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Message:: [QUOTE="yakpoo, post: 801480, member: 18157"]Early coinage used much fewer dies than today...and damaged dies were used longer. Numismatists such as Sheldon, Breen, Newcomb, etc have published studies of early US coins that catalog die pairs and die states...to include the progression of die cracks/cuds, clashed dies, repolished or repunched dies, and other anomolies such as doubled profiles and rotated reverses.  They've documented the order in which various dies pairs were used and approximately how many pieces were struck with each. They know the source, condition, and delivery dates of the planchet stocks used for each group of coins. They've analyzed auction and sales data to determine the approximate number of surviving coins and their relative rarity ("R" values...the "Sheldon" scale). It's works like these that help generate collector interest in die varieties...and, as a result, die cracks. In this case, the die crack can be used as an indication of the rarity of the piece. From that perspective, there can potentially be a significant premium placed on a particular die crack. However, overall (and especially on modern coins) die cracks are an interesting feature that might help sell a coin to a certain class of collector (myself included), but generally won't elicit a premium. There's likely an even greater number of collectors that don't want any cracks on their coins.[/QUOTE]