At the Gettysburg show I purchased a roll of 1955 S Unc. Roosevelt in the original wrap. Just getting around to looking at these I finding either some of the weakest strikes I've even seen or struck through grease? Have a look at the images. Some are completely void of the JS initials, and IGWT is extremely weak. however the rev centers are full details on the strikes. Most probably die deterioration. After the 49 S the 55's P,D,&S are the next lowest mintage. I guess these were the end of the run on that S die.
Last year Roosie's were truck in San Francisco for circulation. This one is from a really, really worn die; you can see the obverse ghosting thru to the reverse and the dies sinking at the rims. I wonder if they limited the number of dies, knowing they wouldn't be striking them any more.
@SuperDave beat me to the punch, but yeah, this looks like a clear case of die deterioration. Even the reverse has significant weakness in UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Purely anecdotal, but I listed them by highest grade first at the PCGS auction results site and still found some pretty darn poor strikes and worn-die artifacts at the MS67 level (too few 68's for an opinion). Heritage showed 25 of 456 listings noted as FB, compared to 45 of 278 listings for 1954-S (for instance). Theoretically one should expect - heck, I don't know - at least 50k good strikes from a fresh die if they're running the machinery with attention to detail.
