Did I really do that?

Call the optometrist.

I apparently need to put this on my “to do” list.

There was an email in my inbox this morning.

The writer spotted a couple of mistakes in the Nov. 6 issue of Numismatic News in a feature story about collecting Walking Liberty half dollars.

Photographs of two coins were placed with the article to demonstrate that the mintmarks started out in 1916 and the first part of 1917 on the obverse and were then moved to the reverse in later 1917.

There was a 1916 coin with the mintmark under IN GOD WE TRUST on the obverse.

There was a 1917 coin with the mintmark in the lower part of the coin to the left of the rocky outcrop on the reverse.

So far, so good.

However, this isn’t a game of horseshoes where getting close counts.

The correct situation was pointed out by the email sender.

He wrote: “I just noticed that on Page 80, the 1916-D Walker is actually a 1916-S and the 1917-S is a 1917-D.”

I grabbed a paper.

I looked it up.

Sure enough, the mintmarks were misidentified.

How did I manage to do that?

I have no answer.

Not being able to pick out mintmarks is not the best attribute of an editor in a coin collecting publication.

I sure blew it here.

We’ll see what the optometrist says.

Perhaps greater use of a magnifier is in order.

My thanks go to the email writer for pointing out the error.

At least with typos the state of my eyes is not in question. As a result, this particular error stings a bit more.

Perhaps I should be grateful that the U.S. Mint is striking 5-ounce silver America the Beautiful coins.

They are 76.2 millimeters in diameter, double the size of a silver dollar.

They are impressive coins, especially if the full set in slabs is laid out in display cases in the exhibit area of coin shows as I have seen.

Perhaps these coins are in my future.

I have only ever purchased one. Is that about to change?

Buzz blogger Dave Harper won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog for the third time in 2017. He is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."