How A Doubled Die Becomes A Doubled Die...

Coppercoins is a great asset to our forum thank you for posting that!

Great post, Chuck. I will be printing this one out tonight, too.

Jim

What's the easiest way to tell HUB doubling from Die Doubling?

First, I just edited a number of small grammatical and spelling typos from the post last night. I have been really tired and didn't proofread the post before making it, and wanted to clean it up.

Bobby - You can freely use anything I post on this forum in any way you see fit. I offer my information where I can and when I can without intent to copyright...but thanks for asking. I'd be honored.

Coffeegod - There is no difference. Hub doubling is the correct term, 'die doubling' is actually incorrect terminology. A correct statement would be, "doubled dies are the result of hub doubling." Another clarification for the sake of terminology would be that the coins AND the dies that created them are called doubled dies. Another acceptable yet less-used term would be 'hub doubled dies' - they mean the same thing.

Last but not least, to the member whose question I quoted and replied to: The correct term for what we are discussing here is "doubled die" - not "double die". Make sure you get the 'd' at the end of the first word. We are speaking here of the design on the die, and correct grammar would indicate the design as being 'doubled' - not 'double'. Thus, we call them 'doubled dies.'

Yup...both doubled dies, and both are very nice.

Hi Ping,

It (a doubled die) does often produce thousands of coins. The issue is that most often, in the case of major Doubled Dies, the die is caught early in the run due to a worker inspecting the coins that are struck. The die is then pulled out of service.

This would mean that there is an unknown number of coins produced from the doubled die and that usually it is less than would be minted during the normal die life of a die.

Now take for example the 1983 Doubled Die Reverse cent. If even 10,000 were minted before the problem was noticed (that is a high number for the purpose of this post and it is probably less), that would be a drop in the bucket when considered against the 7,752,355,000 cents struck in Philadelphia for that year.

Not all doubled dies are rare, some are actually common and those do not command much of a premium. Others that have proven to be very difficult to find and that have a presumably low mintage are quite valuable.

Rarity also doesn't always play a factor. I have a 1972 S doubled die cent that only two of are known at this point. It should theoretically be worth more that the 1969 S DDO since there are more of them out there than the 1972 S that I have. The demand for the 1969 S DDO and the severity of the doubling makes it a more desirable coin.

Anyway, that's a little bit of a sidetrack but ....

Thanks,
Bill

How long it took for the public to find it can have a part in the scarcity as well. The 1982 DDR that I discovered last summer (see my avatar) has a current population of 2 even though coppercoins estimates that, due to the die state of my coin, at least 15.000 were minted. In the 25 years between minting and the discovery many of those were discarded, worn out, rotted, etc.

Richard

Thank you Coppercoins. Who said it? ...Knowledge not share is the greatest of ignorance...

junjie