Just bought this - haven't gotten it to Todd to photograph yet, but I've been looking for a pretty toned 1955 Double Die for quite a while so I just had to show this little puppy off! NGC MS64 BN (CAC)
those things are impossible to stare at, freaky on the eyes. But I love it! whats at 12:00o'clock on the reverse? a gouge? sexy coin none the less!
Thanks! It's a scratch on the plastic. I know what you mean about freaky on the eyes, you feel like you have vertigo looking at these amazingly bold double dies.
Not that I could afford a coin like that, but you need to leave something out there for the rest of us.
Charmy - a stunner you have there! Such a coin is usually a fantasy for every coin collector. I think I'm in the wrong profession. You seem to have a new highly desirable piece for your personal collection every week. Lucky you! :hail:
The color on the obverse is great -- and for this coin particularly, that's the side to care about, right? A naive question by a non-Lincoln collector: why is there no doubling in the portrait of Lincoln (at least none I see)? Compare it, for instance, to the 1916 Double Die Buffalo, where there is significant doubling in the portrait.
Wiki states it pretty concisely: "When a modern coin die is created, it is struck from a working hub, which places the incuse image onto the die that will subsequently be used to strike coins. Normally, this requires multiple blows. In 1955, one of the working obverse dies at the Philadelphia Mint was misaligned on the second blow from the working hub, thus resulting in a doubled image. Due to the manner in which this hubbing was carried out, it most noticeably affected the date and inscriptions, with very little doubling visible on the bust of Lincoln. These doubled features were visible on all of the coins struck from this die. It is estimated that 24,000 of these coins were struck, all during one night shift at the Philadelphia Mint. They were originally found in New England, and many were distributed in cigarette packs in vending machines. The price of the cigarettes was 23 cents per pack, and two pennies were included to even up the price to the quarter required to buy from the machine."
Dude! There is DOUBLING all over that coin! The Hair The Eye The Nose The Lips The Bow Tie The Breast The Lapel The Ear I expect that even the VDB Initials have extreme doubling! Look closely and you'll see MASSIVE doubling! Next time you're at a show, ask to see one and loupe it but look beyond the obvious and you'll quickly see that this is perfect rotated hub doubling at its finest! I'm surprised Charmy did not mention this instead of opting to the wiki article which is so totally wrong!