I'm trying to figure out what is going on with this UNC 71D Half. There appears to a possible die cracc thru the 9 and into the bottom of the 7 on the date. The bottom of the 7 is very hard to see. On the S in states and O in Of there is another possible crack which is easier to see under different lighting but makes the letters look lightly struck under other lighting. There is also a raised/bumped area from the F in half thru the D in dollar and into the O. Not exactly sure what this is but I attached pictures to help explain all of the above.
I would say that your coin was struck with a "Late Stage Die". Possibly "Struck Through Grease" or both. The line at the S to OF looks like a scratch in your photo, only because I don't see it in the center of the "O". IMO, The bump in the dollar is some type of Die Deterioration. I have a 71-D that is missing the details on the Eagles head just like yours, the rest of the coin has good details.
That makes sense, thank you for the explanation. How would being struck with a late stage die like this affect the overall grade? I know we aren't talking a high value coin here, just trying to learn for the future if I encounter this on other more valuable coins.
That is a really good question. I am not well versed in grading. I do know if you start at 70 and start deducting points for all the defects it will end at low grade. And then you call it an error coin and the value will change but not the grade. Value on error coins is a tough call. Common errors and rare errors. A more valuable coin with these types of defects will not be more valuable. But alot of different things have to be taken into consideration with different coins. Some defects can add value to some coins. I hope this helps.
