1995-D LMC Trail Die

Nice one ....I like trails :)

Hang on to that one, fellow Michigander!

That's a pretty dominant example of the phenomenon.

I rarely weigh in on trail dies because it's always been very, very difficult for me to wrap my mind around the technical explanation for their appearance. Maybe it's just a function of the verbiage used, which doesn't flow as a logical sequence in my mind.

Maybe it's my knee-jerk reaction to their having "discovered" and credited the discoverer a couple of 1921-S Morgan "Trail Die" varieties we in the field of VAMming have been theorizing about for....a while longer than they. Especially considering that some of the features they're describing - the "trailing" from some outer lettering/numbering aside the denticles - is so common and well-known with 1921-S Morgans that it's accepted fact in the VAMming world it's a function of die wear and San Francisco's unique minting process.

But a couple of very creditable names in numismatics are lending their efforts. The phenomenon of trail dies is plainly obvious, quite fascinating, and if imperfectly explained as of yet (something which those closest to it honestly admit), well worth the attention of qualified experts in the metallurgical aspect of the minting process. I sincerely hope a phenomenon this interesting gets such attention.

SsuperDdave-I feel honored that you choose mine to weigh in on.But there are many nicer ones then this on the trail die site,in fact there is one coin that has trails going in four different directions,1988-D-1DER-004T http://traildies.com/1988D-1DER.html

Buddy-Thanks much.

John1

Quite frankly, that one kind of illustrates my argument. The Trail Die images on that page are significant, but at least one illustration (second set down, on the left) offers a plain example of PMD as a "die marker." And the theoretical explanation of a "trail die" does not intuitively describe a process which could also result in a "wavy step," yet both are known phenomena.

Please, people. Offer something more academically-defensible for what's going on here. This deserves far more rigorous research than has yet been offered.

john you haven't gotten snow yet come to Alaska its like -2 and snow on the ground for 6 months lol nice coin by the way I haven't found a trail die yet someday I will

Just got a reply from BJ Neff and wanted to let you all read it:
Hi John,
Since I no longer write comments in Coin Community Forum, it would be hard to answer SsuperDdavid's questions. However, if he does contact me and wants to discuss this die anomaly, I would be more than happy to do so.
I can say that during the 9 years that I have been studying trails, no other explanation has been put forth that can explain trails. James Wiles still remains uncommitted to what trails are, while John Wexler and I both agree that this phenomena is die related. The only separation between John and myself is he refers to them as doubled dies, while I do not think they are such. Closely related to a doubled die, but different in the nature of how they are formed. Bob Piazza, Mike Diamond and Jason Cuvelier believe that we are on the right path concerning the formation of these lines.
As for the 1921-S Morgans; I respect the theory that VAM world has put forth concerning the lines from the denticles. However, I disagree with that conclusion. If one were to highly magnify the lines seen, especially on the VAM-1L, it would be seen that they are too sharp (narrow) to be made by metal flow. If you take away metal flow as the creator of these lines, what is left. Could they have been created during hubbing? That is what I think.
To add to this, the Morgans are not the oldest trail die. We have listed on site am 1869 Uruguay 4 centavos coin with trails on the obverse.
John, if you want to post this on Coin Community Form please do. And I will be happy to answer all questions through or sites "Contact Us Form".
May you and your family have a great Thanksgiving.

Regards,
BJ

PS - That is a nice trail die (1995-D Lincoln Cent) and if you can, send it down so I can get it ion site.

John1

oh yeah that spike that comes off the R in pluribus is cool looking good for a die identifier