What's going on with this 1935 Walking Liberty Half Dollar?

Looks like a pitted reverse die struck it. As if rust had been buffed from the die leaving pitting (incuse) resulting in raised corresponding "bubble" like effects on the coin. That's how it could happen...

 

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I was recently researching the VAMs of the 1884 o Morgan when I saw these, grouped by rusty/pitted dies. All of the diagnostic pitting is in the fields as well. http://www.vamworld.com/1884+-+O+Pitted+Dies

 

Doug, there is nothing you have said that I can disagree with. My problem remains. After everything has been said here, as unlikely as it may be, there is nothing, IMO, more likely than rusty dies.

Let's try this by the process of elimination. I see no way it could possibly be from the planchet. The anomaly is raised and it is not in the lettering. Can anyone disagree with that?

 

Is there any chance the coin could have been plated? Sorry if that's a dumb question.

 

No. I guess I agree now it didn't originate in the planchet. If it's from the die, there are others out there like it.

 

A close look at the OP's first picture shows that the lettering "NTED S" also shows roughness. A polished rusted die might be the answer. The only other thing I can think of is Strike Through when the die was pressed, although I can't imagine what material might have been involved. It does look like plating bubbles like on the cent in the picture but, of course, the half wasn't plated.

 

I agree that it's not die erosion. Other peripheral lettering is sharp and there are no heavy patches of flow lines. A pitted die is possible, but the pitting normally seen on Morgan dollars is much "sharper" than this. Also, pitted dies seem uncharacteristic of the 1930s. I will therefore recommend that you "poke it with a stick" -- a test occasionally cited on VAMWorld for determining if what you see is really a planchet flaw. In this case, you're seeing if there's occluded gas in the planchet.

And by "stick", I mean a rose thorn or cactus spine. Poke at the largest one and see if you observe deformation.

Another thought: Glue on the surface of a coin can be very deceptive. If the bumps come off when you poke it with a stick, that's what it is.

 

Now that is one that didn't come to mind. That is probably because it seems very unlikely that one could get glue on the field without getting it on the devices. But, hey, that makes it about as likely as anything anyone else has mentioned.

 

Thanks for everyone taking a stab on what is going. Might just try out the "stick" later on. Will post what the results are.

 

I'm stumped. I would have to examine the coin under a microscope to have any hope of making progress toward an accurate diagnosis.

 

Hi Mike. Mind if I send you the coin and see what you think?
Craig

 

That'll be fine. PM me and I'll send you my mailing address.

 

Done. Thanks.

 

That is VERY, VERY true, and it has fooled me so many times, and I considered it, here, but was not as brave as you to mention it. But it is a contender in these quirky "error" evaluations, it really is.

 

Mike got the coin and hand and was nice enough to take the time to look at it. Here is the what he found. The defect that drew your interest is a patch of die deterioration. Die wear can be surprisingly localized at times.
Thanks again Mike for taking the time!

 

Neat.

When you get it back, any chance you could post a more close-up view of one of the letters inside the affected area? I'd be interested to see if there's anything at all visible in the devices.

 

Hmmm, so I was right.

 

I will give it a try!