Half Dollar Lamination Error

silvercounselor · Apr 14, 2016

Went through a box of half dollars today and was skunked. I did find a lamination error though! It appears to be on the obverse and reverse which is interesting for me since all my nickel ones are just on one side.

I wonder if anyone could estimate what its worth?

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enamel7 · Apr 15, 2016

That's peculiar for sure! It doesn't make sense for a lam error to be in the same place on both sides. I would suggest maybe emailing Mike Diamond the photos and see what he says. I'm kinda leaning towards this being a cracked planchette that was damaged before the strike.

silvercounselor · Apr 15, 2016

enamel7 said:
That's peculiar for sure! It doesn't make sense for a lam error to be in the same place on both sides. I would suggest maybe emailing Mike Diamond the photos and see what he says. I'm kinda leaning towards this being a cracked planchette that was damaged before the strike.

Thanks Enamel!

by chance does anyone have Mike Diamond's email? And who he is? :dontknow:

enamel7 · Apr 15, 2016

Just do a Google search and it should show up. I'll look for it also.

enamel7 · Apr 15, 2016

He's a columnist for coin world magazine. Go to their site and you should find his contact info.

silvercounselor · Apr 15, 2016

Thank you!!

galenrog · Apr 15, 2016

Just the opinion of someone who has over 1500 errors in his collection, but that looks a lot like damage to me. If the professionals say different, so be it.

silvercounselor · Apr 28, 2016

I contacted Mike Diamond with my pictures and he was not sure. At first he thought it was lamination error, clad splitting, PMD, but not sure. So I asked if I could send it to him to get a better examination of it because I didn't want to invest in a super fancy camera for one coin. After examining it this is what he said...

"I have your 1972 half dollar. It's a genuine error in all respects. A deep fissure cuts across Kennedy's face and appears on the opposite face. I've not seen a fissure exactly like it before. My suspicion is that it appeared before rolling of the strip was completed. On the reverse you find a lamination error of the reverse clad layer that involves the word OF."

I was extremely excited to find I had found a new error coin! He said it's hard to estimate the value of it but would guess between 50-75 dollars. Very pleased with it! I appreciate everyone's feedback and help!

Sean