Featured The Bugs Bunny Franklin - an In-Depth Overview

The Bugs Bunny Franklin



“Eh, What’s up Doc?”

Children and adults alike have laughed at that wascally wabbit, and numismatists too have a good time with the buck toothed carrot-eater – as an interesting variety on certain Franklin halves.

B. Max Mehl, the great promoter of coins, was in large part responsible for the popularity of the “Bugs Bunny” variety on the 1955. Other dates also display this interesting feature, but Mehl focused his talents on the 1955 – in large part because it is the most common. The Bugs Bunny variety is so named because it appears like Franklin has buck teeth, like a rabbit. I’ve also heard some people refer to this as the Vampire Franklin, for obvious reasons. This interesting variety is due to clashed dies, as we shall see shortly.


(My 1955 Bugs Bunny)

NGC does not recognize the Bugs Bunny variety, but PCGS does. I am not sure why NGC doesn’t recognize it, but I have heard that it is due to trademark infringement issues. PCGS solves this by designating it by its Cherrypicker’s number, FS-401. It is widely recognized by Franklin collectors as well as the general collecting public, most likely due to its name. If you can think up a clever name for a variety, and get a bunch of people to recognize it, you will have an instant hit on your hands. For example, the 1955 in MS-64 FBL should be about $40. It is very common for a Bugs Bunny example to go for twice that, or more. Tomaska has recently offered several incredible examples of the Bugs Bunny, graded by PCGS as 66FBL, but they were also impressively toned (and impressively priced at about $4k each). The Bugs Bunny variety is somewhat easy to find, there are almost always one or two on Ebay, but they are usually low grade uncirculated. Finding one that grades MS-64 or 65 is very difficult, and then try to find one with full bell lines besides, and you will start to understand the premium placed on higher graded FBL Bugs Bunny varieties.


(My 1954 Bugs Bunny)

The Bugs Bunny clash is known on a few other dates, but collectors are generally unaware of this. The 1955 is by far the most common, so this was the date that was easiest to promote. Because the Bugs Bunny is the result of a die clash, it could have happened on any of the 35 issues. Certain issues have only a couple of examples known, and these will fetch large premiums with the right collectors. Bugs Bunnies are known on 1949, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1954D, 1955, and 1956. Besides my 1955, I also own the 1954 I recently purchased (see above) For more, see the excellent Franklin variety Signature Set Bret Parrish has put together here: Franklin Variety and Error Set


(Montage of different years of Bugs Bunnies; 1951, 1954, 1956 pictures courtesy of Brett Parrish)

There are two theories which collectors at one time propounded for the Bugs Bunny – either die chips or a clash. This coin is absolutely not the product of die chips; only a clash could produce the effects seen. For those of you unaware of what a clash is, it’s the effect seen when two dies come together without a planchet in between. Often, elements from one die will transfer to the other die. This is extremely common on some series, such as the three cent coins, where you will often get incredibly impressive clashes where the entire reverse is visible on the obverse. Bust Halves also have some impressive clashes.


(Close-ups of the clashed areas)

The effect which gives the Bugs Bunny coin its name is due to an impression of the eagle’s feathers in Franklin’s mouth. Present, but very rarely discussed, are other evidences of clashing – remnants of the motto at the back of Franklin’s head, remnants of his nose underneath the eagle on the reverse, and his chin at the top of the eagle. These all give evidence of a large clash. The areas I focus on are circled in the picture above. Some bugsies also show evidence of the motto, especially the M in UNUM, at the back of Franklin’s head. There is also usually a vast amount of die polishing on both sides of the coin, common on clashed coins as the mint worker was trying to erase the evidence. See the close-ups above for the affected areas.

Trying to wrap your mind around how a clash formed can sometimes be difficult. In these cases, numismatists sometimes use overlays to see exactly how elements line up. Below I did an obverse and reverse overly so you can see exactly how Franklin came to have a mouthful of feathers. I merely adjusted the opacity of one side, flipped it, and laid it over the top of the other side. This assumes that the two sides do not have any rotated dies – which would cause the elements to be slightly adjusted. My 1955 Bugs is pretty well lined up, so I did not adjust the rotation of my pictures. You can see in the first image that the eagle lines up exactly with Franklin’s face. When I did this overlay, I really expected the tips of the feathers to be the elements which show, I was sort of surprised to see Franklin’s mouth halfway up the feathers. You see, I didn’t quite have it right in my mind.


