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 Replies: 9 / Views: 835 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2736 Posts |
I thought this was interesting, maybe someone else will. I was looking closely at my 1947 Maple Leaf $1 and noted some tiny scratches at the right end of the canoe, above and below the waterlines. They appeared to be on the die and not the coin, so I checked Heritage archives, and quickly found them on other coins, both MS and SP. Years ago I documented three date positions of this coin, and speculated that because the three positions were also on specimen coins, perhaps the same dies were used for both specimen and circulation strikes. http://goccf.com/t/297580All of the "high 7" coins show at least the lower die line. I don't know if there's any question that the RCM reused the specimen dies, but here's proof that they did. MS64 left, SP64 right.  Edited by kbbpll
02/07/2023 10:47 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
4866 Posts |
VERY cool! Well done.
This reminds me of something I discovered a while ago...the 1938 specimens for 10c-$1 all had obverse dies used for the 1937 mirror coinage.
feel free to call me Will. I'm a 22 year old collector/dealer from the Greater Toronto area
my PMs are always open, whether you have a question or simply wish to talk!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2736 Posts |
Have you published or posted your 1937-38 research anywhere?
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Valued Member
Canada
324 Posts |
i didn't know there were diffferent/specimen dies made or used in those days....no mint sets no special presentation sets as far as Ithought
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
4866 Posts |
@kbbpll not yet, but I've shared the information with friends..and now the forum too!
feel free to call me Will. I'm a 22 year old collector/dealer from the Greater Toronto area
my PMs are always open, whether you have a question or simply wish to talk!
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1319 Posts |
I think that's why the 1947 50c C7 ML circulation strike is so scarce...apparently it was minted using specimen dies.
I also seem to recall a member here saying that the 1947 $1 P7 dot circulation strike variety was also from a specimen die.
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Valued Member
Canada
235 Posts |
thats really cool! Ive found late last year an interesting 1947 CR7 50c struck with the specimen die pair, It could be a specimen but either way, its fascinating to see how extensively they used those dies ! I'm surprised to see again how the RCM reused numerous specimen dies in 1947/1948 and also tried to retrofit business dies to strike specimen... I wish someone like Lafortune or someone involved in the die manufacturing would have left us some insight during this quite weird period for the mint (1947-1951). In all 3 cases for 1947, it seems they reused the reverse die, do someone have any information regarding a specimen obverse die being used for striking business strike coins ? Edited by Dollar 1935
02/08/2023 11:02 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2736 Posts |
@Dollar 1935, I looked briefly for something on the 1947 ML $1 obverse to compare but nothing jumped out at me. I also had trouble finding something on the reverse for the other two 1947 ML date positions. There are some strong die polish lines for the "low 7" specimen but not enough good images on Heritage to find them on a circulation coin. Just from the date position match one could assume that these specimen dies were also reused. Another tidbit is that on the 1948 $1 there are three distinct reverse dies used for production, with two different die lines inside the 9 and another without any distinct line. I documented these in a thread about a microscopic 4/4 repunch on one die here http://goccf.com/t/296924. All of the 1948 specimen coins I looked at do not have either line inside the 9, so it could be the same die as the "no line 9" seen in production coins (I think that's likely), or it could be a different die of course. I'd have to go back and see if there's proof either way. Charlton says there were 6 reverse dies used for 1948, and since I found 3 distinct reverses for 1947 ML and 3 for 1948, I've thought that the 6 referenced by Charlton includes both 1947 ML and 1948, i.e. the total used for dollars _made_ in 1948, and not just _dated_ 1948. But I love speculating on this stuff. I have the same Lafortune problem with some Barber varieties on US coins - Barber didn't document anything about them, so it's left to us to speculate on what was going on at the mint. @johnnysprawl, I also recall the 1947 dot dollars in both specimen and circulation being speculated as from the same die. That partially inspired this post, as proof that the mint did reuse the dollar dies. Edited by kbbpll
02/08/2023 12:27 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2070 Posts |
It was common for the Mint to "tone down" specimen dies and use them for circ striking. 1932 5 cents for example.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1119 Posts |
This was a common practice on Canadian coins struck at The Royal Mint as well. I documented several cases in Past & Nearly Perfect. |
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Replies: 9 / Views: 835 |
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Posted 02/07/2023 10:57 pm
