1981 3/P Dime And Heavy Double Die On Rev./Obv.

I'm not an expert on identifying doubled dies, but based on the late die state of the coin I'd have to say it's more likely to appear doubled from Die Deterioration.

Put a defuser between the coin and light source so you can have less glare.

Wow! Defusing the glare with white sheet of paper was an outstanding idea! LOOK!!

Your photos got a lot better! What I see is Die Deterioration, which can cause doubling, thickening, twisting, etc., of design elements, orange-peel surfaces and heavy flow lines on the fields and designs. Random " Die Deterioration patches" will also occur on some dies that often take on "familiar" shapes like angels in the clouds (subject to one's imagination or desire to romanticize). This is the result of premature die fatigue due to improper heat treat or the extended use of dies, the later the unquestionably the runaway most common cause. It is inherent to die use. Die use eventuality decarburizes the surface of the steel at which point it begins to fail under repeated loads. While the extended use of dies can cause this on any die, high-speed minting accelerates the effect.

Here is an extreme example on a 1980-D Jefferson nickel. Coin submitted by Gary Kelly of MI May 2005.

Thanks Coop! I just had to shoot that one. Today was the first time I used those images. They sat here for over a decade waiting for me to scan them.

I did film up until 2006 when I had to write a weekly series on the Minnesota quarter Doubled Dies for Numismatic News. There were too may new varieties every week and too many trips to COSTCO for one-hour processing.

One day, while waiting, I drove to the used camera shop and purchased a Nikon D-70 with lens for $600, an antique by today's standards but still going strong along with the D-100 I got for $100 a couple years later, set up next to it on a copy stand. But I digress ...

Bottom line is I'm having fun processing so many images never used due to nowhere to publish them.

Coop,
I know what you mean about sticking with the tried and true ... though I might be ready for an upgrade to something with automatic shake correction. I understand the images are far clearer from the start. Better than having to use Photoshop for this. I think the price is right now for a good used one. Maybe a Cannon?