Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Conder101, post: 1249738, member: 66&quot;]HAD to be canceled?&nbsp; The early mint often sold off old dies as scrap steel without cancelling them.&nbsp; (Few early dies survive though since the dies were not valuable at the time but the steel was.&nbsp; The ANS has a couple.)&nbsp; After the 1820&#039;s or so coinage dies pretty much disappear until 1968.&nbsp; Most if not all of the few that survive do have the heavy X cut into their faces.&nbsp; In 1968 the mint sold off a bunch of 1968 S proof dies as scrap that had been defaced using a welding torch.&nbsp; In 1996 they sold off some of the dies that had been used to make the Olympic commemoratives.&nbsp; These have the heavy X cut across them but most of the detail is still visible.&nbsp; All of the dies sold since then have had the entire face ground off with an abrasive grinder.&nbsp; Since about 1871 the mint has been required to deface all of the dated dies at the end of the year.&nbsp; (Typically it was worded as destroyed by fire and sledge.&nbsp; I would assume this meant they heated them up red hot then pulled them from the furnace and hit the coining face with a sledgehammer.&nbsp; Should make it pretty unusable for coinage.) The undated dies are sometimes held over and used during the following year.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in