Posted 12/22/2011 09:23 am
Average die life for that era tended to run around 200K.
As to the die marriage it would vary. Sometimes a die pair would be exclusive, but if one die failed early or was damaged it would be possible for a single die to be swapped out. Or if an issue was made in several short runs rather than one long continuous one the dies would be used, sent back to the vaults, and then brought back again later. When the dies were sent back to the press they didn't both to make sure the same dies were paired together again. A good example is the 1870-CC half dollar. It is a rare date and the mintage was only 54K pieces, yet this coin comes from five different die pairs. Two obverses and three reverses were used The pairing went in sequence 1A, 1B, 1C, 2C and then 2B. Apparently something happened to reverse B and it was pulled and replaced with C. Then Obv 1 was pulled and obv 2 inserted into the press. Finally rev C was retired and Rev B was put back into use. Now none of these die show a serious failure so it must have been a case of a coin that was made in many small batches because a single press could have struck the entire mintage in just two shifts, and 54K coins would be well within the life of a single die pair. (Assuming no failure and as I said none of the 1870-CC half dies had a serious failure)
As to the die marriage it would vary. Sometimes a die pair would be exclusive, but if one die failed early or was damaged it would be possible for a single die to be swapped out. Or if an issue was made in several short runs rather than one long continuous one the dies would be used, sent back to the vaults, and then brought back again later. When the dies were sent back to the press they didn't both to make sure the same dies were paired together again. A good example is the 1870-CC half dollar. It is a rare date and the mintage was only 54K pieces, yet this coin comes from five different die pairs. Two obverses and three reverses were used The pairing went in sequence 1A, 1B, 1C, 2C and then 2B. Apparently something happened to reverse B and it was pulled and replaced with C. Then Obv 1 was pulled and obv 2 inserted into the press. Finally rev C was retired and Rev B was put back into use. Now none of these die show a serious failure so it must have been a case of a coin that was made in many small batches because a single press could have struck the entire mintage in just two shifts, and 54K coins would be well within the life of a single die pair. (Assuming no failure and as I said none of the 1870-CC half dies had a serious failure)
