1909-S 1c Die Adjustment Stike Or Just A Weak Strike

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Author	Replies: 4 / Views: 1,290
koinpro Pillar of the Community United States 1781 Posts	Posted 05/06/2015 10:01 pm This 1909-S cent reproduction is one of a set of five pieces that were used to set up the proper pressure for a coining press to strike a run for the Royal Oak Mint. As a vendor who also used the now defunct Global Mint for striking products, one of the owners decided to send these to ROM with instructions to give them to me knowing that I'd enjoy them. They indicated these were the five coins necessary to set the proper pressure to strike the the run of coins ordered by ROM. Now, here is my rub. Since the 1980s, when I first started writing about the subject, I've made it clear that I'm firmly against the sale of coins stated to be "die adjustment strikes" or "die set up pieces" without any documentation that they in fact are. Today I still stand by that principle and doubt that anybody can ever show documentation of a true Die Adjustment Strike coming out of the US Mint. To make a long story short, there are many ways that a coin can be weakly struck ... too many to list here but you can read about some of them here: http://koinpro.tripod.com/Articles/...kStrikeQ.htm And here: http://koinpro.tripod.com/Articles/...kStrkMoffatt To elaborate a bit on the process, when a die setter installs a set of dies (or a die) into a press the spacing between the dies needs to be adjusted to assure a complete fill (or as close as it possible to also accommodate the longevity of the dies). To do this the die setter slowly "inches" the press down until they find the proper "shut-height". When they find the proper "shut-height" between the dies, theoretically they should have a fully struck coin. It's as simple as that. So what about my five Die Adjustment Strikes? Well, technically, since I can't prove how they were made, once they leave my hands, I suppose they'd be better described as weak strikes. Click Image To Enlarge Iv'e added the below coin so folks can see how heavily burnished Global processed many of their blanks. This is not the heaviest I've seen. Click Image To Enlarge Edited by koinpro 05/07/2015 12:33 am Report this Post to the Staff

ErrorCoins222 Pillar of the Community United States 1699 Posts	Posted 05/07/2015 3:40 pm I agree Ken. The "die adjustment" label helps give a story to the coin, and is easier to visualize as a collector, but it can't be proven. Until TPGs and dealers stop using the term, it will continue to be used by the collector base. It seems that "die adjustment strikes" bring more money than weak strikes/low pressure strikes do and this may be why it is still used. Report this Post to the Staff
koinpro Pillar of the Community United States 1781 Posts	Posted 05/07/2015 4:29 pm ErrorCoins, you hit the nail on the head. Mike Diamond has also been hammering away at this for years to no avail in what the TPGers do. My very first "actual" numismatic article after a press release that I published on a "discovery" in 1979 focused on this problem in part. It was about weak strikes in general and look-alike effects. I wrote it for the Full Straps Roosevelt dime Club only to see it raided with much of the guts used verbatim in another article published in the Grey Sheet a few years later with no credits. That really bothered me back then but today I can look back and chuckle about it. But I never did follow up with republishing the article again in a larger venue as planned. I was afraid it would look like I was plagiarizing. This was sometime in the early 1980s. Edited by koinpro 05/07/2015 4:40 pm Report this Post to the Staff
SsuperDdave Moderator United States 23522 Posts	Posted 05/08/2015 12:25 am The Moffatt article was a wonderful group of stuff falling into place for me, Ken. I've always been casting around for logical alternate reasons for weak strikes. Listen, if you guys ever don't see me for a week around here, I'm over at Ken's site. Don't worry, eventually I'll be back. Report this Post to the Staff
koinpro Pillar of the Community United States 1781 Posts	Posted 05/08/2015 1:56 pm SsDd, Don't embarrass me. BTW, a hour with Sean Moffatt and your head will spin. Report this Post to the Staff
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