If I read (and understand) the intro pages to Snow's attribution guide not ALL dies are included. Not included are: -- "normal" dies -- "fly speck" variations -- undiscovered variations (duh!) Considering the number of coins struck in some years AND die life it becomes obvious that not all dies are included. For instance in 1893 there were over 46 million IHC's struck but Snow's guide only lists 16 varieties. That would mean over 2 million coins struck per die. I don't think so. My impression is die life averages out to something more like 300,000. Am I understanding in general the situation?
You are correct. His guide does not include very minor rpds, mpds, etc. Keep in mind that the majority of the coins struck for any given year will not be a notable variety. His guide is not a die pair guide, just a list and attribution guide of "collectible varieties"
btw.....I paid almost $100 for his guide and it has paid for itself 100x over with coins I was able to identify as collectible varieties. If anyone is considering buying it, it is worth every penny (no pun intended).
I went through my IHC's with his guide. What made me ask this question was the fact that I couldn't find all of them in his guide. That, plus what I read in the intro notes, lead me to think not all die types were listed. I DID find one that he described but didn't have a picture of. He does now; I loaned him the coin. I may end up with my name as a credit (two seconds of fame; only 14 minutes 58 seconds to go). And I'll have to check again but I may have another.
