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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;900fine, post: 1313778, member: 6036&quot;]Two more points to consider :</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Most of these half cent varieties are quite common.</b> While it&#039;s fun (and educational) to attribute them, most dates have NO rare die varieties; attribution of these is usually a non-profit thing... but it&#039;s still cool.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Why are there variances in dies ?</b> Why do the letters vary relative to the leaves ? Coins are made from working dies, and working dies are made from a master. The master did not have the letters, stars, or numerals - only the main device (Liberty on the obverse, wreath on the reverse). For silver and gold, the reverse master had only the eagle (and scroll for capped bust coins).</p><p><br /></p><p>One might ask <b>&quot;So why did the master not have the letters etc. ?&quot;</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Because the working dies were &quot;struck&quot; on the same press as the coins... and the press was weak. If they tried to put all the detail into the master, it came out mushy and poorly detailed, so they only put the main device. That concentrated all the pressure on the most important element.</p><p><br /></p><p>Remember that planchets (coin blanks) were copper, silver and gold... all relatively soft compared to die steel. However, making a working die is &quot;steel on steel&quot;, so the press weakness was more apparent and a bigger problem when making dies than when making coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>In 1836, the Mint got steam powered coining presses, which greatly increased striking pressure. This improved the process for making both coins and dies. For that reason, the Mint placed more design motifs in the master (stars, letters, etc). </p><p><br /></p><p>That is why <b>coins after 1836 show much more uniformity</b> in the dies; differences are fewer, more subtle, and less obvious. </p><p><br /></p><p>For instance, the Braided Hair half cents (and large cents) show very little difference in reverse dies. Minor variation in numeral location in the date is the major difference in obverse dies - and those differences are often small indeed.</p><p><br /></p><p>For Braided Hair copper, we go to secondary characteristics; we&#039;re looking for the die filing lines as the engraver finished the working die, which are quite obvious on high-grade coins but often lost on lower grades. We also look for die cracks, even on lower grade coins.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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