SLIGHTLY Unusual Circ. Find

I have a grocery store in my area, a small chain that is family-run, that is kind of known for regularly circulating half dollars in change. I'm used to getting a Kennedy half about half the time I'm paying in cash. That's unusual thing Number 1.

Number 2 - I was handed a VERY new-looking half last night. I figured it might be a modern NIFC somehow. The red on the edges was slapping my retinas silly, so I knew it wasn't silver. The date was 1971, the first clad year.

Number 3 - I have looked at it under a 10x loupe that is my standard "go to". I cannot find even the slightest of contact marks on this coin - it is PRISTINE! No marks on the obverse or reverse.

Number 4 - I am about 60 miles from the Philadelphia Mint and we almost never see Denver coinage here. It's ALMOST as if it doesn't exist. This pristine half is a 1971-D.

Number 5 - For as mark-free as it is, the reverse strike is really quite mushy. The relief is high, the letters are strong, but everything from the eagle's head down to the stripes on the shield are basically without detail. The wing feathers are strong, but the tail feathers not so much. The obverse is strong and crisp. There are some radial flow lines on the fields but not as much as usual on these.

Given the condition and the year, my theory is it is a coin fairly recently cut from a 1971 Uncirculated Set. What think ye'?

 

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Post pictures - could very well be from a mint set. I actually found a proof state quarter(would have to check) in change on one trip.

 

Chris

 

Does it look like the reverse was struck through grease, or are you seeing something else?

Oh, and which chain? I remember Stauffer's and Turkey Hill, but the latter isn't small, and it's Kroger-owned now. Neither of them ever gave me a half in change as far as I remember, but I was probably using a card most of the time anyhow.

 

No good picher capability at this site.

I'm going to try to grab a iPhone pic fer ya', but I'm not optimistic about those.

 

Weaver's Supermarkets. The two closest are Adamstown (on PA272 parallel to US222, and Blainsport (on PA 897, west of the Adamstown one).

To be honest with you, it doesn't look like a grease strike, more like a light planchet with not enough metal to fill the highest points on the reverse.

 

if not enough metal, then both sides would be weak, not one side

 

I guess it could just be a hard-used die. I get a lot of 1971-P halves here, but they look really heavily used, and the inner clad layer is all brown.

 

I am having a devil of a time getting a shot of the obverse to focus.

By the way, that "smile" just next to the "H" is "HALF" is raised, not a ding. The striations near the arrows are also die scratches.

 

The maximum detail height off the fields seems much higher on the reverse as compared to the obverse.

 

I have a question...how do I make a new thread/post? I am super new here...I'm also new to collecting coins and everything that comes with that. I looked all over the forums home page and I can't located where I can post my own question. I'm sorry to bud into yours, but I wasn't sure how else to find out.

 

It's not a very obvious button, but there is a "Start a New Thread" button at the upper right once you get into a posting section, such as U.S. Coins. Small, blue, rectangular.

 

I'm calling the reverse eagle on my half, "Nessie". The eagle's head looks exactly like the Loch Ness Monster's profile, with the exact same amount of detail.

 

I got it. The button wasn't there, but I went out and came back and it was there. I searched everywhere for it. I guess it is because I just signed up and I may not have verified my email yet or I just did it. I don't know. But I felt stupid when I left and came back and the button was suddenly there! LOL Thank you!

 

Nice find!

 

It kinda found me. Sounds like an old Yakov Smirnov bit - "In Soviet Russia, coins collect YOU!"

 

Be still my quaking heart!

 

That's called the Ol' Presto Change-o.

 

The more I look at it closely from oblique angles, the more I'm inclined to think the deepest recesses of the reverse die were loaded with gunk - grease or whatever debris gets slung around. Remember, these 1971 halves from both mints were made in MASSIVE quantities. They were made in anticipation of Gresham's Law - they needed to replace the 40% silver coins.

I've seen lots of weak Walker half strikes, and what the edge of the unstruck up areas looks like. This seems different.