In hand this is a pretty coin but when I put it under magnification I thought it was gouged but to my surprise it is a heavy clashed die. This is my second clashed die and I would not have known without the experts from this site. Not sure how that happens but makes for an interesting coin for my collection.
I removed this coin from a sealed U.S. Postal Commemorative Society, J.F. Kennedy Uncirculated U.S. Half Dollar Collection.
yea i'm not seeing any clash on your coin either, a clash will be in the fields, not on devices, a clash occurs when the obv. an rev. dies come together with no planchet in place, as the devices are incuse on the die, they will not get hit... http://www.error-ref.com/die_clash/ looks like all damage on your coin
I gave you an overlay.. You need to tell us if the marks match. It doesn't matter where the coin came out of. They can always receive damage somehow. And as stated.. Clashes are on the field, not the devices (raised area)
Ouch! How does an uncirculated coin get damaged? The metal appears raised to me. It was the area above the ear that made me think clash. I am going to go put it under a microscope to see if it is in fact raised.
there are a few cases where a clash will be on devices (Ike dollars for 1) but yours looks like contact hits, unc. coins take a lot damage traveling in bags from mint to banks an such..
As others have said, a clashed die is caused by the dies hitting without a planchet. The area above the ear is one of the LOWEST parts of the die. The area opposite on the reverse die is also one of the LOWEST places. Even if the gouges above the ear vaguely resembled something on the rev (it doesn't), how would those parts of the die come in contact How does it get damaged? The is postal commem society is/was a private company. They aren't part of the mint or government. They probably got the coins from a bank and who knows how the were handled
Under the microscope with lighting I see two parallel yellowish lines across the coins face, so some kind of damage. Schuck's thought I found something. Oh well I still have four big binders of 25 years of coin uncirculated mint sets to explore. So as I understand the coins can be significantly damaged before being sealed in the plastic holders?
coins can receive damage right after being struck as they travel down a conveyor or drop into bags or coin counters, this does not apply to proofs an such which are handled more carefully..
i occasionally buy a 100 coin bag of kennedy halves from the mint, last one i got the philly mint marked coins were horrible, did not find a single coin without multiple contact marks an scratches..
Nice to know. I sure like the hunt and learning both. I had that coin marker as BU and then under the magnification saw the marks. Now I will view all of my coins under magnification.
