In 1912 and 1913, the number of mints striking Indian Head Half Eagles was reduced from three to two as the Denver Mint did not produce any of these coins. The 1912-S Indian Head Half Eagle is among the scarcer San Francisco Half Eagles of this design. 

Of all the issues of this design, the 1912-S is most likely to show strike problems. The obverse typically is weak at the border as a result of die deterioration. There is often what appears to be an area of die sinking sticking out from the date and this extends far to the left, up to the stars. The reverse also shows weakness at the border and this tends to affect the mintmark which tends to be very weakly detailed. 

1912-S Half Eagle: Striking Challenges and Difficulty in Finding Clean Examples

On a number of 1912-S Indian Head Half Eagles, the mintmark appears to be little more than a blob which can be hard to distinguish as being an “S.” There are some examples that show a better than average strike but for the most part this is an issue that will prove to be very frustrating for the collector who requires a boldly detailed coin.

Most 1912-S Half Eagles are very heavily abraded and show detracting marks in the fields. This is a very hard issue to find with clean surfaces.