EISENHOWER DOLLAR DIE STATES
SUMMARY
“Die State” is a way of expressing the appearance of
dies as they age.
On struck coins, increasing die age appears as increasingly
crude metal flow off minor devices, as muddled details and as “die flow lines”
(increasing coarse generally radial lines seen in fields and on major devices).
Del Romaines laid out the typical appearance of coin
dies as they age, expressed in percent of the die’s life. He determined for all coin metals and sizes
(except Ikes which he did not study) that his percentages hold for all the
series he studied, even though the absolute production numbers change as a
function of coin size and hardness of planchet metal
The Ike Group proposes that the much larger Ike
coupled with its hard and abrasive CuNI-clad layer not only wore out the W-1
steel dies used for the 1971 and most 1972 Ikes faster than dies in other
series but the dies also aged prematurely within that framework. We found that Del’s definitions and
percentages did not apply to 71-2 Ikes and suggested revised definitions based
on use of a 10 X loupe.
The dies used for the 1973 and on Ikes, however, do
fit well into Del’s die-state framework except these Ike dies were not pushed
as hard as the dies of other series so a greater proportion of these Ikes are
in earlier die states. Even so, it’s
likely these dies produced 250,000 Ikes on average thanks to the newly employed
52100 die steel.
The “state” of a die is the amount of wear it shows. Credit Del Romines with the first serious attempt to match die states
(the degree of die wear) with the numbers of coins struck in each die state. Working meticulously in the 1980’s and
1990’s, his research provided the first understanding of just how fast dies age
through their die states. Del proved
that dies spend more then half their life in a state of heavy wear.
Del determined the production of each die state expressed
as a percentage of average die life and arrived at the conclusion that these
percentages held for all dies regardless of size or hardness of the planchets
being struck. He did not include Ikes
in his studies, however.
Here are Del’s definitions and percentages for the
Die State parameters he created. Note
that Del’s primary work was on cents where the smaller letter devices can wash
out more severely in advancing die states than is the case with the lettering
on Ikes:
Very Early Die State (VEDS) 0 – 0.21% of a die’s average
life; has “the intact original die surfaces” (usually not flat-smooth and sometimes showing
microscopic die cracks (“heat checks” from the final die hardening heat
treatment)) “with no metal movement lines” (die flow lines) except microscopic
beginning just as a die enters EDS.
Early Die State (EDS) 0.21 – 2.63% - has
“only very minor metal movement lines, normally starting from the designs that
are the highest relief in relation to the field and will run from the letter,
date, or design toward the rim. All
macroscopic detail will be as sharp as VEDS” (“macroscopic” means visible to naked eye).
Middle Die State (MDS) 2.63
– 9.13% - will have “lost all of the microscopic markings of the new
die and some of the macroscopic designs will have begun to fade. On a doubled die coin, some divisions and/or
separation lines will have blended with the doubling and will create an
appearance of Class VI (Class VI is a type of doubled die (hub doubled die)
without separation so letters typically just appear broader). Heavy metal flow lines will be evident on
the tops of all or most lettering near the rim in the form of a sloped, lined
smear and the lettering no longer has sharp edges” (somewhat paraphrased and
expanded for clarity).
Late Die State (LDS) 9.13 – 35% - coins “will have lost most of the macroscopic
detail. Very heavy metal flow lines
will be evident”.
Very Late Die State (VLDS) 35%
and on - coins “will have
lost all major detail. The metal flow
lines will be extremely heavy and in many cases may join the lettering to the
rim with very heavy lines which are almost solid at times.
Del began his die state research in the 1970’s by
gathering over a thousand 1960 obverse doubled die Lincoln cents (2-R-VI) to
arrive at a tight range of mintages for each die state. Why the DDO Lincoln? Because it is a one-die coin! He placed each DDO cent in the pile that
corresponded to one of his 5 defined die states and thereby developed a
population and percentage for each die state.
Was that a meticulous piece of work, a labor of love, or what!
In 1996 Del published in the March-April edition of
CONECA’s ErrorScope the only account of his die state research in a numismatic
journal. In that article, and in other
accounts provided by his private publication and comments by others who knew
him well, Del expanded and slightly revised his die state percentages to
encompass gold and silver coins, nickels, clad quarters and clad half
dollars. He knew that average die production
(average number of coins struck per die) varied with the size and metal of the coin
being struck but he found that the percentage
struck in each die state was basically the same.
