Finding varieties

And some say (OK I say) they are neither one, they are just a later stage of the die.

 

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So a die chip or gouge can only come from usage and not be a manufacturing error?

 

Good point. No they can occur during the creation of the die. On modern dies they usually are not present on early die stages. On earlier dies (18 and 19th century) they could very frequently be on early die stages, and in some cases dies would chip or crack during hardening and all the coins from that die would show them. But in those cases it is on the die from the start and would identify a die variety, and would still not be an error.

 

That would be what distinguishes different vams, right?

 

Among quite a few other things, yes.

 

Yes, I know. I was just thinking about when I was trying to sort some Peace dollars by vams and those were the easiest distinct markings to tell them apart. Die cracks, chips and gouges.

 

Yeah, those are as good as fingerprints and a Godsend when they're there.

 

Is a rotated die an error or only if an extreme? I was looking at a coin up for action that I wanted and noticed the obverse is perfectly aligned in the slab but the reverse is roughly 10-15* rotation ccw.

 

A rotated die would usually be considered an error, but up to about 15 degrees is usually considered to be within spec. And there is usually little interest unless it is over 45 degrees. There are some varieties though that usually come with a rotated die. There is an 1864 2 cent that comes with a 180 degree rotation and the 1807 S-276 large cent usually come rotated close to 180 degrees. There are some others as well.

 

silver alloy, I believe