1867 Half Dollar Error List with Pictures
A second tiny S helped identify an 1867-S half dollar that sold for $5,875 in 2013. PCGS graded that coin MS64, meaning it had no circulation wear.
The 1867 half dollar errors below range from estimated $150 worn examples to that $5,875 sale. Some clues sit in the motto or date; others cross the design or change the edge.
Bring a magnifier. The following sections show where to look and explain why each feature formed.
1. 1867-S Liberty Seated Half Dollar Die Cracks (Estimated Up to $800)
A raised line near Liberty’s foot can be a clue to a cracked die. The die is the steel tool that stamps the design onto the coin.
If it cracks, silver can enter the narrow opening during striking. That leaves a ridge on the coin.
Other 1867-S examples have cracks in the lettering on the back. One runs from C in AMERICA through A toward the area above the arrowheads.
These paths appear on different coins, so both need not be present. A thin crack also differs from a large broken area that replaces part of the design.
Estimated Value
Estimate $150–$800 for circulated examples with a clear crack. Wear and surface condition still account for much of the whole coin’s price.
Ordinary 1867-S coins graded XF40, meaning extremely fine, appeared in sold listings at $275 and $295 in April 2026. An AU50 coin with CAC approval sold for $675 in March 2025.
Those are condition comparisons, not sales tied to these crack paths. A faint line does not automatically add a large premium.
How to Identify
Check the S below the eagle and the motto above it, then inspect the ridged edge. An unworn half should weigh 12.44 grams and measure about 30.6 millimeters on a scale and calipers.
Locate Liberty’s foot on the front, or AMERICA and the arrowheads on the back. Use a 10× magnifier to follow the line through the relevant details.
Tilt the light. A genuine crack line should stand up rather than cut a channel into the coin.
Do not join unrelated marks to force a match. Compare each path with a photograph of the same crack, especially on a worn coin.
The easiest first check is a continuous raised ridge through the named landmarks.
2. 1867-S Liberty Seated Half Dollar Die Gouges (Estimated Up to $900)
An extra horizontal line crosses the eagle’s left wing toward the shield on one 1867-S die. Another reported line crosses from the final D of UNITED through the first S of STATES.
They occur on separate examples. Neither coin needs to show both lines.
These marks come from gouges in the stamping tool. A gouge is a cut in the tool, but it leaves a raised line on the coin.
Silver fills that cut during striking. This explains why a scratch-like mark can stand above the surface and come from damage that happened before the coin was made.
Estimated Value
The estimated range is $200–$900 for circulated examples with a clearly matched gouge. A strong line on an attractive coin is easier to appreciate than a faint trace on a worn one.
Recent sales of ordinary San Francisco halves in extremely fine and about uncirculated grades help frame this estimate. No separate sale price is established for either line here.
Collectors may value a recognizable mark, but there is no fixed price for every raised line.
How to Identify
Find the eagle’s left wing and shield, or the D in UNITED and first S in STATES. These give you exact places to start.
Use a 10× magnifier to trace the line between them while moving the light. A raised line following the named wing or lettering path is the useful match.
A cut in the finished coin can leave a groove with pushed-up metal beside it. A branching line may instead be a crack, so compare the whole route with the known example.
The S mintmark and ridged edge should be present. Check about 30.6 millimeters with calipers and compare the weight with the original 12.44 grams, allowing for wear.
First match a raised line to the named wing or lettering path.
3. 1867-S Liberty Seated Half Dollar Clashed Dies (Estimated Up to $1,000)
Look beside Liberty’s arm, hand, and rock seat for faint extra curves. On documented 1867-S halves, other traces appear around the back’s motto scroll, wing, or shield.
These can be clash marks. They form when the two stamping tools hit each other without a blank between them.
That contact leaves marks from the opposite design on the tools. Later coins can show parts of those extra outlines.
The useful clue is a shape that matches something on the other side. Random scratches and polishing lines may also be faint, but do not follow the opposite design in the same way.
Estimated Value
A clear clash on a circulated coin has an estimated value of $250–$1,000. Stronger outlines and better surfaces help collectors see what happened.
Ordinary 1867-S sold listings include $591.01 for PCGS AU53 in November 2025 and $875 for PCGS AU55 in January 2025. AU means about uncirculated, with only limited wear.
Those prices describe the underlying coins. The clash range is an estimate, not a measured extra charge added to each ordinary half.
How to Identify
Use clear photographs of both sides and find which opposite-side shape could have left the extra curve. Start around Liberty’s arm and rock seat, or the back’s scroll, wing, and shield.
A 10× magnifier helps separate an outline from random surface lines. A recognizable opposite-side outline in the right place is the main clue, so follow more than one short section.
Check that its position fits when the two designs are lined up as they were in the press. Several unrelated scratches are not a substitute.
Confirm the S mintmark and motto, then inspect the edge ridges. Use a scale and calipers against the unworn standards of 12.44 grams and about 30.6 millimeters.
The quickest check is an extra curve that matches part of the opposite design.
4. 1867 Liberty Seated Half Dollar Repunched and Misplaced Date (Estimated Up to $1,500)
An extra piece of a 6 can appear below the date on a reported Philadelphia example. It sits among the small tooth-like marks around the inner rim.
Those border marks are called dentils. A misplaced date punch left the extra digit in the stamping tool.
Other Philadelphia halves show extra outlines at 67. San Francisco examples have reported repunching at 186 or at the 1.
The date was punched into the tool by hand, so a second attempt could leave traces of the first. Each example needs its own comparison; all four digits do not have to look doubled.
Estimated Value
Estimate $350–$1,500 for circulated examples with clear date-punching marks. Compare Philadelphia and San Francisco coins separately, since condition and normal coin values differ.
