hey gang! This is kind of a teaser first post... I'm still waiting on this coin to get back to me from NGC. But I will post this as a teaser first and the coin should be back any time so be on the lookout for pictures... it's a sweet one!
It came back in today's mail... This really is a hard coin to photograph... The 1979 date is able to be seen if you look hard... the last 9 of the date ended up basically where the 1 is in 1980, if you look left and around the rim you can see the 979 and in hand you can see the entire date.
What else i going on on that coin? I see te date you mention (the 9 inder the 1 of 1980) bUt there is something else under the 80. Maybe a NOS from Mexicanos (Flip over double strike on a 1979 half dollar?) But the font appears to be very different, very squared off and I don't think simple distortion from the flattening of thestrike would do that..
The word appears to be the end of "centavos" you can see the entire word in hand.. but the coin is a bear to get a good photograph of. Looking at what the coins are supposed to look like the coin appears not to be a flip over.. and is struck front to front. I don't quite know what causes some of the under strike to be more visible in some places then others.
I wish it was one of these... this is the American equivalent... I recently looked at this coin in Cincinnati at Rich Schemmer's table. These are much rarer due to the much stricter quality control. This piece is priced at $6,500. http://www.richerrors.com/inventory/1983DD1984DD.jpg
