Die Dents

Interesting. I do not know much at all about die varieties.

I would recommend posting this question in the Modern US Variety & Error Coins forum. Some of the people that post there might not ever check the other forums.

biokemist6,
I have a roll of (001T) that have "die dents" like the ones in the photos of (002), no trails on the "I" in LIBERTY though, there are trails on "RTY". The dents do appear to be below the surface not raised, I'm puzzled.
John1

John,

You are correct in your thinking that if a Die suffers a dent, then it will show up on the coin in relief (raised above the surface of the coin)! I don't think that what they are calling Die Dents are in fact Die Dents! However, I am not sure as to what they really are but it is possible that the Die developed a sub-surface fissure that began to separate and became raised (bulged upwards) on the Die. For a Die Dent to be incuse on a coin, then the Die would have to have a Counter Die Clash (i.e. the details of the Die Dent were transferred to the opposite Die during a Clash, then transferred back to the original Die during another Clash of the Dies). I have and have had many State Quarters with similar areas such as the Moon rising over the Mountain on the California State Quarter but am still unsure as to the true cause!


Frank

Chuck,

First, no disrespect was intended in my use of the term "they"! Since I am not very familiar with who owns, runs or contributes to the articles and information on the site, this was the only relevant term that I knew to use.

Go to the link below and scroll down to the bottom of the information on the 2009-P DC Quarter! The picture shows an indentation to the right of the piano which are incuse and this is being identified as a Die Dent.

http://www.traildies.com/id95.html


Frank

Chuck,

This phenomena (which are being called but are not Die Dents) that happens quite often to Dies for several denominations, needs to be studied further to determine the cause! I have seen this phenomena on many State Quarters since 2004 and also on many of the Nickels...especially the Peace "Hand Shake" Nickel. When they occur, they are always found in the fields adjacent to a detail...mainly larger details. My theory is that due to imperfections in the Die such as a air bubble, a fissure develops either along or near the detail and eventually causes a portion of the Die to bulge upwards from the surface of the Die due to expanding from heat generated during the high speed process of striking coins. The evidence that this may be the cause is that in every case that I have seen, this incuse feature (phenomena) is deeper away from the detail and bevels upwards towards the detail until it becomes almost negligible at the edge of the detail. However, this is just a theory and no matter how much we theorize, we may never determine the true cause without making an inquiry to the Mint Officials themselves!


Frank

Chuck,

I know what you mean! It is almost impossible to get Mint Officials to admit to anything! LOL!

In the meantime and since you are in the loop per-say, maybe you could convince folks to quit using the term Die Dent for this phenomena. Maybe they could just use "Unknown Die Bulge". LOL!!


Frank