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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;cladking, post: 1335471, member: 68&quot;]They were big news in 1983 when they were found among the dimes returned to the Sandusky banks by the Cedar Point Amusement Park.&nbsp; A few had been given out in change at the park in 1982 but they were not discovered and most were returned to the banks in a large shipment of $1000 bags.&nbsp; These were all the strong strike variety.&nbsp; Many of them ended up in three or four huge hoards and a few still exist in one of these hoards in all probability.&nbsp; Total mintage has been estimated at 10,000 but I believe this estimate is too low.&nbsp; I&#039;ve seen specimens from pretty worn dies and have great confidence at least 100,000 were produced.&nbsp; It is entirely possible that almost allof the last strikes were caught and destroyed and only around 10,000 survive; almost all from the first 10,000 strikes.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I packed up and headed for Sandusky the minute I heard of it with visions of bringing home numerous examples picked up on the cheap.&nbsp; I hoped to be the first in line when the coin shop opened.&nbsp; Imagine my surprise when there was not only no line but the coin shop didn&#039;t open until afternoon.&nbsp; The proprieter had no interest in selling quantiies but I sure caught one very lucky break.&nbsp; In those days no one cared much about quality and this went several times over for anything clad.&nbsp; I was able to choice out the finest example which was head and shoulders above the rest or anything I&#039;ve seen since.&nbsp; There was a second specimen that would have been spectacular had the nicer example not been there which I still regret passing on.&nbsp; Ironically I saw this second example at a coin show some years later and foolishly passed again even though the price wasn&#039;t that much higher.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>On the weak strikes you should pay attention primarily to marking especially on the higher areas.&nbsp; These will all have planchet marking in the poorly struck areas.&nbsp; On the strong strikes look for strike and planchet marking.&nbsp; Clean examples of both of these aren&#039;t extremely difficult so it&#039;s a good idea to hold out for them. These are circulation issues so don&#039;t be expecting MS-70 or even MS-65.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Numismatic News ran a few articles about these in consecutive issues in April, 1983.&nbsp; Very few escaped into general circulation because most were snapped up in the bags and from circulation in Sandusky but they are still found in lower grades on rare occasion.&nbsp; This shjows how little attention circulating coinage gets from people. The weak strikes appeared primarily in Pittsburg but there were a few in the Baltimore area and these did not get into circulation apparently. The strong strikes are slightly outnumbered by the weak ones.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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