What Is A Full Bell Line (FBL) Franklin?
There are corollaries in other coins series to the FBL Franklin. Mercury dimes are graded for Full Split Bands (FSB) and Standing Liberty quarters for Full Head (FH). The purpose is to designate a coin that comes closest to exhibiting all the design detail originally intended for the coin. An FBL Franklin should therefore possess a full or nearly full strike, on all portions of the coin, including the two sets of bell lines on the reverse. The bell lines need not run right up to the crack in the Liberty bell, but they should come to within about 1/64th of an inch. Occasionally, on certain “S” mint coins with complete bell lines, the bell lines will fade and be very weak in their upper right quadrant. To qualify as an FBL, the lines should be fairly sharply defined (not necessarily bold) on all portions. Some coins may possess full bell lines, but be very softly struck on other portions of the bell, or on Franklin’s bust on the obverse. A full bell line coin should also exhibit at least
