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Message:: [QUOTE="19Lyds, post: 1116889, member: 15929"]It's a 1971-S Silver Proof with a Type 2 Reverse.  ALL 1971-S Silver Proofs had the Type 2 reverse except for a limited number of 1971-S Proof coins which had a Type 1 Reverse. Only 2 are known to exist. Labeling specific coins by Year can be somewhat confusing but eventually folks figure it out. The reality is that the design varieties have unique numbers for Obverse and Reverse Design Varieties (ODV/RDV) as assigned by James Wiles in his book CONECA Attribution Guide to Eisenhower Dollar Die Varieties. (out of Print but Available for checkout from the ANA Library) In the pictures I posted above, each Reverse Design Variety is actually labeled as a "Type" noting that Type 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7 refer specifically to Earths or "Eagle Landing" Reverses and Type 4 and 5 being the Bicentennial Reverse Types. <img src="http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u8/lcl1119/IKEs/Types/T1-T2-T3-T6-T7EarthCopyright-W.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Folks rarely refer to a 1971-D as a "Type 1" coin even though that is exactly what it is. Remember, the circulating copper nickel and uncirculated 40% Silver coins were released well before the 40% Silver Proofs. Therefore this style of the "Eagle Landing" reverse is appropriately named "Type 1". When the Proofs were released, they became the Type 2 reverses. During the 1972 Production run, a Type 2 die (intended for High Relief Proof coinage) was used, either experimentally or unintentionally in the production of Philadelphia coins. At the time, during 1971 and 1972, the US Mint was having major problems producing copper-nickel IKE Dollars. Primarily because the copper-nickel planchets were much harder than the older 90% silver planchets AND a full 36 years had elapsed since a silver dollar sized coin had been produced! The end result was having to use a much higher than anticipated number of dies just to meet production deadlines. So, the Mint began experimenting with using a different die steel and different die manufacturing processes. Whether the Type 2 reverse die in the 1972 Production presses was accidental or experimental, nobody knows for sure but the end result is the different varieties for the 1972 Philadelphia coins. Partway through the year, a new die steel WAS approved along with a different high relief reverse design. (Type 3). This enabled higher production volumes per die and better quality coins due to increases in striking pressures. So at this point, we now have: 1971 - Type 1 Reverse1971-D - Type 1 Reverse1971-S Silver Business Strike - Type 1 Reverse1971-S Silver Proof Strike - Type 2 Reverse1972 - Type 1 Reverse1972 - Type 2 Reverse1972 - Type 3 Reverse1972-D - Type 1 Reverse1972-S Silver Business Strike - Type 2 Reverse1972-S Silver Proof Strike - Type 2 Reverse<blockquote>DEVIATION - 1971 and 1972 copper nickel (Cn) Proof IKEs did not exist. Nor were they announced and for whatever reason, probably tight production schedules and the desire to make some money, no dollar coins were put in either US Mint Uncirculated coins sets or US Mint Proof sets. Instead, uncirculated versions were made of 40% Silver clad planchets and sold for $3.00 each. Proof versions were of 40% silver clad planchets and sold at $10.00 each. This is not to say that a copper-nickel proof hadn't been "planned" all along because in 1999 (shortly after the release of the James Wiles book) a different reverse type was reported for the 1971-D coins!  It is an established fact that the San Francisco Mint (a proof coin only production facility in 1971) would ship defective planchets and dies to the Denver facility for circulating coinage production. (Substantiated by the existance of 1969-D, 1970-D, 1971-D and 1972-D Type B Reverse quarters) At some point during 1971, the Denver Facility began using dies with Reverse Type 6. (See photos above) These are commonly known as RDV-006 receiving that number designation in 1999 when they were "discovered". (Imagine that. A new die vairety after only having been available for 28 years! That alone speaks volumes on exactly where the Eisenhower Dollar stood in the coin collecting food chain!)  <img src="http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u8/lcl1119/IKEs/FEP/1971-DEarths2007CW.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> <img src="http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u8/lcl1119/IKEs/FEP/1971-DCraters2007CW.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Speculation is that this reverse type was intended for 1971 and 1972 Cn Proof coins but since the program was never put in place, these extra dies were shipped to the Denver facility as rejects. Additional evidence exists in the form of 1971-D IKEs which were minted on "proof planchets" (again San Francisco rejects). Proof planchets are not annealed and polished in the same manner as ciurculating coinage planchets. The end result is a lack of annealing marks (chicken scratches) near the outer edges of the coins. Due to light striking pressures, Cn IKE Dollars are plagued with annealing marks which some folks confuse as "bag marks". Bag mark hits would show evidence of reeding whereas annealing marks do not.End of Deviation </blockquote>Back to the subject. 1973 rolls along and the market happens to have a glut of unused Eisenhower Dollars sitting in bank and federal reserve storage vaults. 