Old Lincoln Wheat Penny US Mint Coin Die

Hi! Noob here.

I found this thing on ebay. It's one of the stamper thingies they used to make pennies at the mint. It's supposed to be a wheat penny coin die, but it comes with a couple pennies and one of them says 1959. I thought wheat pennies were only made until 1958???

Is there any way to tell from the serial number (D3-485682) on the die what year it really came from?

-GB

 

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Not seeing it. Either post a pic or a link.

 

Yeah, that's the one I was talking about. Sorry!

 

It looks like the die has been ground flat.

 

I'm guessing if you pulled that 59 off the glue, you would find a memorial on the reverse side. Odd that they would pair it that way though.

 

The mint has to deface the dies or they would be highly illegal to own.

 

And I'm guessing the wheat penny on the left is a '58. But is the die a '58, '59 or neither?

If it's the last wheat die or the first memorial, I would like to have it. If it's neither, I'm not that interested.

I wish you could tell from the serial number.

 

I have never seen where you can tell the year a defaced die was used by their serial number.

Could be wrong, though.

 

Yup, why would they sell the used dies and not deface them, literally making it possible for someone to buy it and mint some pennies with it?

 

I've heard stories of a 59 with a wheat reverse, it's would be one of the holy grails of wheat cents. Aside from the copper 43, steel 44 and so on. Imagine if either one of those glued cents was a 59 wheat?

 

I must've had the incorrect assumption that cancelling of the dies considered of 'X'ing through them rather than grinding them flat. I must admit, I haven't seen cancelled dies in person before.

 

As I recall when the Mint sold dies used for States Quarters they cancelled them by grinding an X across the face of the die. Earlier dies had the face completely ground.

 

http://www.coinfacts.com/small_cents/lincoln_cents/wheat_ear_cents/1959d_one_cent_wheat_ears.htm

 

I think it is a newer die. I have one from '68 that is deface by a blow-torch and not ground flat. It also has a different shape without the collar around the base. I did a quick search and found this. If would even guess the "D" indicates Denver as this one is a "P". Though and mine is a proof "S" and a quarter which may account for the difference.

 

Is this what yours looks like?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-Coin-Die-1963-25c-US-Mint-/370556827858?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5646e878d2#ht_1418wt_1185

 

Yes that is it. Fortunity I can still read "In God we " and you can see part of Georges pony tail. My understanding was that the mint accidently sold these 1968-S dies to a scrap yard who took advantage of what they were and this is the only date that this ever happened. I have never seen a '63 and it may be hard to prove.

 

I have two penny dies that are ground, with serial numbers similar to the one in the auction. One is even on a little wooden platform with two pennies glued to the platform just like the one in the auction. But I don't know of any way in which to tell from the serial number what year they were used. I use them to display in my show case along with my 9-planchet deep die cap error so people can see how the error was created.

 

The Mint would probably have records that could tell. You might be able to find out with a FOI request. I suspect it is a more recent one as well.

The 1968 dies were defaced with a welding torch. (I don't know when or if the law has changed but the die destruction requirements used to specify that the dies were to be defaced by "fire and sledge". I would imagine it was done by heating to near melting point in the furnace and then hitting the die face with a sledge hammer while still red hot. The Olympic commemorative coin dies were defaced by cutting a X across the face, the state quarter and coin and die sets were defaced by completely grinding off the die face.

 

Do you know how old they are?