A higher-grade, different-year example offers context: an 1865 half with lightly repunched 1 and 5 sold for $3,360 in January 2025. PCGS graded it MS64.
That sale concerns an uncirculated coin. It is not a sale of the reported 1867 extra 6 below the date.
How to Identify
On a Philadelphia coin, examine 67 and the tooth-like border beneath the date with a 10× magnifier. The published listing places the extra 6 in that border but does not name one exact tooth.
For an S-mint example, compare the reported extra outlines at 186 or 1 with a matching San Francisco coin. Look for part of a digit, not merely thick edges.
Check for scratches or tool marks around the extra shape. A normal unworn half weighs 12.44 grams and measures about 30.6 millimeters across.
Use a scale and calipers, and inspect the ridged edge. A recognizable extra digit in the correct place is the clearest starting test.
5. 1867 Liberty Seated Half Dollar Curved Clip (Estimated Up to $1,600)
A curved piece is missing near ten o’clock on the Philadelphia half offered by GreatCollections. NGC labeled it Unc Details, meaning it has uncirculated detail but a problem prevents a regular numerical grade.
The listing identifies a curved clip. This starts before the coin receives its design.
Metal blanks are punched from a strip. When a punch overlaps an earlier hole, the new blank comes out with a gap.
The coin is struck with that curved gap already there. The way its rim and design meet the missing section helps distinguish a genuine clip from a later cut.
Estimated Value
Estimate $400–$1,600 across circulated and Unc Details examples, allowing for wear and surface problems. The NGC clip auction ended in September 2023, but its public page hides the sale price.
For a broader comparison, an 1832 Capped Bust half with a minor blank flaw sold for $263.25 in July 2025. It was a lower-grade coin from another series.
That result does not set the price of this better-detailed 1867 Philadelphia example.
How to Identify
Look into the gap near ten o’clock from both sides and from the edge. With a 10× magnifier, check how the remaining rim and ridges end at the gap.
Saw marks, filing, or fresh cuts suggest metal was removed later. A genuine clip was present when the design was struck.
The opposite rim may be weak, an effect called the Blakesley effect. It can support a clip, though it is not equally clear on every coin.
Philadelphia coins have no mintmark. A scale should show less than the normal 12.44 grams, while calipers can check the surviving body against about 30.6 millimeters.
Original struck borders at the gap are more useful than its curved shape alone.
6. 1867-S Liberty Seated Half Dollar Doubled Die Reverse (Estimated Up to $2,500)
The motto above the eagle is the place to examine this 1867-S doubled reverse. Extra outlines there come from a stamping tool made with a doubled design.
Bill Bugert’s reference records the doubled motto. The same back tool was used with more than one front tool.
That means the front can differ while the doubled motto remains the same. It does not require extra outlines across every feather.
The added lines should stay in the same positions beside the motto. Reflections, wear, and flat ledges caused during striking can also make letters look doubled, so a clear comparison matters.
Estimated Value
Recorded sold listings show a PCGS XF45 doubled reverse at $543.67 in July 2023. An NGC AU58 example brought $2,374.99 in November 2024.
These are collected marketplace records for coins in different conditions. They support an estimated $500–$2,500 for comparable examples with the doubled motto clearly identified.
The large price gap matters. Wear, surfaces, and overall appeal can change the whole coin’s value even when both carry the same doubled reverse.
How to Identify
Put the motto above the eagle under a 10× magnifier. Compare the extra lines with a clear photograph of the known doubled reverse.
Change the light and look again. An outline that vanishes with a reflection may not be part of the metal.
The reported coins have a small S below the eagle. A Philadelphia Proof, a specially made collector coin, should not be given this identity just because it also has a motto.
Inspect the ridged edge, then check the coin with a scale and calipers. The original standard is 12.44 grams and about 30.6 millimeters across.
Judge the added outline in the motto itself, not the general thickness of the eagle’s feathers.
7. 1867-S Liberty Seated Half Dollar Repunched Mintmark (Up to $5,875)
A small extra curve beside the S can reveal a repunched mintmark on an 1867-S half. The mintmark is the letter showing where the coin was made.
Workers punched the S into the stamping tool separately. A slight shift between punches could leave part of the first letter beside the final one.
That extra curve can make the S look larger. Size alone is not the deciding clue.
Early coins from the tool show the extra impression more clearly. As the tool wore, it could become harder to see, while damage to a finished coin can also distort the letter.
Estimated Value
The PCGS MS64 repunched-mintmark half sold for $5,875 at Stack’s Bowers in 2013. That price includes its scarce uncirculated condition, not just the tiny extra curve.
Circulated examples have an estimated range of $300–$1,200. An NGC AU55 sold listing recorded $842 in April 2023.
For a similarly attractive MS64, use $4,500–$5,875 as a comparison range. Surface quality still matters, so the same grade does not guarantee the same price.
How to Identify
Check the motto above the eagle and the ridged edge. Calipers should show about 30.6 millimeters, and a scale can compare the weight with 12.44 grams before wear.
The small S sits beneath the eagle. Compare it with the cataloged MS64 example before deciding that a large-looking letter is repunched.
Through a 10× magnifier, look for part of a second S curve. Wear in the stamping tool can make it faint.
Damage can also leave an irregular edge around the letter. A scratch beside the S should not be mistaken for an earlier punch mark.
The useful match is the extra S curve in the same position as the known example.
Conclusion
Values run from an estimated $150 for circulated crack examples to the recorded $5,875 MS64 mintmark sale. The smallest extra line is not always the cheapest feature, because condition matters too.
Check the date, motto, and S with a magnifier. For a clipped coin, inspect the missing section from the side.
Match the visible feature before comparing prices, and keep ordinary coin value separate from an error’s added appeal.