Best year, best strike

Discussion in 'US Coins Forum' started by chlorinated, Oct 17, 2017.

  1. Youngcoin

    Youngcoin Everything Collector

    I'm pretty sure it's a question ( or do you mean like "where in the world did you get that idea from"), I'm not sure either and I'm curious too.

    Thanks,
    Jacob
     
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  3. TypeCoin971793

    TypeCoin971793 Just a random guy on the internet

    I think 1820 and 1822 Large Cents have pretty stellar strikes. (And 1821 and 1825 if you are feeling like breaking the bank).

    IMG_1509.JPG IMG_1510.JPG
     
    Dynoking, wxcoin, chlorinated and 2 others like this.
  4. Youngcoin

    Youngcoin Everything Collector

    That's one heck of die crack too.

    Thanks,
    Jacob
     
  5. chlorinated

    chlorinated Well-Known Member

    I have always wanted one of these. I think its such a cool die crack. On my bucket list for sure! Beautiful coin by the way!

    Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
     
  6. TypeCoin971793

    TypeCoin971793 Just a random guy on the internet

    Not mine, unfortunately. :( In my watch list, though.
     
  7. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    There really isn't a simple, straightforward answer to your question. That's because it's pretty unusual, I might even say rare, for a given date/mint issue to be known for the majority of them to be very well or fully struck.

    However, it is downright common for there to be a few examples of a given date/mint from almost any type to be found very well or fully struck.

    And there is even a type or two where there are never any examples to be found fully struck.

    For example, you mentioned the '81-S Morgan, somebody else mentioned the '80-S Morgan, as being known to be very well or fully struck. This is quite true, but so is the '82-S Morgan. And all 3 of them are graded to a stricter standard than other Morgans in regard to quality of strike.

    An example of a different kind, someone mentioned the '21 Peace for being very well or fully struck. Sorry, but this just isn't true. Quite the opposite in fact, the '21 Peace is never found fully struck. And even examples that have what might be called a good strike are downright scarce. The '21 Peace is notorious for being weakly struck.

    And Jefferson nickels, you'd be hard pressed to find a fully struck Jefferson nickel, even from among most of the modern versions. And even from among Proofs. From the most modern Jeffs, after they had lowered the relief to where it was almost flat, yeah you might find a few.

    As I mentioned above, across the spectrum of all coins there are usually some examples found very well or even fully struck. But they are not limited by a given date/mint, but instead can be found from a variety of dates/mints for the type. The reason for this is because quality of strike for any given issue is determined by basically 5 things: coin design, proper die alignment, proper die spacing, proper strike pressure, and fresh dies. Get all 5 of those things right and you'll usually end up with a very well or fully struck coin. But get just 1 of them wrong - and you won't.

    And there is even more to consider beyond that. This is because with most of our coins there changes made to the design (to the hubs), sometimes several times, during the life of the given type. And when there are changes to the design you can't compare a pre-change date to a post-change date because changes to the design alter the way a coin strikes up. Think of the Lincoln cent for example, there were so many changes to the design of the Lincoln cent that it gets kind of hard to count them all. The Buffalo nickel is similar in that regard, just not to that extent. What I'm trying to point out is that you can't compare a 1909 Lincoln to a 1940's Lincoln because there just isn't any comparison - they are two different coins ! Same with 1913 Buff and a 1938 Buff.

    So when you are trying to compare quality of strike you can only do so with examples known to be from the same hub design. That said there were far fewer hub design changes pre 1900 than there were post 1900. And on early coinage they didn't even have or use hubs.

    The reason I'm pointing all of this out is because the list you are compiling in post #19, it's not quite accurate, at least in regard to answering your original question. There are a couple of other examples like the early S mint Morgans where pretty much all examples are known to be very well or fully struck. But only a couple, and like the Morgans they are graded to stricter standards than the rest of their type. But it's been so long since I even thought about them that I cannot recall what they were exactly off the top of my head. But I seem to recall that they were gold. Pretty sure you can find the answer in the Encyclopedia of US Gold Coins by Garret and Guth.

    Someone else asked -

    Yes, there are even some examples of coins with clash marks that are fully struck. That is because the two things, clash marks and quality of strike, sometimes don't have anything to do with each other. That said, there are other times when clash marks can diminish the quality of strike, but only when the die clash has partially destroyed part of the design. So the answer is it can go either way.
     
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  8. Youngcoin

    Youngcoin Everything Collector

    Thanks @GDJMSP this helps me with understanding striking.

    Thanks,
    Jacob
     
  9. longshot

    longshot Enthusiast Supporter

    I was going to mention the 21 peace also, I see someone just beat me to it. They are higher relief than the later dates, and better strikes are worth searching for, but practically all exhibit some degree of softness in the centers.
     
  10. Youngcoin

    Youngcoin Everything Collector

    Incase you didn't read this post @longshot

    Thanks,
    Jacob
     
  11. longshot

    longshot Enthusiast Supporter

    Yes, I was just primed to contest the suggestion of the 21 peace, I did see the above comment, but just meant to enlarge a bit. :)
     
  12. baseball21

    baseball21 Well-Known Member

    I want to say the 57-S $20 was one though it's still a very pricey coin and some of the later 80s/90s dates, and most of the P $10s from 1890 on.
     
  13. chlorinated

    chlorinated Well-Known Member

    Thank you so much for that info packed post! I realize that just because alot of coins from a given dat/mm are well struck, doesn't mean all of them are. I also realze the most any date, as you mentioned, can also have nice strikes. Basically i just wanted to compile a list of date/mm combos that frequently are well struck.

    I fell like new and old colectors alike need a starting point when starting to collect any series. By having a list of coins from said series that are known to generally have good strikes, it gives the colector a great starting point. While not perfect, and lots of coins need to be observed to really know what to look for, it cant hurt to have some sort of reference to point you in the right direction.

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  14. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    But that is exactly the point I am making - there are hardly coins that meet that qualification. There are a few, just not a lot of them.
     
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