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Editor's Notes

Here is a reminder that the members' auction will be held during our November 10 meeting. The next issue will give many details, but now is the time to think about making consignments. Due to the varied interests of the members, and realizing that at least two bidders are needed to make an auction, some items do better than others. In the past, items generating the most interest were either related to our club or the Chicago area. Again this year, Bill Burd of Chicago Coin Company has agreed to receive items from members unable to attend the meeting. Please send me a list of items as soon as possible; those lists received by mid-October will be included in the November Chatter which will be mailed at least one week before the auction.

Paul Hybert, editor

Speaker's Wor[l]d
The Debate Over Modern Doubled-Die Coins

Presented by Tom DeLorey to our August 11, 2004 meeting.

Twenty years ago, the quality of U.S. coins deteriorated when the mint starting producing coins in a lower relief than they had previously. That was when they had adopted the Canadian system (first used in 1979) of single hubbing a die.

A die is produced by slowly, and with great force, pressing a "hub" into a piece of die steel. In the modern era, the hub had to be pressed two times into the die; if it were simply a matter of two pressings one immediately after another, there would not be much room for savings. Originally the die steel is "soft," but pressing the hub into the die results in the steel becomming harder (work hardened is the technical term). Before the second pressing step, the die must be softened first by heating the die and then by slowly cooling the die (annealing is the technical term). Special ovens and trained personnel are needed for this step; mutliply that by the tens of thousands of dies needed annually, and the cost is noticeable.

Elimination of the annealing step saved money directly, and longer die life from striking coins with a lower relief permitted more coins to be produced from the same number of dies. Another supposed benefit from the single hubbing process was the elimination of doubled die errors. Those errors are produced when the second pressing of the hub does not align perfectly with the first pressing.

So how can the appearance of a 2003 Lincoln cent with apparent doubling on the reverse's columns be explained? And then Bill Fivaz sent Tom a 2004-D Roosevelt dime with a raised metal arc in the ear; it appears to be the outer line of the ear, but turned about 30°. Tom had hypothesized that the die was not correctly seated, the hub made contact, the hub was retracted, the die placed correctly, then the new impression was made. Pictures of this coin have appeared in the numismatic press, and Tom passed around a number of the articles. But a big argument went back and forth as to whether it was a tue doubled die error.

For the next few minutes the meeting was a discussion of various scenarios, with a general conclusion that the coin is from a doubled die. Unfortunately, we had no pieces to pass around for a close examintaion to rule out die doubling, which is when the coin is struck twice by a die (usually caused by a die being loose in the press). Die doubling leaves the "extra" element quite flat; after all, it usually was smashed down by the field part of the die on the second strike. Whether the extra element is flat or of normal relief can be hard to determine from a photograph, so it is best to examine these pieces in person. Some of the floated scenarios involving the striking process could explain doublng in the field of the coin (which is the highest part of the die), but the ear is a high point of the coin (and therefore a low and protected point on the die).

And then a 2004-P Jefferson Peace Medal nickel appeared, with doubling strongest in the date. Tom and others believe the coin to be from a doubled die, but a representative of the U.S. mint said it was not from a doubled die. While the mint was making denials, Bill Fivaz found a 2004 Lincoln cent with doubling on the reverse (and some slight doubling on some obverse letters).

In the past, the mint has changed its mind after an internal investigation. Tom recounted the story of the 1972 doubled die cent; one die showed major doubling, but about ten dies showed weak doubling. At that time, the hub and die had ridges and notches to make repeatable allignments, but one worker ground off the ridges so he would not have to spend time carefully alligning the die and the hub. His production increased, and he received a bonus award; and then he was fired.

Tom feels that he will be vindicated in time.

Show and Tell

Items shown at our August 11, 2004 meeting.

1. Mark Wieclaw showed a range of items starting, in honor of the openning ceremonies to be held on Friday, with some U.S. Olympic coins:
   • 1984-W $10 gold proof.
   • An impaired proof he keeps in his pocket.
   • 1988 $5 Nike head.
   • 1992 $1 baseball player, and a 1991 Fleer baseball card of Nolan Ryan. The positions are identical, as are the folds in the clothing.
   • A U.S. silver (war) nickel found in a "leave-a-cent take-a-cent" tray at a store.
   • A Texas state quarter; the rope border makes for an overall attractive design.
2. Chuck Jacobs gave a sampling of Japanese coinage:
   • A 561 coin from the Ryukus Islands (technically not then a part of Japan); the design copied the design of a Chinese coin.
   • A 708 coin, showing the design of the first coin mass produced in Japan; the silver coin was made for 2 years while the copper coin was made for 51 years. Its use was required for taxes and land transactions.
   • A 760 coin of a type made in gold, silver, and copper; famous calligraphers would be hired to make the designs. A number of times the old coins were recalled and replaced with new coins, but people lost confidence after of a number of one-new-coin for ten-old-coins swaps.
   • No Japanese coins were issued from 958 to 1587. People used coins imported from China and Korea, as well as some gold and silver coins minted by some local feudal lords.
   • A 1740 coin, of which millions were made during more than 100 years of production. Made in brass or copper, and valued at one four-thousandth of a gold coin, they were produced at many mints with many varieties known. Billions of cast iron coins were made during the same era.
3. Earlier this year, Bob Leonard had written the club's handout about bamboo money for CICF. Since then he has carried on a correspondence with someone who corrected a few of the translations; Bob showed some of the correspondence and markups.
4. John Riley is interested in supplies as part of the hobby. At the 1963-1967 peak of the hobby, Whitman published Bookshelf Albums for a number of foreign countries. John showed some nicely filled type albums from:
   • Canada
   • Great Britain
   • Mexico
   • Australia
   • Panama
   • Philippines

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