1955 ddo Lincoln...Interesting story of how it happened

Discussion in 'US Coins Forum' started by fish4uinmd, Apr 14, 2016.

  1. fish4uinmd

    fish4uinmd Well-Known Member

    fish4uinmd, Apr 14, 2016
    #1 + Quote Reply
    dwhiz likes this.
  2. Avatar

    Guest User Guest



    to hide this ad.
  3. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    All of the stories/accounts that I have ever read, and there have been many over the years, they all fail to mention the fact that there were numerous lapses in quality control when this die was made, not just one. And they occurred over a period of time.

    You see hubbing the die is one of the early steps when dies are made, there are other processes the dies go through after they have been hubbed, and before they are ever used. And each of those processes have their own quality control steps, some more than one. And they all missed it.
     
    GDJMSP, Apr 14, 2016
    #2 + Quote Reply
    Paul M. likes this.
  4. Cascade

    Cascade CAC Grader, Founding Member

    Well that lends better perspective to it... And furthermore puts the "how did 3 graders miss the corn cob graffiti on the bustie" thing to shame
     
    Cascade, Apr 14, 2016
    #3 + Quote Reply
    green18 and Paul M. like this.
  5. Rick Stachowski

    Rick Stachowski Motor City Car Capital

    three-stooges-dance-o_zps68e63075.gif
     
    Rick Stachowski, Apr 14, 2016
    #4 + Quote Reply
    green18, Santinidollar and Markus1959 like this.
  6. Burton Strauss III

    Burton Strauss III Brother can you spare a trime? Supporter

    Burton Strauss III, Apr 14, 2016
    #5 + Quote Reply
    Paul M. likes this.
  7. BadThad

    BadThad Calibrated for Lincolns

    DoublED die...not "double die".
     
    BadThad, Apr 14, 2016
    #6 + Quote Reply
  8. fish4uinmd

    fish4uinmd Well-Known Member

    What is involved in "hubbing" the die?
     
    fish4uinmd, Apr 14, 2016
    #7 + Quote Reply
  9. eddiespin

    eddiespin Fast Eddie

    That's interesting. I thought it was just one checkpoint that missed this.
     
    eddiespin, Apr 14, 2016
    #8 + Quote Reply
  10. fish4uinmd

    fish4uinmd Well-Known Member

    Bottom line, if this article is accurate, Sidney, or whoever was in charge at the time let 10 M pennies go out into public circulation, and made lots of coin collectors very happy!
     
    fish4uinmd, Apr 14, 2016
    #9 + Quote Reply
  11. 19Lyds

    19Lyds Member of the United States of Confusion

    It looked good right up to the point where he said:

    "This resulted in the lettering and the date being doubled but Lincoln's portrait not being affected."

    Nothing could be further from the truth.

    The portrait is definitely doubled and only someone ignorant of the die making process and that is simply repeating some old wives tale would not see it.

    1955 DDO 05375475 Trueview Coin Obv Large CloseUp-01.jpg

    1955 DDO 05375475 Trueview Coin Obv Large CloseUp-02.jpg

    1955 DDO 05375475 Trueview Coin Obv Large CloseUp-03.jpg
     
    19Lyds, Apr 14, 2016
    #10 + Quote Reply
    BadThad and green18 like this.
  12. SuperDave

    SuperDave Free the Cartwheels!

    Quick, simplistic rundown of the process (at least back then):

    Artist sculpts an exact rendering of the coin much larger than original for ease of production. This is copied via reducing machine onto a steel Master Hub. Both are "positives," just like the coins will be. Master Hub is then pressed (cold work) into one or more Master Dies (negatives). From these Master Dies, Working Hubs are created. If I remember BadThad correctly, the original Lincoln Master Dies lasted through 1915 and new ones created for 1916, to give an idea of scale and usage.

    Working Hubs were used to press dies. It took two "squeezes" to create a striking-ready die, which is how the 1955DD was able to happen. That, and rather poor downstream QC.
     
    SuperDave, Apr 14, 2016
    #11 + Quote Reply
    fish4uinmd likes this.
  13. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    But once a die is hubbed, it is not ready for striking coins. There are other processes that must take place after hubbing, before a die is ever used for striking. For example, and this can vary depending upon the time period being discussed, the key-ways must be milled away. The die is then inspected at that point. Then the die goes through the die polishing process, which all by itself has several steps, and after each step the die is inspected.

    The point I'm trying to get across is that die had to be inspected several more times, after it was hubbed, and before it was ever ready for striking coins. And at each inspection it was missed that the die was flawed.
     
    GDJMSP, Apr 15, 2016
    #12 + Quote Reply
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page