My Uncle gave me this Lincoln Cent a couple of years ago. He called it his "trustless cent". I got a kick out of it then, and still get a kick out of it every time I see it. I pulled the 2001P Nickel, and the 2008 Dime, out of rolls. I'm wondering how many planchets might be struck by a broken die, before the die is removed from service. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks!
That Lincoln is a nice "cud" very nice the others are very minor. To help answer many error coins had "old time" names before the modern minting procedures were really studied and fully understood. "Godless" "atheist" "trustless" did often descibe the error very well for the times. We now know that your Lincoln is a "Cud" why it's a cud and how it happens. There is no data on how long they were left in service after they break and it's not so much how long they were left in service but how large the bin was that contained that "lot of the coins" including the die break coins. The numbers in modern minted coins that could be struck after or while a die is breaking could be as high as 750 per minute with a quad press. It's really a foremans job to spot the break and make a descision on replacing the die and how many are in that particular bin, or lot as to whether they end up letting these go or destoying the whole bunch. It boils down to a lot of different production choices as to whether we "can get by", or better not try type of thing you know. A Lincoln cud like yours probably would have been caught after a couple thousand strikes and a coin (die break) like that would have been replaced at once. They would probably scoop the top part of the pile and see how many in a sample as to whether or not they would destroy the lot. It goes like that something like that but one more thing. Dies are extremley precious, they need to make thousands for a years run on each denomination. On the one hand they want to let them remain in service just as long as possible but on the other hand they do not want to get yelled at by the boss. Given this they do stretch them but we don't have die breaks like yours anymore. A 2009 Lincoln Cent in gem BU with that large a die break would be a $1000 coin in todays market. We just do not see them like that anymore so they probably destroy larger lots more often or the die steel and production standards are just so much better now than when your coin was struck, they just do not break like this any longer. Hope this helps you.
bhp3rd - Thank you for the very well thought out reply! Thanks mark_h. It's my favorite cud. Thanks Jello. I have a few more, but all of the rest are minor. Also, thanks for the welcome. I've been a member for a couple of years, but mostly lurk.