(Reverse overlaid on the obverse)

The obverse overlaid on the reverse below is essentially the same image as above, just rotated for easy viewing of the reverse. Here you can see that Franklin’s nose and chin intersect the eagle exactly at the places circled in the close-ups show above. I believe it is the flared nostril which we can see below the eagle – judging by the overlay, that is exactly what should line up. Before I did the overlay, I knew it would be some part of his nose, but I couldn’t picture exactly which part.

Of interest – I have seen Franklin’s with the clashing around the eagle present, without evidence of feathers in his mouth. These coins would not be true Bugs Bunny coins, because they lack the buck teeth, despite the fact that the coin obviously clashed. I have not yet seen a true Bugs Bunny which lacked the nose clash under the eagle.


(Obverse overlaid on the reverse)

I have also noticed that there seems to be more than one die exhibiting the clash on the 1955. There seems to be one very strong clash, and there is one weaker clash. The stronger clash has very distinct feathers showing, and the M in UNUM is also visible at the back of Franklin’s head. The weaker clash has the feathers much softer, and also seemingly slightly shifted with respect to the stronger clash. The M is also not visible on the weaker clash. For reference, my 1955 pictured above is what I am calling the weaker clash. Both varieties exhibit strong die polish – the die is polished to the extent that the bridge of Franklin’s nose is missing, a la the 3 legged buffalo. My 1954 Bugs does not exhibit the strong die polish of the 1955, but it possesses the clear and distinct clashing at the mouth and around the eagle.

I hope you are inspired to go find a Bugs Bunny now! The world of Franklin varieties is varied and interesting, and the Bugs Bunny is often a first stepping stone into further study of this beautiful and exciting series. Here’s hoping you catch the bug!

Jason Poe

 

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Great article Jason!!

 

Excellent article. I enjoyed the overlays very much.

Jim

 

Very nice article , good read.

 

Great post, I tried to vote it for Thread of the Week, but after clicking the icon it told me that I don't have permission to vote... I guess that feature is still under construction

 

Great post! I did not realize that there were more than on year of the "Bugs Bunny" variety. I'd like to collect them all, and I'd also like to find an album that had spaces for these varieties. Ooh, I think I may have a new idea. So, I loaded up my truck and moved to Beverly!!!

 

very informative

I also didn't know there was several years with this error. Guess I need to find then to add to my 55

 

Could it be that you were logged out? That happens to me sometimes. Refresh and log back in works for me...if that's the problem.

Edit: Never mind...happened to me, too (and I'm still logged in).

Great article...btw. :hail:

 

Allways wandered what one looked like

 

What's up Doc?

A great article! Nice job Jason! :kewl:

 

Great article. I too can't figure out how to nominate posts after being here almost 3 years. I happen to know a guy who has a number of these PCGS graded like 65-66 FBL and am 99% certain he told me he has the only graded one for 1950. He showed it to me and I am almost certain it was 1950.

 

Great thread. The overlays sure help.
Clash marks are really tough on the brain.
Trying to visualize a clash without an overlay can drive you crazy.
That's a short trip for me.

 

Great article Jason. Nice write up with great visual pics. I tried to vote as well, but I guess the feature is turned off. Great threads like this should be a sticky.

 

Thanks guys. I'm glad you like it. I always do these big long threads, and I'm nervous about whether or not anyone will enjoy them or find them useful. Of course, it doesn't really matter, because I love doing them!

 

Thanks for the article!!! I read this a few days ago and became curious about Franklins. I went to the coin shop and spotted a 1954 Bugs Bunny with stunning toning for the same price as a regular 1954 Franklin! Definitely picked that one up! Gonna have pics up sooner or later but just wanted to say thanks and wanted to bump this up for everyone else to read too. Maybe someone else will be just as lucky as I was.
-theSharpGun

 

My ANACS label actually says "Bugs Bunny". :yes:

 

Very good article.
Would you share what kind of camera set up you use, and how you produce the overlays?

 

Overlays http://www.cointalk.com/t218061/

 

Well here it is, my Bugs Bunny that I luckily found.