During the early months of 1950, the original 1948-1949 Reverse Franklin Master Die (Reverse Die Variety RDV-001a) was re-engraved to create the modified RDV-001b 1950 Franklin Reverse Master Die. During 1950 and 1951, the two distinct reverse Types were used for Franklin Half Dollar production in the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco Mints. The term “Transitional Reverse” refers to Franklin Half Dollar reverses minted between 1950 and 1951 that have the original Type 1948-49 reverse Master Die (RDV-001a) image on a 1950-1951 coin. In a separate thread, some posters expressed an interest in distinguishing between the two types. This is a crash course: This image is a very high-resolution image of the RDV-001a beside an RDV-001b 1950-P Franklin reverse: Also attached is a PDF that goes into detail for the major “Tells” to help distinguish the reverse types. For readability, the text in the document refers to R49 –[RDV-001a] and R50-[RDV-001b].
That is extremely cool, and the indented L looks like the go to pup for the variety, thank you for this post.
Yes, the indented "L" is almost fool proof and the other "tells" help to verify. Some Franklin varieties between 1950-1951 are found in both RDV-001a or RDV-001b reverses and some are exclusive to a specific reverse. It helps to cherry-pick obscure and common varieties. The Franklin 1951 S/S RPM-001 (FS-501) is an RDV-001a but the 1951-S/S RPM-003 is an RDV-001b. The 1951 D/D WRPM's are exclusive to the RDV-001b reverse while the 1951-S DDR-001 is a Class 1 and a Class III "Design Hub Doubling" with an RDV-001b over an RDV-001a reverse. If you consider all the Franklin varieties between 1950 and 1951 the permutations become astounding. Happy hunting.
