i wanted to add another coin to my collection and decided to purchase an 1876 trade dollar ( P mint) mainly to the fact that it is the centennial year. paid $130 USD upon inspection and research from many places but mostly this thread. http://www.cointalk.com/t63695/ i used a high magnification to inspect it, i noticed the female had 4 fingers AND the liberty ribbon points were pointing left. so i sent it out to ANACS to verifiy that it is authentic and paid extra for variety research. they gave it a grade of AU55, cleaned with a type 1 OB and type 2 REV. but no mention of how or why the combination. could it be an error? any thoughts?
I found this in the thread you linked to QUOTE BY KSPARROW: --------- "In 1876 we have 1/1;1/2; and 2/2 (NOTE: NO 2/1 combination)"
got some photos here's what ANACS wrote for my variety research: {Coin Comments: The obverse is the Type 1 style. What appears to be a "4th Finger" may be a random die gouge, or it may have been an intentional attempt to add another finger. However, the style of the branch and the berries is definitely Type 1, as are the ends of the ribbon. Needs more study -- if the extra finger was an intentional addition to the die, it might be a variety like the extra leaf Wisconsin quarters.} i don't have a good camera so the photos are from my cell phone through a 7X magnifier, thats why there's some glare and shadows.
You posted this on another forum as well. As I mentioned there do know of a variety of 1876 trade dollar that has a combination of type one ribbon and four fingers on the hand. It was announced at the Central States Show in Columbus OH a couple years back. At that time it was only known on proofs. (But he was looking to see if he could find one on a business strike.)
