Mechanical - they are so common in that year/mint that Mechanical - they are so common in that year/mint that it's a find when you find them without strike or machine/mechanical doubling.
Now where have I seen that coin before.. Hmmmm... Nice pic Larry.. Have to love the DDO's that make you feel like you have had to much to drink.
I'm just learning, so can someone confirm - if BOTH the date/other features AND the mintmark are doubled, it's usually machine doubling, and not a true doubled die? Joe
It doesn't matter what's doubled. If you look at it closely, you can tell what type of doubling it is. The true doubled die 1969-S is shown in ldhair's post above. I had one of these in hand at the MSNS show. I bought a low-grade 1916-D dime from a dealer, and his assistant showed me one. I think it was MS-63/64. If I remember correctly, they were asking $80,000.
On a true doubled die, the devices are doubled on the die. Thus the term, Doubled die. All coins struck from that die will show the same spread because of the hubbings that took place on the die. If they are not in proper alignment, then the coins will show doubled devices usually on the outside rim, but sometimes in the centers of the devices. On a machine doubled coin the die is just a normal die with the devices pushed during the striking process. Nothing is really doubled, it is just distorted. Here is an example of different coins struck from the same dies during the same run. They were all in the same OBW roll. All have the exact same markers, but the machine doubling is different on each strike. I found several coins from that roll but only shot a few images and thought it would be good for educational purposes.
From coops post. "On a true doubled die, the devices are doubled on the die. Thus the term, Doubled die. All coins struck from that die will show the same spread because of the hubbings that took place on the die. If they are not in proper alignment, then the coins will show doubled devices" To continue with a little more, the die as coop described is doubled. The mintmarks, prior to 1990 or so were added to the dies after the dies were made. So the details like the date and lettering are doubled but in general terms the mintmark is not. That is why if the mintmark and the date have that scraped look with the details looking doubled, but the doubled appearance is flat and in the same direction on the date and the mintmark, for example, it is 99.999999% that the coin exhibits machine doubling. There are exceptions as one of the more recently found 1969 S DDO Lincoln's has all the characteristics of a doubled die as well as having some machine doubling evident. If the doubling is flat and shelflike and appears as though it is moved metal, it is machine doubling. If the doubling is rounded and has some depth it is a doubled die. Again, there are exceptions to everything that I won't go into here. There are very specific looks to machine doubling versus die doubling and those of us who are "nuts" about die varieties can instantly tell the difference between the two. It takes a lot of seeing the wrong stuff and then a lot of understanding the right stuff and we were all beginners at one point. I won't embarrass myself by telling stories of my earlier,(25 years ago or more) screwups But we all started at the beginning. As stated by others, the coin at the top of the thread exhibits machine doubling. Have Fun, Bill
