Grade this '40-S Jefferson Nickel

Not really, because the die wears evenly. And the highest points, which is the building, are the last to wear. So if the steps are still clean, and they are, then the die is not worn out.

 

My previous post was a bit confusing now that I re-read it. The answer to your question is basically yes. But to straighten out what I was saying - yes, for the most part a die suffers wear fairly evenly with use. The exception to that is the high point areas. These areas are actually the lowest areas of the dies, so they are the last to fill with metal as coins are struck. And if the strike pressure of the press is set a bit too low or if the dies are not adjusted properly, then there is little metal that ever reaches these low areas to even cause any wear.

When a die wears out, it is always the highest points on the die (that correspond to the lowest points on the coin) that suffer the most wear. Normally this area is near the edge or rim of the coin - the legends and outer edges of the devices. It's kind of like if you punched a doughnut hole out of the center of a coin - what you have remaining are the ares that suffer wear the first and the most. And the wear is distrubted fairly evenly in these areas.

And you have to remember, that when dies are set into the coin press the alignment and spacing between the dies is critical. The faces of the obv & rev dies have to be precisely parallel to each other, perfectly aligned so that the edges meet precisely and set at the perfect spacing (distance between them when the press closes) or the coin will be weakly struck in some area. Where that area is on the coin depends entirely on whether or not the dies are set adjusted perfectly.

If they are adjusted perfectly, but the prsssure is set just a little too low, then the high points of the coins will be weakly struck. And the vast majority of the time those high points will be within that doughnut hole that I mentioned earlier. On a Jeff, that would be Monticello and the center of Jefferson's head.

Now Jeffs were almost always struck with the strike pressure dialed down a bit - set too low. They did this on purpose because the hardness of the metal caused premature catostrophic die failure if the pressure was set so that the coins were fully struck. This is why we so rarely see a Jeff with full details on Monticello, or the bust for that matter. When you find a Jeff with good detail on Monticello - meaning that the portico, windows, and widow's walk rail all have good detail - you have found a true rarity.

One other point for the sake of clarity - the area of the steps on the dies - that wears out long before the area of the building. That is because the steps are higher on the die than the center of the building. So if the steps are fully struck, then the die cannot have undue wear in the area of the building - it is impossible because the step area wears out long before the center of the building does.

Now, hopefully, it makes sense.