Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Publius2, post: 7779749, member: 105571&quot;]This 1830 half dime is not unique for either it&#039;s condition or rarity.&nbsp; But this LM 4.1 die marriage is characterized by a rather unique clash.&nbsp; If you look in Liberty&#039;s hair, you will see the gules and azures of the eagle&#039;s shield.&nbsp; While I haven&#039;t performed an exhaustive search, every instance of this obverse that I have found exhibits this clash.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve been thinking about this for some time and while I&#039;m familiar with how clashed working dies occur, I am a little confused on how the gules and azures of an incuse reverse working die wound up impressed into the incuse hair of Liberty&#039;s image on the obverse die.&nbsp; Since both working dies&#039; devices are incuse, the &quot;smash&quot; would have to be pretty extreme for the depressed shield to be impressed into the bottom of the obverse die at Liberty&#039;s hair.</p><p><br /></p><p>Admittedly, the shield and the hair are not the deepest part of the Liberty/Shield impression on the working die, but you would think that, during coin striking, the metal flow that fills the deepest part of Liberty (the hair curls) would also have obliterated the die impressions at a shallower part of the strike, which is where this clash shows up.</p><p><br /></p><p>It got me wondering if the clash did not occur with the working dies but rather with the hubs used to make the working dies.&nbsp; These hubs are not incuse, rather all the devices stand proud of the fields and if the obverse and reverse hubs were pressed against each other in the press, then this clash would be explained since the gules/azures and hair would be the first to strike each other.</p><p><br /></p><p>But I cannot envision any scenario where both the obverse and reverse hubs were in the press at the same thus allowing them to clash.&nbsp; Typically one hub would be placed in the press and a blank working die would be mounted with it in order to impress the hub into the working die.</p><p><br /></p><p>Interestingly, there is no apparent clash on the reverse of the coin.&nbsp; Does, this imply that when making the obverse working die, the mint workers mistakenly mounted the reverse hub in the press, made an reverse impression, realized their mistake and then mounted the correct obverse hub and overstruck the mis-struck working die?</p><p><br /></p><p>Am I just overthinking this?&nbsp; I am interested in your thoughts on the matter.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1334641[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1334642[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in