THE DIES

Of the three classifications of error types, the individual processes involved in producing the dies have probably undergone the most improvement in terms of eliminating errors. Of course, this has been much to the chagrin of variety collectors. With the exception of the recent leaf varieties found on the money side of the 2004 Wisconsin Statehood Quarter, there has not been much to get excited about in the realm of die varieties in many years. The slightest hint of an anomaly in the dies used for a given issue has been the catalyst for much hoopla within the variety collecting community. However, even these are becoming fewer and further between and tend to fade from the mainstream hobby press almost as quickly as they appeared.

Die production actually begins in the artistic world when the sculptor-engraver prepares a clay model of the new coin design. Once perfected, a plaster cast of the clay model is made. The negative image in the plaster cast is touched up by the artist before it is in turn used to cast a metallic (usually bronze) galvano of the design. We now have a large durable metallic copy of the artist’s original model that can be mounted on a reducing lathe and turned down to produce a coin sized master hub.

What is a “hub” you ask? Well, if a die is to a coin what a negative is to a photograph, then a hub is like a picture. From the master hub, master dies are made by pressing the master hub’s positive image into the softened steel of the master die creating a negative image in the master die. The soft steel of the newly created master dies is then hardened so they can be used to press a positive image into new working hubs. In turn, these working hubs are hardened and used to create the working dies. Hardened the working dies are mounted in a press, planchets are feed in, and BAM! we have coins. The theory is that by using one master hub to make say 10 master dies, which in turn make 10 working hubs each, which then make 10 working dies each there will be 1000 working dies available for use. Having all been derived from the same source they would all be exactly the same.

Mintmarks, which were once punched by hand on each die before hardening, are now incorporated on the artist’s original clay model. One can see using the process above that this guarantees consistent style and placement of the mintmark from die to die. No more RPMs (repunched mintmarks), no more misaligned mintmarks, no more large and small varieties, no more clear or filled mintmarks – no more fun!

Even though the hub-die-hub-die process outlined earlier has been in use for decades it has seen improvements in the last decade in the metallurgy of the dies and hubbing press technology that has resulted in the transfer from hub to die or die to hub being accomplished in a single impression. Thus, if properly executed, no more true double dies – again no more fun!

So what does this leave for us to collect in this category? Well, mostly all that’s left are in-service failures – cracks, chips, cuds, etc. Yet, even these are getting tougher as improvements in the die manufacturing process have made it less expensive to replace dies at the first sign of trouble.

This is evidenced by the two North Carolina Quarter reverse dies pictured that I ordered from the Mint’s website. Both dies remained in service less than a day and both were withdrawn due to in-service failures! The Philly die due to a crack. The Denver die due to it coming in contact with the obverse die (commonly called a clashed die) after less than 3,500 coins had been struck! It was not too many years ago that a clashed die like this would have been polished and reused. Excessive polishing in the past has lead to such famous varieties in US coinage as the 1937-D 3-legged Buffalo nickel.

I have not encountered any major die breaks on the North Carolina Quarter. Neither have I found any with cuds – an advanced stage die crack that originated on the rim and terminated at another point on the rim resulting in a piece of the die breaking off. Actually to date, the only statehood quarter reported with a cud is the Kentucky. However, I have included a few pictures of some minor North Carolina die failure errors to illustrate this category.

No effort was made to include these minor die breaks in my census or to seek out every possibility. Thus, for those with good eyesight and infinite patience, the search of mint bags and rolls of North Carolina Quarters may well yield additional examples. For those like me who lack these attributes, they can be found on eBay for a few bucks a piece. Unless, of course, you are bidding against some “oddball” putting an exhibit and series of articles together on “oddball” quarters who refuses to lose!

DIE CRACK #1

This coin actually shows three points of failure in the die. First there is a small die crack running diagonally through the “L” in FLIGHT (Red Arrow). The second and third points of failure are die chips in the centers of the two loops of the numeral “8” in 1789 (White Arrows).

DIE CRACK #2

This coin also has multiple points of failure; however, this time they are opposite sides of the coin. This failure on the money side resulted in a die crack running from the left wing tip (facing the coin) to the ground. See Die Crack #4 for the other side of the story.

DIE CRACK #3

This coin sports a long diagonal die crack running across the lower-center of the money side.

DIE CRACK #4

This obverse die crack being on the “other side” would normally not been considered for the collection had it not also had a die crack on the “money side” (See Die Crack #2). I won these in an eBay auction in a lot that contained multiple (I seem to remember 7) of these. I kept two and gave the rest to fellow collectors in the Raleigh Coin Club.