Seems like every time I go thru my coins with the Cherrypickers Guide, I come away confused. According to the book, there were some 1994D Lincoln cents that were struck with the proof reverse die. Unlike the 98 and up Lincolns, the 94 proof reverse had a close AM. The business strikes had a gap between the A and the M. The particular 94D they referred to has a close AM like the proof. Well--as I checked my 94D (and 94 philly while I was at it) of course I had the normal wide AM. I then looked at the 94S proof and it also has the Wide AM. What the?? Did they make 2 different proof 94's or did mine get struck with a business strike die? Or? I'm confused as usual. What do you experts think? In the pics the 94 looks close, but its not.
The '94 proof that you have a pic of is a wide AM, thats a normal proof reverse. The other two pics look to be be close AMs. Thats a normal reverse for business strikes. If you could, post a pic of the whole reverse of the 94P&D and close ups of the designer initials.
OK--Like an idiot I've been saying 94 when I meant 1992! I've been looking at coins too long! According to the Cherrypickers Guide (volume one, 5th ed. pg.158) the 92 Proof was different in that it was supposed to have a close AM. Sorry about the confusion. Anywho, here are the entire reverse pics. As you see (Yes, these are pics of 92's not 94's) The spacing is apparently closer on the business strikes than the proof which seems to be the opposite of what the book is telling me! ?? That would indicate to me to mean that either the book is wrong or this proof was struck with a business strike hub. (Or I'm still an idiot, and that is a distinct possibility!)
Hard to see due to the lack of closeness on the AM, but they all look like wide AM's to me. You can check the engravers initials as another telltale sign of the fabled 1992 Close AM.
After some more research, I have come to the conclusion that the book is wrong. All 92 strikes (P,D,S) were of the same type dies. The 92D it refers to was struck with the 93 die set, not the 92 Proof dies. For a better explanation see http://www.varietyvista.com/Lincoln Cent RDV Changes.htm Thanks for all the replies. At least I now know I'm not going crazy(er)!
Oops, I was wrong. Thanks for pointing that out. I think the coin the book wants you to look for is the business strike 1992 close AM, which was struck with 1993 reverse dies. One guy on here actually found a Denver one last year and it came back graded MS something, and is probably worth a several thousand. The Philly one is slightly more common, but there are probably still under 100 known.
The Denver ones are far more common than the Philly. The 1992 Close AM philly is one of the true rare modern varieties, I think there's three known as of right now compared to ~50 denvers, IIRC.
