Properly Attributing Die Varieties On Coins With Mintmarks..

This is an expansion on a response to a question in another thread. I figured it would help to have it in its own thread.

This method works for any coin minted during the time when mintmarks were applied to the individual working dies by hand. Although it differs from series to series, the date always falls within the last half of the 1980s. For Lincoln cents the last date with hand punched mintmarks is 1989 for business strike coins, and 1985 for proofs.

1. If you think preliminarily that you may have found a match (two coins that may be from the same die, or one coin that may match images found of a known die), the FIRST thing to do is look at the attributes of the doubling itself. Is it identical? Is the spread in the same direction? Do ALL things look identical regarding the doubling between the two (with die state in mind)? If so, move on. If not, you haven't found a match. Try again.

2. Next take a look at the mintmark's position relative to other devices nearby. For Lincoln cents, the two center digits of the date work well. For modern Roosevelt dimes, the date can also be used, but now the mintmark is above the date. If the position of the mintmark is IDENTICAL between the coin in question and the control (another coin or images), then you likely have found a match, but there's still another step to go through. Move on. If the position of the mintmark is NOT exactly the same between your question coin and the control, stop. Go back to step 1 and keep looking.

3. Die markers - these can be a bit enigmatic if you don't really understand them, so let's understand them...

Die markers are unique things done to a specific die that transfer to every coin minted by that die. Polishing scratches, for example, are something that shows up on the die, and all the coins minted by that die show the scratches to some degree - until they wear off the die. A die crack, on the other hand, never disappears. It can remain the same throughout the rest of the die's life, but it will usually grow and transform as the die is used.

Understanding how to look at two coins and figure out which one was minted earlier in the die's life is essential to proper attribution...and it's easy. The one with fewer die wear lines (flow lines) is the one that was minted earlier. If they are very close in appearance, any OTHER markers should definitely be a match on both specimens. If they are far different from one another, you'll have to look for a more permanent die marker to compare the two coins:

Temporary die markers: Die scratches, polishing lines, die clash marks, die surface bumps and other imperfections.

Permanent die markers: Die cracks, die chips, deep die gouges.

The difference here is that temporary die markers can wear off or be removed without further damage to the die, and can be present on an earlier coin and completely absent on another coin. Permanent die markers are damage to a die that remains on the die until it is retired.

So...permanent die markers work better for attributing than temporary die markers, but the problem is that the permanent die markers are somewhat scarce and sporadically occur. Your only choice may be temporary die markers, so you will have to ensure that you take into account the exact die state of each coin. What do I mean by this?

If you have two coins and coin 1 was minted before coin 2, if coin 1 has a die crack and coin 2 does not have a die crack in the same spot, then you either got the minting order of your coins backwards or they cannot possibly be from the same die.

If coin 1 has light die scratch lines around the date and coin 2 does not, this could possibly mean that the lines were either polished away or wore off the die before coin 2 was struck.

It's a scientific process of elimination. Some detective work may be necessary to attribute die varieties, but (to me anyway) this is part of the fun of the process.

All this may fail you at times - it does me. In cases like this I either make the call as to what die number to associate a coin with based on an experienced guess or I set the coin aside with a possible die number and a question mark so when I find a third example from a different source I can bridge the three together. What does this mean? Easy...

Coin #1 is EDS and shows some die scratches around the date.
Coin #3 in LDS and does not show the scratches but has a die crack.

I cannot determine specifically that these belong to a given die before I find coin #2 that shows remnants of the die scratches with the beginning of a die crack in the right spot. This coin links the other two and bridges the gap telling the story of the life of this die.

The only real difference between attributing coins with mintmarks and without mintmarks is that the mintmark serves as a permenant marker. If you don't have a hand punched mintmark to use, it's a handicap, but the process still works in the same manner without step #2 above. Obviously those coins with mintmarks are far easier to attribute which is why some die variety collectors choose to stick with RPMs and not even try their hand at doubled dies. Secondarily, doubled dies tend to be more scarce than RPMs and take more patience to find.

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So there you have it. The purpose of this thread is mainly to help those who haven't yet developed the big picture in their mind, but do have the interest in learning it. It's not guess work, there's no real margin for error - it is what it is, and sometimes it takes a metric ton of patience and detective work to do this - and anyone here without that patience should probably consider a different hobby and not even get into die variety collecting from source material...just buy all yours from someone who did go through the trouble or have someone else attribute your coins for you, because it's not easy, it does take time to do, and it's really only for those who have the capacity for some rather deep logical thought, which I know for a fact not everyone has.