Has anybody ever seen a coin like the one in these pictures? I have put arrows pointing to what I am talking about.
The folks selling these USB Digital Scopes at Coin Shows should consider including a booklet on differentialing MDD from true Die Doubling. I see bunches of Kennedy's just like this one being listed on eBay as Doubled Dies. True, the MD effect can be dramatic but, as pointed out, its quite common on early 70's Kennedy's. It seems to me that the larger the coin, the more dramatic the MD since IKE's often get mislabeled as well.
Here's a good example: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330842433874&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1123 TDR? Yeah right!
although the back might be a bust...did you flip it over and check for ddo? i believe the 74 d is the one. i have found one. if you have not checked it, i would.
i copied the definition of MD from lincolncentresource and sent it to the seller and they changed the title to MD but left rare and 15.95 start price. i have to watch this and see if someone actually buys it
Here are more pics. I just wanted to know why there are notches in the bottoms of the D and O. It looks like those areas have been cut out but left a shelf.
Good Luck! I've given up on trying to educate these sellers and put all the responsibility on the digital USB sellers. Most people don;t bother looking at coins and some look, using a loupe, but cannot get the light right in order to actually see anything. These new scopes open up a whole new world to variety collector wannabee's looking to flip their "discoveries" off on sime unsuspecting buyer. Most don;t really care what you have to offer regarding the information provided on "true" doubled dies vs "machine" or "ejection" doubling. One fella included machine doubling in the description but still listed the title of the listing as a doubled die. There are a lot of bogus ddo/ddr listings for Kennedy's.
The notches you are referring to are the result of die deterioration. (Note to non_cents: The op is referring to the notch on the "inside" of the lower loop in the D and O and not the typical "notch" left from a split serif.) For future reference, these CnClad Kennedy's are hard and huge. As a result, the minting press took a literal beating pumping these out by the millions. If you beat on these presses long enough, things start getting loose and the eventually machine doubling starts to occur. Machine doubling occurs when the the coin is ejected and bumps into one or both of the die surfaces on its way out of the coining chamber. It is not symmetrical and can occur on a small part of the coin or on the entire coin. I can occur on only the reverse or obverse or it can occur on both surfaced. It is ALWAYS flat and shelf like similar to making a mold of something with clay and while the mold is lifted, a slight turn occurs. This is what creates the shelf. The dies also suffered since you can only smash hardened steel into a Copper Nickel (extremely hard) planchet of that size for so long before the die turns to mush! Usually, the fields go away producing a sever orange peel or star burst look. At that point, the sharp edges of the die have either broken off or been rounded off which produces what looks to be doubling or in the case of the OP's coin, notching within the lettering. However, this "doubling" usually occurs "around" the device (like a halo or perhaps a letter on top of a larger letter) and is not off to one side of the device (although this can occur as well) such as what would occur during the hubbing process. The end result is distorted lettering or devices which can clearly been seen with well lit magnification. For whatever reason, the CnClad Kennedy's suffered more severly from die deterioration than the Eisenhower Dollars did as the IKE's were much larger and physiologically speaking more damaging than the smaller half dollar. Perhaps the sheer size of the IKE made the die deterioration easier to spot? I don;t know. What I DO KNOW, is that machine doubling and die deterioration doubling plagued both of the coins until the US Mint turned down the relief and began experimenting with harder die steel. This is also one of the reasons that 1971 had almost countless doubled dies for both Kennedy's and Eisenhower Dollars. This phenomenon tapered off up to 1977 with fewer and fewer DD coins being produced. Good Night!
19Lyds, thank you for the detailed response. I am still learning so every little thing helps. I have been to most of the more common websites detailing errors but still have trouble identifying what I see. Thank you for the help!
