So I still have the same question! Were these coins meant to be or was one or the other for a proof or mint set only? Or was this just a major mint boo-boo?
Hi Twoshadows, the incused flag variety die was suppose to be used for the Mint Set 50 cent coin but for some reason it was never used for that and the dies found their way into producing less than 200,000 circulation 50 cent coins. One might even consider them mules
because the incised die was suppose to be used for all circulation coins. And when you consider less than 200,000 coins out of 16,630,000 is a mighty small mintage. Mint/Baby Mint sets totalled 133,512 50 cent coins and to date only the incised flag has been found.
The coin in the Proof and Baby Proof sets used a different die again. As the coin has a coloured pad printed flag, the actual surface under the colour is totally smooth and flat - no incused or incised lines and no stars at all. It was all painted on to the flat flag surface.
Wayne