Found this a few months ago & have been trying to find out if others have been found without much luck. I know this is small... But the VDB on Lincoln's shoulder is doubled. In going thru several hundred others I was not able to find another. Then last week I did find another... but the doubling is not the same. So now I have two different. anyone else seen or heard anything about these? Photos may not be the best, they were shot thru the government set holders. You would think as much as people look at the 1990 proof sets for all the other double Dies & no mint mark cents, some one would have noticed this. Hal
OK... two separate sets of initials, both distinct, not machine doubling.... very similar to the doubled FS initials of Jefferson nickels, except incuse... what would you call em??
Well, since VDB is actually incuse on the coin, either die deterioration doubling or mechanical doubling will produce the type of doubling you are seeing here. If it were a doubled die, it would show on more than just the initials (which it doesn't).
A minor plaiting issue combined with reflecting light. The plating is slightly bubbled around the initials. Add to that the angle of the coin and the direction of the light source. If you even just turn it 180 degrees and shoot a pic it will look different.
If you look at the vertical photo, you can see the machine doubling better in the bottom of Lincoln bust (near the top of the photo). I vote for machine doubling myself, but not a Doubled Die.
As I said the photos are not the greatest & this is all speculation based on those pix... but as I understand machine doubling, The hammer die is a bit loose & creates a shear effect as it begins to rise after the strike. These Initials are not sheared, but separate. Plating aberration... the secondary initials are distinct not blurred, I don't know that platting separation would be that distinct. And again the photos are of two separate coins. Then die deterioration... Might be like the doubling seen on some 1988 cents, but it's clearer & a whole bunch smaller... plus the rest of the coin seems crisp. Then, in person, it does not make much of a difference where the light source is, there are two sets of initials. Guess the bottom line is that this is something that isn't seen a great deal on any of this era of Lincoln proofs, or there would be more info out there. I thank everyone for their feedback so far, think I will take them to the ANA show in Chicago next week & see what some others think. Also, I believe Coneca has a meeting there as well, maybe someone there can offer some thoughts. Thanks again, Hal in Colorful Colorado
Mechanical doubling on INCUSE devices results in the separation you are seeing. On a raised part of e design it would result in a step-like flat doubling, but again, on INCUSE devices it shows what you are seeing. You can see a similar effect on the incuse words of the new quarters that have mechanical doubling. You can read the following articles to understand what I am talking about. http://www.coinworld.com/Articles/ViewArticle/high-bouncing-die-leaves-offset-incuse-machin http://numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=17345
a while back these coins with the claimed VDB doubling were selling for big prices on Ebay. I bet a lot of folks will be surprised when they find out what they bought may not be a doubled die after all.
non_cents, THANK YOU! "High-bouncing die leaves offset, incuse machine doubling" makes perfect "cents". This also explains the two different that I found. AND, save a whole lot of looking at Lincoln's shoulder. PS, In looking at over thousand 1990 proof sets, I did find a couple of these as well.... So the whole thing wasn't a total loss. Thanks again, Hal in Colorful Colorado
