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1972 Doubled Die
 | By Alan Herbert, Coins Magazine
September 09, 2008 |
Is there an official count of the 1972 hub-doubled cents?
Like almost every minting variety, there is no official count because the coins were not spotted before they left the Mint. Eight dies are known for the date from Philadelphia, plus several from Denver. The die designated as No. 1 had an estimated die life of 50,000 to 100,000 strikes.
Those figures are likely to be rather conservative as normal die life at the time was about 1 million strikes per die pair.
I have a coin slabbed by ANACS when it was part of the American Numismatic Association, giving the grade MS-63/65. Couldn't they make up their mind?
The right - or forward - slash (/) in this case gives separate grades for the obverse and the reverse.
This usage is by no means universal. Some would use it to mean grades between 63 and 65. The right slash is also used to denote British pounds, overdates, doubled dates, doubled mintmarks, or calendar and regnal year separation.
What was the grand total of gold coinage struck by the U.S. Mint prior to 1934?
Between 1795 and 1933 the Mint struck $4,526,218,477.50 in U.S. gold coins. It has also struck gold coins for other countries, and has struck more gold coins in recent years.
Wasn't there a considerable delay in putting the Denver Mint in operation?
This sounds like some of the procrastination of the British Parliament, but Congress is no slouch at taking due process to the outer limits. The facts are, the Denver Mint was authorized on April 21, 1862. It did not strike its first coin until 1906, some 44 years later.
What's the reasoning behind the desire for high grade coins?
Besides the obvious desire to have something that is perfect, there is a more mundane reason, having to do with money. The original desire to have high grade coins traces to the common practice of hoarding gold. It's a simple matter of economics - the higher the grade of a coin the more gold it contains. There's a bit of a miser in all of us.
Didn't another country issue the first Centennial medal for the United States?
That honor went to Germany. A medal was struck and issued on July 4, 1872 in Stuttgart, apparently struck at the Stuttgart Mint. It came on the heels of the March 3, 1871 congressional authorization of the Centennial Exposition to be held in 1876.
Has the Denver Mint ever struck any proof coins?
Besides the modern commemoratives, the Denver Mint is known to have struck a very small number of proof or specimen gold coins when it officially opened in 1906.
Wasn't there a scandal a number of years ago in connection with the U.S. Mint profiteering on Eisenhower proofs and special uncirculated strikes?
It wasn't so much a scandal as it was a black eye for the Mint. In testimony before Congress, the Treasury secretary said that the Mint was making a profit of $3.89 a coin. He admitted under questioning that the charges for the Eisenhower proofs were "unconscionable."
Was the U.S. quarter of 1796-1807 copied from the Maria Theresa thaler?
While the quarter design has different hair, there is a fairly close resemblance. However there is no evidence of a direct link. Robert Scott was the designer of the quarter, and may well have seen the thaler design.
I've heard there's a stretch of the East coast called "Coin Beach." Where is it?
It's the popular nickname for Rehoboth Beach, Del. The name came from recurring finds of Irish half pennies. They come from the cargo of 400 barrels of the coins on the Faithful Stewart, which sank in 1785.
Address questions to: Coin Clinic, Coins Magazine, 700 E. State St., Iola, WI 54990. Because of space limitations, we are unable to publish all questions. Include a loose 42-cent stamp for reply. Write first for specific mailing instructions before submitting numismatic material. We cannot accept unsolicited items. E-mail inquiries should be sent to Answerman2@aol.com.
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