I came across this dime while going through a box of coins at work last week. It was the only silver piece in $250 of dimes. I was just excited it was a Mercury! Later on I realized the 4 and 2 looked funny. I pulled out my Red Book and saw that there was an error that year. This is a D mint coin, and so the error is less detectable than it would be on the P mint issue. These are the best photos I could get. 1st has flash, the other 2 regular room lighting. I have an old 6.3 Megapixel SLR.. I'm going to try to borrow a friends 12 MP camera soon. I have a non-error 42 dime, which looks different. I also compared this photo to other 2/1 errors as well as non-error 42 dimes... To me, it looks like the base of the 4 looks double-wide and longer, and the front of the 2 looks flat. It's definitely a circulated coin.. I'm hoping for the best, but would love for some of your opinions! Sincerely, Jeff
It doesn't appear to be a 42/41D mercury. This is a type 3 (III) Doubled die, where 2 different hubs and designs (41D,42D) for the obverse was used on the working die. Since the 1 and the 2 of the 42/41 do not overlap much, some remnant of the 1 must be seen. I am not sure why the legs of the 4 are longer and wider, except from possible die damge of the '42 design or pmd. Jim Welcome to the forum!
I apologize for the low quality pictures. I swear this camera was awesome in 2004. lol I took some head on shots and cropped the date. I put light at 2 different vantage points. It's harder to see the base of the 4 in these pictures, but its easier to see the 2.
Based upon the updated pictures, definitely not 2/1. Think of it this way, if the 1 is offset enough to be "hidden" by the 2, then the 194 would show up as equally offset to the right of the primary date.
Yeah, definitely not. It does display some MD from either a weak strike where the planchet shifted during striking or from die deterioration.
I disagree wirh everyone. To me this coin appears as if it is the 42 over 41 D dime.IMO this one deserves a examination by someone like Wexler.I can see what appears to be the remnants of the 1 inside of the 2 just like it is supposed to look. maybe it is just the photo causing it to appear this way. I have had a few before and sold them for scrap silver before I found out about them. the 1 is barely visible on the 42 d mint dimes .
Rascal, what you see on the loop of the 2 isn't the 1 of a 41/42. Remember, the punch was onto the die, not the coin, so both the 1 & 2 would appear on the same plane. The "1," in this case, is far too faint to be a repunch on a die.
folks keep your eyes out for silver and gold coin to show up in normal pocket change. Here where I live the drug addicts are stealing valuable coin collections and spending the coins like regular coins. my sister in law lost over half a million dollars worth of silver and gold coins and over a hundred saddle blanket notes and over 10.000 regular cash . it was saved up by my brother in law for his disabled son. my brother in law passed away and about 3 months later the collection was stole. the thieves rolled the safe outside and put it on my sister in laws wheelbarrow and made off with it. We know who did it and the state police detectives never once tried to help us. the oily fingerprints were all over the newly painted white walls. oh by the way these thieves are gone now.
the photo you are showing is a totally different animal. you are showing a P mint coin and a D mint is totally different. darn it I found this out the hard way.
Here's an older thread with some pretty good pics and info (including the "D" version) from Lost Dutchman: http://www.cointalk.com/t51970/
You're right. Still not a 42/41d: Do you see the 4? That's the key marker, not the faint whatever that isn't the 1.
Thanks for the link and I agree with everyone in that thread. the coin in that thread from what I can see only had die polish marks around the date area.
I'm adding the entire link from where you got your photo from. it's possible since the op's coin has been in circulation something may have bumped against the bottom of the 4 causing it to look different. I'm just going by what appears to be the remnants of the 1 in the center of the 2 . also if my memory is correct I believe there are two different types of the rare 42 over 41 D mint dimes. the op may gather something from this link but the photo in the thread don't show the 1 http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=83226
There shouldn't be two "types." There might be three die states, but the reason it's rare is there's only one known 2/1d die. Also, unless there are specific die markers in protected areas of the coin, it's not a 2/1, even if it _might_ have been at one point. After all, if you have a coin with a die break, and circulation rubs away the die break, you don't have a coin with a die break...
why don't we just leave this up to the owner of this coin and give them a chance to get someone to examine it for them instead of flat out saying it is not a 42 D over 41 date ? there is plenty of design left on the coin for a error expert to examine it. We could argue on here the rest of our life and still not know for sure what the coin really is from just looking at the photos.
I would assume that the OP (who doesn't seem to be participating in the thread) already sought the advice of someone local. I assume the answer was either no or unsure. If the answer were yes, they would just assume it is. If you meant sending the coin in for TPG assessment, that doesn't seem reasonable. The TPGs take on a liability for assigning the variety status to a coin, so I doubt that a coin which requires us to assume circulation wear to be a die marker would pass.
