Doubled die - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Doubled die is a term in numismatics

Numismatics

Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and the...

used to refer to doubling in the design elements of a coin

Coin

A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....

. Doubled dies can appear as an outline of the design or in extreme cases, having legends and dates appear twice in an overlapping fashion.

Doubled die error coins

Mint-made errors

Mint-made errors are errors in a coin made by the mint during the minting process. Mint error coins can be the result of deterioration of the minting equipment, accidents or malfunctions during the minting process, or intentional interventions by mint personnel...

can fetch significant prices when they are noticeable to the naked eye or occur in a popular coin series. One example of this is the 1955 doubled die

1955 doubled die cent

The 1955 doubled die cent is a die variety that occurred during production of the one cent coin at the United States Mint in 1955. This variety is often mistakenly referred to as an error...

Lincoln Wheat cent.

Note that the proper terminology for this occurrence includes the letter 'd' at the end of the first word, hence "doubled die". The term "double die" without the first word ending in 'd' is not proper numismatic terminology.

Classes of Doubled Dies

Doubled dies are created when the hub imprints an additional, misaligned image onto a die. There are many ways this misalignment of images can occur, which have been classified into eight accepted classes.

Class 1, Rotated

A class I doubled die results when the die receives an additional hubbing that is misaligned in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction.

Class 2, Distorted

A class 2 doubled die results when the hub's design moves toward the rim between hubbings.

Class 3, Design

A class 3 doubled die results when a hub bearing a different design stamps a die bearing another design.

Class 4, Offset

A class 4 doubled die results when the die receives an additional hubbing that is misaligned in an offset direction.

Class 5, Pivoted

A class 5 doubled die results when the die receives an additional hubbing that was misaligned via rotation with a pivot point near the rim.

Class 6, Distended

A class 6 doubled die results when the die receives an additional hubbing from a hub that was distended.

Class 7, Modified

A class 7 doubled die results when the hub is modified between the die's hubbings (e.g., a design element was chiseled off).

Class 8, Tilted

A class 8 doubled die results when a die and/or hub is tilted during a hubbing.

United States Coinage

To first learn where doubled dies are formed, one must first know how dies in the United States Mint

United States Mint

The United States Mint primarily produces circulating coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce. The Mint was created by Congress with the Coinage Act of 1792, and placed within the Department of State...

are created. Before 1997, a die was made by hubs that contained the raised design elements that were intended to appear on the coin. The blank dies were heated (to soften them) and then were pressed against the hubs to transfer the design from the hub to the striking die. In every case, one impression was not enough to transfer the design elements from the hub to the die, so multiple impressions were required to transfer enough of the design. For this reason, after the first impression was made, the die was reheated and prepared for a second impression. The mint workers would use guides to align the hub and the working die perfectly to prevent overlapping, or a doubled die. It is when mint workers failed to align dies properly during this process that doubled dies were produced. In many instances three to four impressions were required, which could but rarely led to tripled and quadrupled dies.

Modern coining methods have vastly reduced the frequency of these varieties due to the use of a single squeeze hubbing method during die creation, but doubled dies in modern United States coinage

United States coinage

United States coinage was first minted by the new republic in 1792. New coins have been produced every year since then and they make up a valuable aspect of the United States currency system. Today circulating coins exist in denominations: $0.01, $0.05, $0.10, $0.25, $0.50, and $1.00. Also minted...

are still occurring. With the new die making process, implemented after 1996, dies only required one impression of the hub to transfer all of the design from the hub to the die. But it has been discovered that the pressure created is so great, that some dies tend to slightly rotate during this process.

Modern doubled dies in American coinage

United States coinage

are being discovered mainly in Lincoln cents. The 2004 Peace Reverse Nickel

Nickel (United States coin)

The nickel is a five-cent coin, representing a unit of currency equaling five hundredths of one United States dollar. A later-produced Canadian nickel five-cent coin was also called by the same name....

shows doubling in the date, motto, designer initials and eyelid of Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...

. The 2005 Bison Reverse Nickel, shows slight doubling in the word "Liberty" and in other devices of the coin.

External links

Doubled Die Coin Pictures

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.