1970-D Kennedy Half Dollar with three different kind of flaws.

[Varietynut]

I picked up a 1970-D Kennedy Half Dollar a couple days ago from a local coin shop bid board. It shows three different kinds of mint [error's or flaw's] on it. It has several strong clash marks on both sides, and there are several raised straight lines on the rev. through some of the letters etc. that I think I have seen some simular lines like them that you have called feeder arm damage. But it also has a long , flat, slightly raised arched line that runs above the word DOLLAR that I can't figure out, unless it is some sort of a strike through. I would appreciate your opinion on any of them.

Thanks
Louie

[diamond]

The thin raised line through DOLLAR could be a die gouge or a thin die dent. Or it could be a line of dried glue. Can't tell from here. The short straight lines through TED S could be short die gouges, but again, it's hard to say without looking at them under a microscope.

[seattleMD]

Are you sure the line above the dollar is raised throughout it's width? It looks a lot like a strike-through of a wire, but a strike-through would not be raised unless it damaged the die in a prior strike? ... but I'm not sure that would happen.

[3˘nicker]

it is hard for me to tell so i have to ask, the line above dollar from the pic it looks like there is two lines did you happen to do that or was the yellow arrows the only editing you did. the second thing would be, are you sure it is a raised or recessed line. if recessed it'd be easier to say it's a strike through

[fugnchill]

Hi VarietyNut,

Is this coin slabbed? If so then it's a PCGS slab with what looks like a crack in the plastic above the DOLLAR. You have two different lighting sources between the two pictures. Single light from the North for the DOLLAR and North/South for the UNITED STATES. I could write many reasons why I came to this conclusion but there are many reasons why I'm not convinced either way. The biggest problem I have is with the feathers of the arrows. This may be the impact point creating the crack. I'm no professional by no means so I may be waaay off but like 3 cent mentioned there is two lines reflecting light. Cracked plastic will reflect light through the crack from the upper lip (assuming the raised portion is opposite the light source) to the lower lip/end. But now, like Mike mentioned about glue... that can have the same reaction but usually with a slight glare traveling up the glue mound and distortion of detail in the middle. A die crack/chip/gouge will be raised (on the coin) and show lighting on one side (not including the top depending on lighting angle). So with a single light source picking up two points (at different depths by the way) and breaking up towards the end (far left side of the line) which is characteristic of a plastic. It may be a cracked slab. Once again I have very, very minimal experience in diagnosing these but I thought I would voice my thoughts... Either way, thanks for listening.

Lestrrr

[wavysteps]

I looked at the line in question and it appears to be incused, especially where it crosses over the arrow's tail feathers. If that is so, there are two possibilities; a scratch that happened after minting of the coin or a strike through. Normally I would go with the scratch, since that is the more common occurrence of the two, however, the way that line cross the feathers has me wondering if it was a small piece of wire.

Conclusion; the only way to find what these lines are is through a scope, as Mike pointed out.

BJ Neff

[Varietynut]

1970-D Kennedy Half Dollar with three different kind of flaws.

The coin isn't in a slab or anything. the line is definately on the coin. If BJ or Mike would like to take an in hands look at it, I would be glad to send it to one of them with return postage and attribution fee if one of them will let me know how much postage etc. to send, and where to send it. I would really like to have an in hand opinion on what caused the line on the coin. Thanks to everyone for posting their interest and comments .

Louie

[diamond]

I would be willing to look at it. Contact me directly at mdia1@aol.com and we'll make arrangements.

[Varietynut]

Before sending the coin, take a look at a few more photo's I took that are more close up that may be of help.

Thanks

[diamond]

The last two photos show what are almost certainly die gouges. I'm still not quite sure what's going on in the first three. Possibly a rolled-in strip of clad metal. It does resemble an SBA dollar I examined a few years ago that had a rolled-in strip of clad material.