284,824,935 had been produced yet NOBODY was using the coins in general circulation. Only collectors had ANY interest at all once it was discovered by the general population that these coins were NOT really SILVER Dollars! Back in the early 70's, it was no dofferent than it is today in that if a paper dollar is available, folks are going to use that over a one dollar coin. The ONLY real market were the one dollar slot machines in casino's but they were already glutted with their own one dollar tokens.  So, it was decided that 1973 would not get any circulating Eisenhower Dollars produced. Instead, the US Mint would include these copper-nickel coins in the US Mint Proof AND Uncirculated coin sets. This decision alone immediately placed a coin collectors bounty of the 1973 Proof and Mint Sets. Overall acceptance of the Eisenhower Dollar had been waning which was reflected in the total number of 40% Silver Uncirculated and proof coins produced (remembering that production of special coins in the 70's was "order" driven and not mandated) in 1973. Less than 900,000 Silver Business Strikes and just a smidge over a million proofs were produced! Less than half of the 1972 production and way less than the 1971 production!1973 Silver Proof coins were regularly being sold by dealers at $100 each!Since copper-nickel coins were ONLY available in US Mint Uncirculated coins sets, the price of those sets also began to rise dramatically as well. Final production figures showed that 2,000,056 Philly coins were produced and 2,000,000 Denver coins were produced. However, in a letter to Herb Hicks (proofartoncircs) from Roy Cahoon, Roy states that 400,000 1973 non-Silver dollar coins were melted. The net result of these figures is the the 1973 and 1973-D Cn IKEs can and often do command some premiums. On to 1974. Given the unavailability and low production runs of 1973 IKE dollars, interest was "renewed" in the Eisenhower Dolar coins. (Nothing new here from the collector/dealer side as each new Mint release has a certain level of "hype" associated with it. As soon as something is declared difficult to get, prices and interest go up.) Coins were slated for production to banks in addition to being included in Uncirculated sets and US Mint Proof sets. Additionally, legoislation was introduced to come up with special BiCentennial Coin designs to be implemented in 1975 and 1976! Things were looking just peachy! The introduction of the BiCentennial designs were met with some indecisions in that it was felt that the initial design lettering on the Reverse would not wear well in circulation. The lettering was quite wide and flat on the Type 1. Eventually, it was decided to create a design that had narrower lettering which was much higher in relief. (Type 2)  <img src="http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u8/lcl1119/IKEs/Types/Type1LIBERTYW.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> <img src="http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u8/lcl1119/IKEs/Types/Type2LIBERTYW.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Other changes were implemented as well such as the "alignment" of E PLURIBUS UNUM. <img src="http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u8/lcl1119/IKEs/Types/Type1Type2EPluribusUnumW.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Generally speaking, Reverse Design Type 1 coins were available in all 1975 dated mints sets while Reverse Design Type 2 were available in 1976 Dated Mint Sets. The US Government went all out on the production of the BiCentennial Coins both in circulation quantities and in collectors version. Some collectors version were still available directly from the US Mint in the 90's. 1977 and 1978 were pretty much dull years for Eisenhowers. No special collectors coins. No speacil 40% silver coins. Nothing. The only real excitement for the coins was the discovery of a scant few 1977-D coins which had been minted on 40% Silver planchets left over from the BiCentennial collectors sets. So in summary, the short 8 year run of Eisenhower dollars produced 36 different Types of coins: Date Reverse Type 1971 Type 1 1971-D Type 1 1971-D RDV-006 Type 6 1971-S Silver Business Strike Type 1 1971-S Silver Proof Type 2 1972 Type 1 Type 1 1972 Type 2 Type 2 1972 Type 3 Type 3 1972-D Type 1 1972-S Silver Business Strike Type 2 1972-S Silver Proof Type 2 1973 Type 3 1973-D Type 3 1973-S Silver Business Strike Type 3 1973-S Silver Proof Type 3 1973-S Cn Proof Type 3 1974 Type 3 1974-D Type 3 1974-S Silver Business Strike Type 3 1974-S Silver Proof Type 3 1974-S Cn Proof Type 3 1976 Type 1 Type 4 1976 Type 2 Type 5 1976-D Type 1 Type 4 1976-D TYPE 2 Type 5 1976 TYPE 1 Cn Proof Type 4 1976 TYPE 2 Cn Proof Type 5 1976-S Silver Business Strike Type 4 1976-S Silver Proof Type 4 1977 Type 3 1977-D Type 3 1977-S Cn Proof Type 3 1978 Type 3 1978-D Type 3 1978-S Cn Proof Type 3   Rare examples which deviate from the above have also been found such as: <ul> <li>The 1974-D coins struck on 40% Silver Planchets (Approx 15(?) known)</li> <li>The 1977-D coins struck on 40% Silver Planchets (Approx 5(?) known)</li> <li>The 1971-S 40% Silver Proofs with Type 1 Reverses (2 known)</li> <li>The 1971-S Prototype Proof Coins (2 known. Both with RDV-007 but different ODVs)</li> <li>The 1976 No S Silver Proof Coins (1 known)</li> </ul>By now, you should REALLY be confused! :devil: Whatever! As I stated, folks eventually figure it out with the entire point being, the more that folks look at these coins "objectively" and with just a little understanding, the more there is to discover about them![/QUOTE]

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