1938 D/D/D/S Buffalo 5C VP-001

Here's another member of my heard.1938 D/D/D/S Buffalo Nickel.VP-001 OMM . Mintage 400,000 in the Varieties D/S D/D/S D/D/D/S . This Variety was only found in 1962! No one ever suspected that such a variety existed. Considered to be a fantastic rarity by some.....and maybe so for until 1962.....when the discovery of this OMM made dealers and collectors more aware of other varities or errors ....thus the following varities were found because of this discovery in 1962. 1949-D/S ,1954 S/D in the Jefferson series, the1944-D/S Lincoln cent, the 1950-S/D dime, the 1950-D/S & 1950-S/D Washington Quarters. How about that? :thumb:

 

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Whoa! Cool. How do you get a D/D/D and why? The one in my avatar is a MS66 D/S.

 

LOL Why because the heard would not be complete without a D/D/D/S ....LOL Nice luster too on this coin and I purchased it raw came back NGC a MS-65 not too bad a 66 would of been a bigger

 

Congrats on the 65! I would have been thrilled.

No, I wasn't asking how and why you bought it! lol I was asking how it was created? I've known other types exist but I didn't know this type had that variety. I was wondering what causes a D/D/D because I have never understood it. I understand the D/S concept.

 

The D/D/D is simply a triple punch MM that was moved slightly between each punch.

 

The next 3 pictures are of other 1938 -D buffalos. Rev. #1 is an 38-D #2 38D/D #3 is an D/S I will post the coins also both Obv.& Rev. next group.

 

OBV. & REV. of the 1938-D 1938-D/D 1938-D/S all graded PCGS MS-65

 

this shot rev. of 1938-D/S Buffalo

 

HOLY MOLY! DOUBLE D's!!! A D AND AN S!!!

Very interesting variety you've got there. Pictures of the coin are not that sharp and are a little out of focus, but the picture of the mintmark is excellent!
Very cool coin!

 

Nice going!!! If I collected Buff varieties other than "legs", I would be major jealous! Now I am just happy for it to get into the hands of an appreciative collector.

Photo of the mint mark is great as T$ says.

Jim

 

I like the close-ups of the mintmarks. It does make you wonder, what was going on in 1938 at the Denver mint anyway? According to Lange, it is likely that a number of San Francisco dies were sent to Denver that year and repunched intentionally.

 

I just got, "The official Red Book: A Guide Book of Buffalo and Jefferson Nickels, which came out in 2006. The beginning is quite interesting and it discusses a bit about how these mintmark errors came to be. Some here may find this very interesting as I did.

It says beginning with the buffalo nickel in 1913, they began incorporating the date into the hub, master die and working dies. In other words, the date was no longer manually punched into the dies. Nickels needed mint marks for the first time in 1912 with the last Liberty Head's produced.

These mint marks were the last feature that, for a time, still needed to be manually punched into the dies. This practice went on until the 1990s.

This was done by hand so a number of variations occurred by simple accidents while trying to get the stamp lined up properly. All dies were produced at the Philly mint and sent out. (Denver produces some today)

The D/S represents a set of dies that were originally destined for San Francisco that ended up going to Denver. Where they were manually over-punched for use there.

It said that today, P, D, and S mintmarks are all included in the master die, which is then used to make multiple working dies. As a result, doubled, tilted, and other position variation mintmarks no longer occur (after the late 1990s).

 

Vess,
Thanks for that information, which clears things up a bit.:thumb: I will have to look at that Red Book, which is the Bowers' book, correct? I have that as well but didn't remember this part.
The book is interesting for a number of reasons. It seems to me that Bowers, at least in his book, tends to place great emphasis on strike as a characteristic for Buffalos. This is not necessarily in line with market grading (which doesn't mean I disagree with him).

 

I'm so glad I put this OMM set together as 1938 surely was the year of the nickel! It makes for a nice lead into my Jeffersons collection.

 

Wow, that is a great picture of the mint mark on the d/d/d/s, i can actually see it very plainly.

 

Yes, it is the Bowers book. I just got it yesterday.

He puts great emphasis on strike in other books too. He's amazed how little attention people pay to the the details on different coins within the same grade. He believes there should be more details grades like FS and FT used on more issues of coins to designate the premium ones. But most people don't pay attention.

The book is exactly what I was looking for. The detailed info on each specific coin should prove to be helpful in putting the rest of my set together.

Another interesting tid bit from it was that he says the lower denomination coins (non-precious metal) were not given as much care in the minting process. He said if time was taken and things calibrated and checked properly, that every nickel should have come out with razor sharp details. But many years, lazy press operators would purposely leave the dies too far apart so that a slightly over-sized planchet would strike up properly without damaging the die. This set up would still work for making all of them, but this resulted in the properly sized planchets receiving weak strikes, while the over-sized ones were the only ones that would strike up fully. Amazing stuff.

 

Yeah, it was! That is a neat set. Have fun with the Jeffersons. I saw a guy at a show one time with a capital plastics holder for Jeffersons that was about 2' x 2' and looked to be nearly full with MS Jeffersons. It had to have been custom order.

I often wish I was working on Jefferson set but I've got enough irons in the fire. I appeased myself a bit by getting a beautiful MS war nickels set and I got a nice MS 50-D and MS 38-P,D,S at the last show. I used the 38's to fill the last slots in my buffalo album. It seemed appropriate.

Those 38 Jeffersons are still so affordable in MS that I'm half tempted to get some more. The D and the S were pretty low mintages.

 

If you like detailed information on each mintmark and date, you should definitely purchase the Lange book if you don't already have it. It is my favorite of the Buffalo guides and full of interesting tidbits as well as some great photographs. I hope that Buffalos never become segregated in grading with something analogous to Full Head or Full Bands or Full Steps. I find these designations a reason not to collect SLQ's or Mercury Dimes or Jefferson Nickels. I just don't think a single strike characteristic should become so all-important.

I also think the variations in strike, which can occur in so many different places on the Buffalo, is something that makes collecting them enjoyable and rewards knowledge and experience.

 

1938 buffalo coin

Is it possible to have a 1938 buffalo nickel with a S only mint mark? I think I may have one. I do not see a D but a clear S.

 

WoW ! The only one that I found in my Mom's stash was a 1938 D/S. This triple D punch is absolutely awesome !