Pre-1971 Cameo Coins

Yes, any pre-1971 cameo is worth some premium, a deep cameo would be worth a lot more than a none cameo.



Actually it should work the other way around. Longer die life would mean fewer cameos. The cameos are created by the brand new dies and the cameo wears and diminishes quickly, say the first 200 coins. But if the die has a longer die life it is replaced less often which means fewer brand new dies and fewer cameos. what you probably saw in the die life comparisons in the Cherrypickers were probably for the business strike dies, not the proof dies. (As a general rule the larger the diameter of the die the shorter the die life. The life of the five cent dies is atypical because the solid copper nickel alloy is harder than the clad composition and so more damaging to the dies resulting in shorter die life. The cent die has a longer life because the metal for the cents is softer than the clad.)

Yes they were polished but they were not etched or treated to create the frosted devices. So the dies would be hardened which would leave them dark and covered with an oxide layer. Then they would be cleaned, probably with a slight acid solution. This would give the whole face of the die a lightly matte surface. Then the die face would be polished. This polished the fields but not the devices. Coins struck from these polished dies would show the cameo effect but since the matte finish in the devices was not heavy the metal movement from striking polishes away that cameo. Then the proof dies were used longer back then and repolished on occasion. The result being that most pre 1971 proofs are brilliant profs with little or no contrast between the devices and the fields.

After about 1973 the dies are sandblasted which results in a strong frosted finish, and then the fields are polished. This gives a strong cameo contrast. And the proof dies are now just used for a few thousand strikes at most before the dies are retired. So the cameo rarely has a chance to significantly diminish.