Owner Comments:

Breen variety 3084, retouched hub with closed 5.

With a mintage of over 7.2 million, the 1857 half dime frequently appears at auction up through the MS-66 level. The early production run of 1857 half dimes normally had weak detail of Liberty's head and foot and large areas of the border dentils were weak or completely missing. In an effort to correct these problems the mint retouched the old master hub. This resulted in some improvement but the final product still was not a crisp, sharp strike. Coins struck from the retouched hub are easily identified by a small dent on the top inner ray of the third star. On coins such as this one, the knob of the 5 touches the upright.

Coins from the retouched hub also exist with an open 5 in the date, where the knob of the 5 is well away from the upright.