1884 O(Round O) Attribution

Yes, I definitely agree, but my thoughts are that the possibility remains that this problem could be linked all the way back to the Galvano.

I used to own many of the 1878 vam-9, and I recall these lines (although not identical), being there in the bow area on them also .

I understand that some areas on the 1921 coins differ from earlier years......was this wreath bow area one of them?
Do these lines (like on Oober's coin) show up on 1921s as well?

Since the master hubs had to be 'touched up' after reduction from the transfer lathe, it has been my thought that maybe the design was (intentionally) not fully engraved (depth wise), in this area because of preconceived problems with transfer reduction from the Galvano. Further design transfer between this hub to master die, to working hub may also have been preemptive considerations, with the prior intent of depth being added at a later time......

I would be interested to know if any of these lines are identical among particular dies.... (For instance, are the bow polishing lines in Oober's coin identical with any other 1884 O varieties)?

Yeah, I do respect your views Dave, although I still believe that the problem could easily have roots in the Galvano.....If I knew that these long slender protrusions from the master hub would have to impress into the master dies, and the working hubs would again have to impress into the working dies, I think that I would leave this area at minimum relief until it was time to touch up the working hub, or even the working dies themselves during final annealing. Those lines are deep, and are there for cause.... I believe the cause may have been to reduce the previously untouched field at time of device depth adjustment.




I also would vehemently disagree with that, (for now), as I doubt that there exists a variety both with and without these lines.

Yes, those are my thoughts as well Dave, unless this it is declared as a die state of a known round O. (This would be in error though, because the date placement rules out 2, 18, 27, and 51).....(I still don't know how to tell an oval O from a round O though).

The one thing that I am pretty sure of though, is that those bow lines are not die state indicators.