1875 s Seated liberty Dime held together by lady liberty herself.

[Blancarte88]

I need help identifying whether or not my 1875 s seated Liberty dime is a mint error or or simply damaged. Lady liberty's arm seems to be untouched.

[mustbebob]

It's definitely damage. The reverse confirms that. I don't know how Lady Liberty reached over the damage, but it is hard to say how long this has been like this and if the scratch/gouge actually wore down enough (being the high point on the coin) to make it look like the arm wasn't affected.

[Blancarte88]

Thank you for your reply to my post Bob your time and attention is very much appreciated. I'm going to post on this reply some better pictures the arm is completely unaffected. Probably won't change anything but it's very odd.

[jcuve]

That coin was crimped, like in pliers or wire cutters or something. Sorry.

[Blancarte88]

A couple issues; 1st Bob you said; "scratch/gouge actually wore down enough (being the high point on the coin)"; issue with that is it's not the high point on the coin; the high point is on the reverse.
And 2nd jcuve you said; "That coin was crimped, like in pliers or wire cutters or something".; problem with that is the indention isn't straight so it couldn't be crimped by pliers or wire cutters. Although I do see how one could draw that conclution.

I'm attaching additional pictures because I realized that my previous pictures make the coin look bent or distorted but for the most part this dime is straight (please see pics).

Fact is the arm is over the damage. Only logical explanation I can see here is that in order for that to be true the arm had to of happened after the damage. What logical escape is there from that conclusion?

I tend to also think it was damaged after minting myself. I'll admit that, but that one fact kinda makes that near impossible.

Is there any way at all that this damage could of happened at the mint?

If so I'll send it in. If so where is the best place to send it?

[jcuve]

The first rule in Mint error diagnosis is explaining what is seen using the terms of the minting process. If that can't happen, and that's what I think Bob and I were feeling, we shift toward a quick way of kind of explaining it as a type of damage. It's only a mint error if it can be explained as being so, and I cannot do that. All indications are is it was damaged. Debating the differences between what Bob and I wrote about the damage will not make it a mint error either.

[Blancarte88]

Ok. I just got my membership packet today and after reading thru it I have to admit I feel a little silly writing what I wrote in my last reply. My apologies. I did not realize the caliber of expertise or the amount of experience and recognition I was being helped by. I hope that I did not offend either of you. I guess I just really wanted it to be an error because it would be a cool one. My bad. Thank you for your time and attention. My next post will be vetted better. I promise.

[jcuve]

No offense taken. Glad to see you joined and are pleased at the get go. Hopefully I am not coming across as too grumpy. The forums can be taxing - we want to be helpful, but that doesn't always mean we are being helpful.

[mustbebob]

No offense taken here either. Most of us have been through this before, and we will use educated guesses when we don't know something for sure. Anything that happens post mint is a guess unless we were there when it happened. If anyone says they have seen something like you have before, they are probably not telling the truth. Welcome to CONECA and I hope we can help you in the future.