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Message:: [QUOTE="Conder101, post: 1650631, member: 66"]Well for the mintage of the 69 D nickel they would have used something like 270 to 290 obv dies.  So about one coin out of every 300 IF the die was used for it's full lifetime.  If the punch was defective it would be surprising that the die would even get into production, and if it did it would most likely be caught and pulled fairly quickly.  If it is caught quickly most of the defective coins would probably also be caught and destroyed as well.  If say 10K of them did get out and you were able to gather up all of the 69-D nickels, that would still be only one coin for every five boxes. But of course you can't get just the 69-D's so finding one is going to mean having to go through a LOT of boxes.  And it isn't really even that impressive a "variety" (If it IS a variety.) so it may just have never been mentioned.  You don't see too much mention of 1969 no mintmark nickels do you?  And they do exist as well.  but most people have never noticed them.  (Filled dies.) I can't say for sure it is a defective punch, but I don't see any evidence of physical damage to the coin to make the D look like that, and the missing portion ends rather abruptly  in my opinion for it to be from a filled die, but that is possible.  I will agree that we won't know for sure without seeing more specimens.[/QUOTE]