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 Replies: 10 / Views: 847 |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
6464 Posts |
In reading Strike It Rich with Pocket Change, Cherrypicker's Guide, Variety Vista, NCG VarietyPlus, Wexler's Doubled Dies, and other sites, I have noticed a particular trend. It seems that current model doubled die coins tend to be from the Philadelphia mint. The two questions I have about that are: 1. Is it actually true that more DDO / DDR escape from Philly than Denver? 2. If that is true, then why? They are using the same equipment to make the same hubs and dies. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4395 Posts |
1. Yes more DDs from Philly than from Denver.
2. They may have the same equipment, but I suspect that they have different procedures and policies in regards to die making. It might be that the Denver mint workshop just has more checks in place to prevent doubled dies from occurring or from being used.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1648 Posts |
Interesting. The Philadelphia Mint makes the master hubs and dies for all the coins and medals the U.S. Mint produces. The exception to this is three-inch coins and medals, which don't have master hubs. Instead, the Philadelphia Mint uses the CNC machine to cut the design directly into the die. The Philadelphia Mint produces hubs and dies for every stage of the process. The Denver Mint receives master dies from Philadelphia to produce its own working hubs and dies. Both Denver and Philadelphia also make working dies for the San Francisco and West Point Mint facilities. So that suggests possibly that the process of the Denver Mint for working hubs and dies is different or at least has a bit better quality control. The master dies make working hubs. Working hubs then make the working dies that actually strike the coins. This multi-generational process is important to preserve the integrity of the master hubs and dies. As the working dies wear out during coin production, the Mint uses the working hubs to make more working dies. The working dies and hubs get more use and wear out, while the lightly used master hubs and dies stay preserved. How the DENVER mint makes dies to produce coins https://www.coinnews.net/2014/01/06...oduce-coins/How the PHILADELPHIA mint makes hubs and dies to produce coins https://www.coinnews.net/2013/09/13...oduce-coins/Edited by datadragon
08/20/2023 2:57 pm
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
6464 Posts |
There are many possibilities, of course. I've worked in testing and manufacturing, and I can attest that identical equipment and even procedures (theoretically) can produce variations in different locations.
It does seem interesting that whatever Philly is doing, it seems to produce more Class IX doubling (both types) than Denver. It could be a difference in the hubbing process, or even something as basic as a minting QA check at Denver that catches a bad run of coins before release.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
7174 Posts |
My thought for years is that the farther you go west, the better quality. Don't know if it's a pride in workmanship or what. You can really see it in the "new" quarters. Just buy a 3 roll box from the mint, you'll see what I mean. The Ps are almost trash from the roll or bag. The Ds are acceptable, but the Ss are on the whole are all almost perfect.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6464 Posts |
Well, then it reversed at some point. When I look at 80s and 90s coins, the Denver coins were made from tired dies that were run into extinction, and often the mint mark is filled or deformed. I mean really, how lazy do you have to be to not switch punches when the one you have is obviously defective? It probably takes an engraver 15 minutes to fix the hole in a worn or damaged D punch.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7174 Posts |
It's not the punch that's broken. It's the die. There is no fix on a broken post. That piece of the die is gone.
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Moderator
United States
95018 Posts |
Never gave it much thought on which mint created more errors,  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6464 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
73798 Posts |
It's weird, but it's true. Philly minted coins have more errors and varieties than Denver minted coins.
Errers and Varietys.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
6244 Posts |
My answer it is: 1. Yes Phil has more DDO / DDR till one period. Was the time when they do the dies for all the mints. 2. The Hubs was till one point it time was done in Phil, when the discrepancy you ask was happened. Then all the Hubs was move to the West Point and then less DDO / DDR. Lot to talk about but sorry I am not in the city so antenna is not anymore a given. Edited by silviosi
08/20/2023 9:23 pm
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Replies: 10 / Views: 847 |
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Posted 08/20/2023 2:51 pm
