I bought a small lot of silver halves, and in the seller's photos this one looked like it had been rim-dented or otherwise abused; I bid accordingly. But when I got it in hand, this is what I found: It has clearly circulated a good bit, and looks like it got a small rim ding just below 3:00 on the obverse. But I see a pretty clear Blakesley effect, especially at the L of Liberty. Given the extent of the weakness around TRUST and AMERICA, I wondered if there might be some sort of void inside the planchet -- but now I'm wondering if that's just normal for a small ragged clip, as the metal flows toward the collar instead of into the devices. Weight is 12.04g, about .30-.35g less than other specimens with comparable wear. Anyone else seen something similar?
Definitely looks good enough for me to have considered it a genuine mint error if it had been presented at my table. Not only is there Blakeskey Effect, but also characteristic weakening of the legend local to the clip, and tapering of the upset rim.
Pretty interesting. The fissure in the planchet makes me think, of a cutting error, the clip looks straight to me.
I wish I had the equipment to non-destructively test how far the fissure extends into the coin, but I sure don't. I'd be willing to risk contact ultrasound imaging on a coin that's already this worn, but I don't know anything about machines that would work at this scale (essentially ultrasound microscopy).
As I stare more closely at the edge-on image, I wonder whether there's a "fissure" at all, or whether it's just an artifact of the way metal flowed into the void between the planchet and the collar.
I'm still leaning towards a planchet defect on the edge because I think the the pressure during striking would not be enough to fill some of the reeding and still leave the fissure behind it. I also think that a void extending slightly into the coin would explain very weak letters in TRUST. However, your idea of a ragged clip with some partial filling of the rim is certainly a reasonable explanation worth considering