So how is it that there is some coin's that don't have any listed varriteys anywhere? Like my 1951 d half dollar how could it be that every coin was struck perfect in that year? Just looking to see if maybe I can get an answer
It's a 1951 d Franklin half dollar but there is no varieties listed anywhere that I can find I'm just curious on how there is no varietys for a 1951 d Franklin
Varieties are more an exception then the rule. The mint has quality control, but sometimes things get through. As I understand it, there is a difference between errors and varieties. An error would be like a doubled die. A variety would be a grease filled die, or a die chip. The line is kind of blurry depending on who you talk to. Some people consider anything that came out of the mint not perfect to be an error, others disagree. Some people feel a die chip or a greaser is an error, others don't. But to answer your question, there were many years without varieties. The mint made more good quality coins, than errors or varieties. There are new varieties being found (even on older coins), but to get them recognized as such is a complicated road.
The error is the imperfect die. The coins struck by the imperfect die are varieties. This is because multiple coins are usually struck by multiple imperfect dies. They remain varieties even if only one imperfect die is produced for any given year.
@Newbee03 Where are you looking? Have you tried Doubleddie.com? There aren't any doubled die varieties listed for 1951 D but there are some RPM's Either there aren't any DDO's or maybe they never have been found. Look at this list - http://doubleddie.com/1228740.html Scroll down until you see 1951 D Look at the menu on the left side of that website for TONS of information on varieties.
@Newbee03 …here’s another way to look at it: Starting with the known mintage of 1951-D Franklin Half Dollars, 9,475,200. The mint strikes coins until the dies begin to reach the end of their useful life, arbitrarily, let’s say at 200,000 half dollars. 5 die pairs would be used per million coins. Multiply that by (roughly) 9 and you end up with 45 die pairs. Each die pair is perfectly capable of having distinctive imperfections without having any doubling issues. Those imperfections can be tracked also. But no doubling has been recorded for inclusion to the databases, which means only minor varieties have been found for this date and mint mark.
A Doubled Die is not the only thing that equals or makes a coin a variety. There are different types of die "errors" that can make a coin a Variety. Damaged dies can make a variety. Look at the 1955 "Bugs Bunny Half". All coins have the potential to be listed as a die variety, Is is just because no one has sat down and studied all the coins they could and record it all into a catalog of the different ones. Like what was done for the Morgan Dollars with all their VAM varieties.
Ok it's starting to make-sense to me I just really started to ponder on how come I can't find any errors or varietys for some of my coins like the 51 d or also my 1899 Barbra half I can't find a single thing on it. But maybe my generation of collectors (since I'm 23) will put together a form for all the ones that don't have one.
Remember, errors are usually one of a kind. Take an off center coin for example. With the hundreds of millions and billions of coins minted for each denomination each year, there should be off center examples for every date and mint. Why would you need a list? Most varieties are listed. Older coins like large cents and seated coinage have specialized references. Sites like doubleddie and varietyvista have comprehensive lists of doubled dies, RPMs, and OMMs. Cuds on coins has listings of cuds, bisect ing die cracks and shattered dies. Maddieclashes has clashed die listings. All have processes for submitting new finds Chances are, if you're a newer collector and can't find your variety, you don't have one. As with anything, it takes time and study to recognize the characteristics of genuine varieties vs other stuff.
