I recently picked up something that's been on my wishlist for a while. I may have done better than I expected to find for the price. What do you make of this PanPac commemorative half? I bought it at an EF-Details price, but am hopeful that it might get a straight AU grade (or better). I'll be sending it into ANACS shortly and will update to see how it comes back. The surfaces are a bit grainy, and there's a ring effect I've seen even on MS65 examples of this coin. If it wasn't attested to being from the dies on many other coins, I would assume it was damage from a coin counting wheel. Does anyone know what caused this on the Panama Pacific commemoratives? Also, I know there's an S/S RPM variety, but can't find any photos showing the telltales to check. Is this an S/S? I think I see a second upper curve of the S above the mintmark. If that isn't it, how does one determine the S/S variety?
Images for the two S/S RPMs are here https://www.ngccoin.com/variety-plu...tives/silver-commemoratives-1892-1954/?page=1 Hard to say from your images, FS-502 maybe. Can't comment on the rest of it.
I enabled 2 votes for the poll, so it is possible to assign a numeric grade & also vote for details/cleaned. I think folks may be keying into die polish lines on the reverse (which are raised on the coin's surface, in my opinion) & mistaking them for scratches:
Definitely some hairlines scratches on the reverse, something on the obverse as well but I can't really make it out. I sent mine to ANACS as well, hopefully you get a decent grade but as you know you'll probably get a details grade! I got a corroded, I hate corroded! I'm not happy but that's okay I have other coins especially when it comes to PPIE! good luck!
Be careful of this S over S. It's a known counterfeit. None of the coins posted above look to be counterfeit.
That's a lovely example. If mine comes back AU-55 details, I'll be very happy! (I paid ~EF details price). I'm still hopeful those are marks on the die (raised transfer to the coin) instead of cleaning scratches, but we'll see. I'll try to get a better, scoped & angled picture focused on them before I send my coin in.
Hmm. I've seen them quite extensively on this particular series, but not on other coins. Have you seen them on other 50 cent pieces (which would presumably use a similar holder)?
According to Google's AI (which I can find no corresponding document that it's pulling this info from): "Panama Pacific half dollars from 1915 often have "wheel marks" because of the manufacturing process used at the time, where the coin blanks were likely fed into the coin press on a rotating metal wheel, leaving visible marks on the coin's surface, particularly on the edge and sometimes on the obverse and reverse due to the high pressure involved in striking the coin. Key points about these marks: Production method: This was a common occurrence with early 20th-century coins, especially commemorative issues like the Panama Pacific half dollar, which were often produced in relatively small quantities with less refined machinery compared to today's standards" The sausage that Google AI produces usually has pretty clear indicators about where it was pulled from, but I'm left scratching my head in this case.
I'm not the only one to notice the ring effect being widespread on these. Others have also suggested it may have been caused by mint packaging: https://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=289713
Got a better closeup on the mintmark & a few pictures trying to show what I think are die polish lines:
For reference, here's an example slabbed in AU53 by PCGS: https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-XXL7G/1915-s-panama-pacific-exposition-au-53-pcgs
