Talk:Franklin half dollar/GA2

GA Review

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Reviewer: Malleus Fatuorum 21:15, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

Lead

• "The Franklin half dollar is a coin of the United States, struck by the United States Mint from 1948 to 1963. The fifty cent coin pictured patriot Benjamin Franklin on the obverse and the Liberty Bell on the reverse." The tenses don't match. "Fify cent coin" almost certainly needs a hyphen as in "50-cent coin".

• "To satisfy legal requirements, a small eagle was depicted to the right of the bell." What bell?

• "The Mint submitted the new designs to the Commission of Fine Arts, which disapproved them ...". On the assumption that the commission weren't required to approve the designs, then this should be "disapproved of them".

At the time, submission of the designs to the Commission was required. Commission approval was not.--Wehwalt (talk) 05:24, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

• "The coins were struck regularly until being replaced after 1963 ...". I can't quite get my head around what "replaced after 1963" means. Were they replaced in 1963? 1965? 2009?

What I was trying to imply was that the half was struck through 1963, but not afterwards. It was not subjected to a midyear replacement, such as how the Mercury dime was introduced, which I'm also working on at present, with both coins struck in the same year.--Wehwalt (talk) 05:21, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

Background and selection

• The first paragraph just doesn't work for. Out of the blue we're confronted with the Walking Liberty half dollar for no obvious reason. This material would be better integrated into the second paragraph, where the Walking Liberty is discussed again.

• "Franklin had opposed putting portraits on coins; in later interviews Ross noted that Franklin only knew of royalty on coins ...". Interviews later than what?

• "... the Mint considered putting Franklin on the dime, but the project was shelved owing to wartime considerations". Seems a bit mealy-mouthed, "wartime considerations". What were they? Shortage of metal? More important things to be concerned about? Something else?

A coin redesign takes valuable time away from the Engraving Department of the Mint, which both designs coins and produces dies for striking coinage. Dies break all the time so they are always producing replacements. During World War II, there was a high and constant demand for coins, which required more dies than usual and limited the time of the engravers.

• "As a basis for the Franklin reverse, Sinnock used his design for the reverse of the 1926 commemorative half dollar for the sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) of American Independence,[3] although numismatic writer Don Taxay later discovered that Sinnock had based his Liberty Bell on a sketch by John Frederick Lewis." This doesn't quite work, because there's no context for the introduction of the Liberty Bell. Presumably it appeared on the reverse of Sinnock's medal?

No, it appeared on the Sesquicentennial half. It did not appear on the medal, which had on the reverse a group of classical figures, one holding an olive wreath. The medal may be viewed here.--Wehwalt (talk) 05:21, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

Release and production

• "Ross stated that the half dollar, as larger and made of silver, more easily produced an impressive effect." I can't quite follow that. More impressive than a cent would have been? What exactly does "more easily" mean?

Bigger coin, bigger design, better design was her logic, but I need to doublecheck the source.--Wehwalt (talk) 05:12, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

• "Sale of the new half dollars began at noon on April 30, 1948, chosen as the anniversary of George Washington's 1789 inauguration as president". Why is "president" not capitalised here whereas things like "Commission" and "Mint" are elsewhere?

I am using "Commission" as short for "Commission of Fine Arts" and "Bureau of the MInt". I only use lower case for mint if I am speaking of a particular facility. I think you could go either way on commission as long as you were consistent. Mint I think needs to be upper case. If it is a real problem, I can switch to "Mint Bureau" but I think that is awkward.--Wehwalt (talk) 05:12, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

I'm not fond of the current capitalisation, but I was actually asking why "president" wasn't capitalised. Malleus Fatuorum 05:16, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

Because such a capitalization tends to get objected to. I frankly would capitalize President all the time as respect for the office, but I seem to have a minority view. I'm open to suggestions.--Wehwalt (talk) 05:46, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

The inconsistency in capitalising "Mint" and "Commission" but not "president" is a little jarring to me, but it won't derail this article's review. FWIW I've been looking through some of the presidential FAs (Obama, Coolidge, Roosevelt) and although they seem generally to favour "President" they're not consistent, even within the same article in Obama's case. Malleus Fatuorum 13:32, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

Let me try something else.--Wehwalt (talk) 14:31, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

Collecting

• "The Franklin half dollar was struck in relatively small numbers in its first years, increasing beginning about 1957, and starting to be struck in much greater numbers beginning in 1962, as the demand for coins began which would culminate in the great coin shortage of 1964." That reads very awkwardly to me.

• "However, no dates exist which are particularly rare today ...". That "no dates exist" just doesn't work; no dates can be considered to be rare.

• "Proof coins were struck at the Philadelphia mint ...". Why "mint" rather than "Mint"?

It could go either way. I'll make that change.--Wehwalt (talk) 05:21, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

• "This variety was caused by a die clash with a reverse die, the impact of the eagle's wings on the other die caused a marking outside of Franklin's mouth which according to some resembles buck teeth." There's something wrong with the punctuation there.

• "... the coin was more valuable as bullion than in any condition during the high prices for the metal". What metal? Silver?

Thank you for your comments. I have to catch a train and don't have time to work on them now but I will go through them tonight. I need to review the source on the Ross quote anyway. If I haven't addressed a point it means I plan to make that change. If I have replied, please feel free to guide me further on those points.--Wehwalt (talk) 05:21, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

All these things are done. I will give it a read through later on to ensure I didn't screw up the prose when making my changes. Right now, the text and changes are too fresh in my mind.--Wehwalt (talk) 15:53, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

Looks fine to me, I think we can close this review now. Malleus Fatuorum 16:09, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.