better explanation. Heres a pic, although its not my coin, its somewhat banged up, but an example nontheless.
The one notable error in the series of the Franklin half dollar is the "Bugs Bunny" error, so called because damage to the coin's obverse die resulted in a split in Franklin's upper lip, giving the appearance of prominent front teeth. The damage to the die resulted from the obverse and reverse dies striking each other without a coin planchet in between. The error is found in 1955 coins minted in Philadelphia. There is also a 1961-P Proof doubled die.
By notable, do you mean "most known"? The reason I ask is that you mention the 1961 double die variety, which is more dramatic than the "buck teeth". Plus RPMs and other minor error/varieties.
If I remember correctly, the 1955 "Bugs Bunny" die clash is actually more common than the 1955 without the die clash. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
Not according to Rick Tomaska in his Franklin Half book. He indicates that it is in rare in any grade.
By notable, I think that he means that it is the most publicized. It has been promoted for years by dealers.
Maybe, but on p. 82 he says: The 1995 "Bugs Bunny" is a very popular variety in this series. It is scarce in any grade, but especially MS 65 FBL. I don't know how scarce it is, just quoting from what is considered a leading authority on Franklins. Of course, he could be wrong. :whistle:
It's not that he is wrong, it's the way you are interpetting his words. Scarce usually means a coin that can be found by the thousands - instead of say the hundreds of thousands.
While I'll acknowledge that rare and scarce can be different magnitudes regarding a coin's popluation, scarce implies to me that there are far fewer of this variety than those without the die imperfection. Whether there are hundreds or thousands, it would still seem to imply that the standard, non-error 1955 is a lot more common. This was the original question and what I was replying to. I'm open to what the population count could be.
I don't know that there are any definitive population reports for the coin. But I do know this, the variety is the result of a die clash between two particular dies. So only those coins struck by those particular dies would be of that variety. Therefore it stands to reason that there would be far fewer of them with the clash marks than there are those without the clash marks. That work for you
Sure, cause I was responding to "the other Frank" regarding Rick Tomaska's book. Thanks for working with me to clarify some of these terms. :kewl:
I'm a bit confused. On a website called Collectors Alliance Inc., they have a 1963 Franklin Half Dollar which has been graded by PCGS at MS63 and on the label they call it the Bugs Bunny Franklin Half Dollar. Can this be true?
