1880 Newfoundland 50 Cents
Victoria · 3 varieties · study revised July 2nd 2012
With a mintage of only 24,000 coins, the 1880 issue has one of the lowest production numbers of this entire Half Dollar series (second only to the 1888 issue with 20,000 pieces). As can be expected, it is one of the most difficult to find in any condition and can be considered rare in higher grades! This has made it both a very popular and challenging date for collectors of this Victoria series.
Read Barry's full introduction
Considering that the mintage for this date was exceedingly low, it would seem very unlikely that any varieties would be found. However, as it has been observed so often before, the Newfoundland coinage very seldom disappoints! It now appears, there are at least three very distinct varieties, with the differences all occurring with the spacing of the "0" in their dates. Therefore, as it now stands, the 1880 coinage can be broken down into three distinct varieties: Narrow, Medium and Wide dates!
In addition, it appears that all, if not most of these coins, had been struck using 1870 dies which have had their respective "7's" Over-punched with a second "8". Remnants of this original digit can be clearly seen on both the Narrow, and Medium dates, but it does not appear on the Wide date coins! The possibility here is that the wider positioning of the "8" has completely covered the original "7" or alternatively, a completely new die was used for this variety.
