1971 D half E in LIBERTY

[Jay3434]

Recently I got 4 rolls of half dollars from the banks. It was strange because all the rolls had the same dates, granted these were all customer rolled. 2 rolls all 1971 and one roll all 1972 and one roll was all 1974. In the 1971 I noticed a few with the lower half of the E in Liberty missing. Has anyone seen this before? I see nothing online about this.

[MintErrors]

Ummmm that E and R in LIBERTY were designed that way.

[Jay3434]

Then how come the others i have touch the hair with no space in between?

[Jay3434]

I think you should look at a few examples closely online, then compare. They are not the same

[PNWMAKES]

Die deterioration or or die polishing but just looked at examples some touch some don't

[MintErrors]

That design of the Kennedy is the same for all years. If there is something minor or wrong with it, so be it.

It is probably wear or damage of some sort. The north-south lines near the E are polishing lines, again, nothing to get excited about.

[Jay3434]

Lol im about to give up, I see error coins with die chips that are barely the size of a small dot on a coin in examples posted on these error websites that are nothing to me and they are given a error number. You find a half an E and bring it up to the pros and get laughed at pretty much. I am a beginner yes but im trying

[Jay3434]

So them micro lines are polishing lines now i know what to look for, thanks

[mustbebob]

First of all, no one is laughing at you. What we are trying to do is educate.

If you take a look at the official mint web site for showing what the coins are supposed to look like, you will see that the actual design only shows a half E and partial R of LIBERTY. Every half dollar minted since 1964 would be like this, and that would be millions and millions of coins. Have a look at the link below. You may also want to save that link so you can retrieve images of all the coins the US Mint produces. It is a great resource if you are unsure if a design element should be there or not, and it allows you to zoom in extremely closely.

https://www.usmint.gov/news/image-li...dy-half-dollar

[Jay3434]

Hey mustbebob I do know it was the design for the E and th e R, there is a head in the way. I just saw the gap between the hair and the E other coins did not have the gap. On the original design its more then 3/4 of an E then it touches the hair. Mine in just over half that didnt touch the hair. That was my point at the beginning of my post, and the mint shows what im talking about. No biggy i will just move on to my next coin since its nothing. Thank you all who replied

[Tim]

Hey mustbebob I do know it was the design for the E and th e R, there is a head in the way. I just saw the gap between the hair and the E other coins did not have the gap. On the original design its more then 3/4 of an E then it touches the hair. Mine in just over half that didnt touch the hair. That was my point at the beginning of my post, and the mint shows what im talking about. No biggy i will just move on to my next coin since its nothing. Thank you all who replied

Jay3434,

In 1971, the Kennedy half dollar underwent a obverse die modification and both the ODV-002 (Obverse Die Variety) and ODV-003 were produced for circulation and proof coins.

The biggest difference between the ODV-002 and the ODV-003 is the OVD-003 has what is referred to as an enhanced R in LIBERTY, but the E is basically unchanged.

ODV-002: Notice hair on top of slanted leg of R.


OVD-003: Enhanced R in LIBERTY, notice the slanted leg of R is not obstructed by the hair.

[Tim]

Hey mustbebob I do know it was the design for the E and th e R, there is a head in the way. I just saw the gap between the hair and the E other coins did not have the gap. On the original design its more then 3/4 of an E then it touches the hair. Mine in just over half that didnt touch the hair. That was my point at the beginning of my post, and the mint shows what im talking about. No biggy i will just move on to my next coin since its nothing. Thank you all who replied

In reference to your observations about the E in LIBERTY having a gap before it reaches the top of Kennedy’s head is just an optical illusion when looking straight down at the coin. If you look at the letter E from either the left or right side of the coin, you will see that the lower part of the E appears to disappear behind Kennedy’s head.

I have also examined several Kennedy half dollars that the lower part of the E in LIBERTY has been abraded away from when the Mint employees were redressing the die for whatever reason (removing clash marks, etc.), so that they could get more life out of the die. I have also seen several coins where the bridge of the nose has been abraded away.

[Jay3434]

Ok thank you all for the help guys, also Tim I did do the optical illusion test from left to right, and I got overly excited that i didnt see it continue to the hair the gap was still there, i could scope it from the side at the proper angle and snap a photo. But i feel it wouldnt make a difference. Also I was aware of the R just by reading about an abrated hair version then looking at the difference in the R's under my scope. Another lesson learned I guess, im 0-4 here lol. But hey im learning. But my next post may shock you all, im eager to see what you say, look for 1956 rpm D over D over a P? Posting it soon