I have the 1920 Pilgrim Commemorative FS-901 Reverse Die Break. I want to get it slabbed, and was going to include in with a soon to come submission to NGC. Unfortunately, NGC doesn't list this as a recognized variety, so I called them up today. I emailed pics of the coin to CSA I spoke to, and she then asked the powers that be if it was a variety they recognize. Answer came back as - they do for the Late Die State, but not the Early Die State. The person she showed my pic to said it was an EDS. So what were they looking for to determine that? PCGS just slabs them as FS-901, but I can't find any NGC's with the variety (LDS or EDS). So how do you tell a Late from an Early Die State? I would also think (in this case) a die break is a die break, whether it was early or late shouldn't matter.
I was on Pcgs site and looking at the one they have graded . The filling from the break, looks like a extra sail . Maybe that's what their looking for . http://www.pcgscoinfacts.com/Coin/Detail/511602
Interesting question. I can't really add any value to the question and you would probably prefer NGC, but I wonder if you asked the same question to ANACS and see what their reply might be. My reasoning is that Wexler told me to include his attribution of my 1998 doubled dies as EDS and ANACS will give me this label.
There also is a sciences to what qualify as a Freestanding Interior Internal Die Breaks But the site is down .
ANACS will slab anything he tell them to as his attribution. That's why they're often used for a discovery piece that people then cross to PCGS. But yea if you go through him first they'll do it
LDS vs EDS - How do you tell? I cannot speak to the specific coin in question as to why the TPG would recognize one die state as being a given variety and not another die state. But in general, determining EDS, MDS, and LDS from each other is fairly simple. All you have to do is learn to recognize the different, diagnostics, the different stages of die wear for a given coin type. They can be different from type to the next, but they are all fairly similar in that the legends and numerals often become a bit flatter and broader, the details of the devices become less and less distinct, and wear lines caused by metal flow across the dies become more and more distinct as die wear increases. As I said, these are generalities. But with each coin type, and often each die marriage, specific diagnostics are known and can be pointed out on each coin in question. Learning and getting to know these specific diagnostics so that they can be readily recognized is the hard part, and that is where specific variety attribution comes into play. But determining the die state is the easy part which almost anyone can learn by spending just a short amount of time becoming familiar with the coin type, or specific coin issue in question.
For many errors like die cracks, the more spectacular the better. This may be the reason they only certify as the crack later, more spectacular examples. Like others have said, learn what collectors are looking for in the die break. Usually there is a minimum amount of the crack they want to pay a premium for a coin. Less than that, its not dramatic enough to justify a higher price.
