Posted 12/06/2018 10:10 am
Average die life varies depending on the denomination and the time period. In the early 1960's the average die life for five cent pieces was about 300,000, today it is over 500,000. For the Shield nickel it varied from under 15,000 in the early years to around 28,000 by the end of the series. For one cent pieces they were around 200,000 in the late 19th century and they are over 1.5 million today. Most 19th century coins had average die life of around 150,000 to 200,000. (Which leads us trying to explain why some low mintage coins come from three or four die pairs, and why something like the 1877 cent comes from a single die pair with a mintage over 800,000.)
