Mercury Dime DD?

okay, so yesterday i found this mercury dime that APPEARS to have a doubled date. i have never heard of this error before, for this particular year, but i cant deny what my eyes see. anyone know what this is?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I am 99% certain its strike doubling also known as machine doubling... As you can see there are no splits at the serifs which is the tell-tale of a real Double Die. Interesting though! Welcome to the forum!

 

Can you explain what you mean by that? What exactly is split? I got pulled over by a County Serif once for speeding. For continuing education purposes, let's say... Thanks.

 

a split serrif is where the corner of the numbers are seperated. if you can draw a line between the 2 bottom most points on the serrif of the #1 of the suspected D.D. for example, and the coin metal flows with it, then its MD. If the imaginary line between the 2 bottom most points of the serrif are not connected by metal flow, then it might be a true D.D.

|....|
/......\
|_____|
..\______|



|.....|
|.....|
/......\
|_____|
... |_____|

in my very crude examples, look at the bottom left of the example 'coins'. the top is Mechanical doubling, because there is no split in the serrifs. the bottom example is a true DD because there is a split.

Please excuse my very poor crude examples, but i do hope it helps.

 

Dak, unfortunately, while I'm sure these diagrams make sense to everybody else, the issue is still clear as mud to me. I think we have to start with defining what a serif is. Isn't that just the fancy little "embellishments" (or "add-ons") on the numbers? In other words, a one is straight up and down, but if it has a fancy little half-hook at the top, that's a serif? I'm sooooo not understanding this...

 

yes, that would be the serrif

 

i tried to do a picture .... They are OVER exagerated, but the one on the left shows the 2 numbers of a double die.. the ones on e right show a Mechanical double die... a MD is basicaly the number 'sliding' as it is pressed.

let me know if this helps lol

 

I still don't get it.

BTW...I meant you, above, with the diagrams...not Dak. Although, in terms of , he gets credit for an assist.

 

Hey Daggarjon, that picture isnt coming up for me, its just a little "x" in a box.

 

I'll look over that link, Doug, thanks. And Daggarjon, I get an image can't be displayed when I click your attachment. But I appreciate all your help, thanks. I guess I'm just determined this time around to understand this...

 

Strike doubling.
The two different levels (of dates) have to be the same height.
If one is lower then it was caused by the die shifting during the strike, hence: "strike doubling".

 

then why doesn't this make a coin valuable? its still an error made by the mint. are these common?

 

Sure, it is a mint error, however, since the doubling is done by the die being loose, some collectors consider it damage, and not a collectible variety.
Also, as stated, very common.

 

here's a picture of a double die lincoln

http://coins.about.com/od/coinsglossary/g/doubled_die_def.htm


and here is pcgs coin lingo page which I find very handy..lol

http://www.pcgs.com/lingo.chtml?universeid=313&letter=0

 

Sell your coins