I've learned how a doubled die happens. It's the actual die that is doubled in the process of pressing it the second time. What I don't understand is how these die's even make it into the press? Aren't there inspectors who inspect the die before it is used? If so, how could such a mistake be overlooked? Edit: Yes I know it's doubleD die and not double die. Just a mistake when I typed the title. lol
Sure they get caught but usually after some coins are struck. That's why most of the doubled die coins are scarce or rare. I'm sure that like in any business, even inspectors have good days and bad.
But you'd think with a DD as prominent as the 55 and 72 that they would have been caught before they were even used. This makes me wonder if sometimes they are used on purpose and then "caught."
The '55 DDO Lincoln was spotted, but only after 24k had been mixed in with non-DDO ones. It was too onerous to sort and too wasteful to condemn everything. So they were intentionally released. (Another 16k that weren't mixed-in were destroyed.) Errors in those days weren't as big a deal as they are today. They were just defective coins and the Mint figured the public would accept them. Lance.
Just keep remembering that, and someday it will come naturally to you. I think it's difficult for newbies to get the grasp of it being a doubled die rather than a doubled coin that is the heart of the matter, and so it's more natural for people not used to numismatics to call it a double die. The good thing is that this can sometimes tell you when someone is selling something as a doubled die, and he/she keeps referring to it as a double die. The person doesn't know the difference and is unaware that he/she is setting up red flags for error collectors.
Sure there are, and we don't know how many doubled dies they do catch before they ever get to the coinage press. Now consider that most years there are two or three doubled dies found in a series in any given year, and most of them are VERY minor. Now consider that for something like the cent somewhere from three to five thousand dies have to be prepared each year. I think they do a pretty good job catching them.
