Owner Comments:
IMHO the 1942-S is the MOST difficult coin in the short set to find with a decent strike and is more difficult than even the 1941-S AND the 1944-S coins. Those other two (1941-S & 1944-S) are quite tough, as well, as I believe that they are second and third in strike difficulty, respectively. I would rank the 1943-S as being number four in strike rarity. Many of the 1942-S coins have NO THUMB detail and some have incomplete skirt lines and some examples are even deficient in BOTH of those areas---a plateau, if you will, straight down the center. Then there is the issue of DULLNESS of luster and/or abraded surfaces, which is very prevalent for this issue, too. So it is a very TALL order to fill by finding a nice one, regardless of them having significantly higher population numbers than the early dates.
Known Varieties:
V 101 – Large trumpet tailed “S” (may exist with knob tail or sharp serifs).
V 102 – Small “S” (Micro).
V 103 – No “AW” monogram.
V 104 – Doubled “S” northeast.
V 105- Doubled “S” south. Doubled HALF DOLLAR south.
When I saw this MS 65; I just had to have it. Although the central obverse branch stem separation line is incomplete at the very highest point, it still has a very decent thumb, which is more important to me. It also has full skirt lines, clean surfaces and nice luster, too. It met ALL of my stringent requirements. Furthermore, I have ALWAYS wanted a 'RATTLER' holder, so the fact that it is in a rattler slab makes it more desirable to me. Also, the fact that CAC has green stickered it makes it even MORE appealing to me and is just more frosting on the cake. A VERY solid MS 65, IMHO, which is ALL that I really needed----no 'ga-ga' grades for me. It is a GEM, so it fits my criteria for my short set coins of 'at least MS 65 or better'.
Second lowest mintage in 1942 at 12,708,000 pieces.
8000-9000 Total MS survivors. Second in MINT STATE rarity in the short set.
NGC Census 1130/215 & PCGS Population 2410/475 in MS 65 as of 10/14.
CAC Population in MS 65 is 147/115 for both services and just 288 in ALL grades.