I came across a fun dime that I bought at a club auction recently. First is, it has a doiubled P, and, unlike other such dimes mention in the Cherry Pickers, there is *no* other doubling, just the P! Anuyone else run into this? Its not listed that I can see... Second, the 07 of 2007 and nearby rim are flattended.. struck thru, or just this strike? Lastly the late President has "bad skin"! I 've seen this peeling or poor cladding effect on many Kennedy halves. Attached are photos of this around the neck & then a rectangular bit near his eyes. Can someone tell me what this is, as its too common to be unnoticed!
Agreed with paddy. What else you are seeing some think is an annealing problem but this difference in shine/coloring of the surface is actually dirt/debris in the coin making process. This type of mechanical doubling is very common on Philly coins. But keep up the good search!
Arrgh! You are correct. I say with all the home state shame that is appropriate, that Denver kicks our butts re: coining quality.
Not residing in the USA, and only minimally exposed to US coinage, this is over my head! Thanks for opening my eyes!
Philadelphia is the "main mint", and Denver is called a "branch mint", but Denver routinely produces the better quality product, in recent years.
And San Francisco makes even better coins than Denver, IMHO. Some of the ATB quarters are near proof like.
When splitting up bags of Kennedy half dollars, it is painfully obvious that my home state mint is put to shame by Denver's product.
Unless you are fortunate enough to get earlier strikes of Philly products, it's become painfully obvious there is something amiss at the Pa. Mint. Pay scale? Lack of morale? Not enough Q.C. inspectors or too long a gap between inspections and/or die/machine maintenance? Or maybe a combination of all of the above. It's come to the point where even buying solid date wrapped B.U. rolls is potentially a losers gamble. A sad state of affairs indeed. Funny also to see paddy's post with the word doubled die spelled wrong right on the press.
Tommy, the best answer I have is that Philly is an "attitude town". Unions run everything they can, and management frequently gets abused. If the Mint is a "union shop", and I believe it is, the place is being run to the lowest possible common denominator.
