Good morning! Just picked up this Swiss 1952 1/2 Franc last week. Just your normal, run of the mill everyday purchase for silver melt at a LCS. Or so I thought... Once I had it out of the 2x2, I noticed that the obverse looks like an impaired proof (has a mirror shine to it at certain angles) - but not the reverse. I decided to take a closer look with my loupe...and well, here are some photos of what I saw: So, we have very distinct doubling primarily on the left side of the obverse, decreasing as it gets closer to the center. Very evident on the stars, the drapery, central figure's right (viewer's left) arm, shield. Which I think is pretty cool. Also see a die chip on the first star above the designer's name on the bottom left, and a slight cameo effect (although decreased due to wear) - so I'm wondering the following: Is this coin a "specimen" strike? I would tend to think not, as the reverse looks like it was struck from a normal business strike die. But the obverse looks like a proof strike, so... Was this coin struck with a retired specimen strike obverse die and a business strike reverse die? Is the die chip a known diagnostic? Thanks for your replies in advance.
It's a business strike made from normal dies. Specimens tend to have prominent die polish lines in the fields. The DD is really cool and rather uncommon for Swiss coins, which were struck under one of the highest quality standards of any country pretty much since the end of the 19th century.
