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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Publius2, post: 6487952, member: 105571&quot;]This thread has been covering a lot of topics centered around the OP&#039;s coin and question but I would like to try to address [USER=73489]@GoldFinger1969[/USER] &#039;s questions as it relates to 19th century coins:</p><p><br /></p><p>First of all, die polish was used to both create new dies and to refurbish old dies, for both business strikes and proofs.&nbsp; The preparation of planchets and dies for proofs, including polishing, was more intensive and exacting than it was for business strikes.</p><p><br /></p><p>Having said that, it is important to understand that it is impossible to make a single general statement about 19th century proof dies.&nbsp; For some dates and issues, proof dies were sometimes used for business strikes and, more rarely, vice versa.&nbsp; You have to know the details of the individual coin to make any determination.</p><p><br /></p><p>My resources on LS half dimes (the books by Al Blythe and Kevin Flynn) have this to say:</p><p><br /></p><p>- there were 15 dies used to strike the 1873 no arrows half dimes (unclear if this included proof dies or not).</p><p><br /></p><p>- there were 600 half dimes minted as part of the &quot;Silver Sets&quot; prior to the April 1, 1873 abolition of the half dime and LS Dollar.</p><p><br /></p><p>- Per Blythe:&nbsp; &quot;Many of the 600 proofs were melted along with some business strikes in July 1873.&nbsp; There is no estimate of the survivors.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>- Per Flynn (Not specifying proofs or business strikes):&nbsp; &quot;I have seen specimens where the entire obverse die has very pronounced die polish lines.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>- Per Will W. Neil in The Numismatist ca, 1927:&nbsp; &quot;No. 2...struck with broken or badly scratched obverse die.&nbsp; Many faint hairline scratches encircle Liberty and heavier ones, which appear as faint breaks, connect D of UNITED and Liberty&#039;s head to rim.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>- Per Valentine:&nbsp; &quot;Var. 2 Rev.&nbsp; Right end of ribbon is just clear.&nbsp; Proof&quot;&nbsp; Op&#039;s coin matches this description. but Obverse more closely matches Var. 1 which is a business strike, I think.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, is there any conclusion from this?&nbsp; Not a firm conclusion but IMHO, the look of the coin, the lack of wire rims, the heavy die lines, plus what little attribution data I could find lead me to believe that this is a business strike.&nbsp; The fact that the heavy die lines persist along with a PL appearance of the fields makes me think that this obverse strike was one of the first off a newly polished V1 business strike obverse die and that the reverse die is one of the re-purposed proof dies.</p><p><br /></p><p>Obviously I cannot prove this contention and I would love seeing some additional hard data or informed opinion.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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