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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Conder101, post: 1260091, member: 66&quot;]All die blanks are convex before hubbing, and all dies are also slightly convex when they are put into use.&nbsp; What makes this coin different is that the die is more convex than normal.&nbsp; From the pictures it appears that the coin is most strongly concave around the edges, specifically between the lettering and the edge.&nbsp; Normally to get that effect you would have to grind that curvature into the die face.&nbsp; Doing that though would result in very weak dentilation and weakness in the tops of the letters.&nbsp; The coin does not show that.</p><p><br /></p><p>One thing that could cause it would be if the edge of the die was sinking.&nbsp; But why would the edge of the die sink?</p><p><br /></p><p>When the dies are hubbed it causes work hardening of the die blank.&nbsp; That was why they had to re-anneal the dies to soften them between hubbings.&nbsp; After the final hubbing the die face would be work hardened and it would be hardest in the center of the die and softest around the edges.&nbsp; Normally the die would be then heated and deliberately hardened so as to have an even hardness across the die face.&nbsp; But what would happen if the work hardened die was used without that final hardening?&nbsp; The hardened centers would hold up for awhile but the softer edges of the die would start sinking.&nbsp; This could give you that curvature.&nbsp; The collar would still insure that the expanding planchet still filled the denticals, but that would also cause extra pressure around the edges and enhance the sinking.&nbsp; Now a die like that would not hold up for long so you would expect coins from it to be scarce to rare.&nbsp; That seems to fit with the rarity rating for this variety.&nbsp;&nbsp; The one BIG problem I see with this theory is that I would not expect the sinking to be as even as it appears to be on this coin.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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