1882 H Newfoundland 50 Cents
Victoria · 2 varieties · study revised Aug. 16th 2022
The 1876 H Newfoundland halves have an interesting feature which appears to be typical to all of the coins minted during that year. The Letters "E" and "F" ( in the word "NEWFOUNDLAND") are unusual because they have a noticeable opening at the top of each character. This has left them with a very prominent and "incomplete" appearance! In 1882, a similar characteristic had also occurred, but this time it was the Letter "D" which was found to have a Gap at its Base! Interestingly enough, these coins were also minted by the Heaton Mint which had only been responsible for the production of Victoria 50 Cent coins during these two years! However, not every coin from this 1882 H issue can be found with this particular feature! A very small number of these were struck with a completely intact Letter "D"!
Read Barry's full introduction
In this particular instance, it is very difficult to tell if this date has two genuinely distinctive varieties which were the result of the intentional modification to the die, or if they were the result of a mint error. In either case, this date requires special attention because it brings about more questions than answers! The focus of this problem, can be seen with the last Letter "D" (in the word "NEWFOUNDLAND"). Most of the examples found with this date, can be observed to have a very noticeable Gap at the base of this Letter! A very small number of coins were found to have a completed "D", where no Gap existed at all! Initially, this would appear to be the result of a Mint Error but with both the 1876 H and 1882 H coins having similar characteristics and both being produced by the Heaton Mint, this would seem to suggest that it was more than just coincidental! How could this have happened? Was this the result of a perfectly good die which then became clogged, or was this the intentional style for the "D" to be used during this production? This same question could also apply to the Letters "E" and "F" found on the 1876 H NFLD 50 Cent Coinage!
To further complicate this mystery, there are also some slight variations within this group of coins that exhibit this Full Letter "D". In some instances, the Dates vary in size with some being slightly Wider than others. As well, there are certain examples which have been found where the "D" appears to have been Altered. This would seem to imply that during the final stages of production, there might have been some attempts to correct this problem of the Open "D". However, none of this really answers the question of whether this was the result of an Error or was it Intentional! Regardless of the reasons, it is still a very interesting variation!
Finally, as a point of interest, it should be noted that both of these varieties have a tiny, raised "Dash" between the Letters "N" and "D" (near the Top Right Arm of the "N").