As to some reasonably hard production numbers, here
is part of a 1972 US Mint report on average obverse die production for the
various 1971 coins (the reverse dies lasted about 20% longer):
One
Cent 1,000,000
Five
Cent 170,000
Twenty
Five Cent 155,000
Fifty
Cent 150,000
One
Dollar 100,000
Del never studied the Eisenhower Dollar. The authors suspect if he had tried (and he
may have), the change to more resilient 52100 die steel in late 1972 would have
made his meticulous approach difficult, especially since there is no way he
could have accumulated large one-die samples of a one-die Ike let alone a one-die
1971-1972 Ike and a one-die 1973-and-on Ike.
The Ike Group therefore took up the challenge, looking
at Ikes from a die-state perspective, examining separately those struck with
struck with W-1 tool steel (1971 and most 1972 Ikes, hereafter “71-2 Ikes”), and
those struck with the more resilient 52100 tool steel (1973-and-on, hereafter
“73-on Ikes”).
We found Eisenhower ’71-2 dies did not behave as Del
described:
1.
Metal
flow off minor devices generally was toward the central device more than toward
the rim (Figure 1).
2.
Die
flow lines seemed to occur and advance faster than Del described (Figure 2).
3.
At
times, the most severe die flow lines occurred in regions of greatest change in
relief on the central device and these changes were often more advanced than
one would expect based on die-flow smearing of the minor devices (Figure 4): at other times, the strongest flow lines
were in the fields and the central device remained smooth.
4.
Minor
devices held up better than one would expect based on Del’s definitions.
5.
Some
’71-2 Ikes displayed premature “orange skin” on the central device, normally a
marker of LDS and VLDS, well in advance of any “heavy flow lines” on the field
or “smearing” of letter devices (Figure 5).
Die Flow Lines and Orange Skin - “What
causes die flow lines and Orange Skin?” you ask. Good question! A coin
being struck is subject to roughly 100 tons per square inch pressure: this pressure is great enough to cause some
molecules of die steel and some molecules of the tough copper-nickel alloy of
the planchet’s outer layers to penetrate each other’s surfaces, that is, to
become inter-woven and bonded.
As the planchet metal becomes somewhat plastic under
the intense pressure, it “flows” to and into the rim and the central device. This flow rips some die steel molecules out
of the die’s surface. It’s a kind of
erosion, akin to a sandy or gravel bank exposed to water flow. Inevitably tiny crevices form and
continually coalesce and enlarge until one has large-scale erosion patterns. The process of flow erosion on a die’s
surface is similar. Die flow lines in some regions of the die
start small and get larger and larger as a die ages, generally wherever the
change in relief is greatest or wherever in the fields the linear flow toward
either rim or central device is greatest.
“Orange Skin” may be akin to the pattern of nodes
and valleys that form when waves (die-flow lines) come at each other from
different directions, perhaps due to a die settling somewhat. We think Orange Skin may be more prevalent
in the 71-2 Ikes than it is in other coin series and certainly more prevalent
than in 73-on Ikes because of the severe “die sink” problem the Mint
encountered with its 71-2 W1 die steel.
In other words, more severe die settling caused more significant changes
in planchet metal flow directions as the die aged.
Planchet Metal
Flow Zone of Balance - The authors suggest that planchet metal flow in smaller
denominations starts from a “zone of balance” roughly midway between rim and central
device such that planchet metal flows a relatively short distance from that
zone toward the rim and a relatively short distance from that zone toward the
central device. We think that the Ike’s
much larger central device volume (think of volume as the cube of linear
dimensions) may have moved the “zone of balance” closer to the rim, perhaps
somewhere within the peripheral letter devices rather than between those devices
and the central device. If we are
correct, these minor devices would have suffered less die-flow erosion compared
to smaller coins and it could be seen in either direction rather than just
toward the rim.
Not only is the Ike significantly larger than other
modern coins, the flow distance from the zone of balance to the central device
would be disproportionately longer.
Since die wear would be proportional to the volume and
distance the planchet metal moved as well as the hardness and abrasiveness of
the planchet’s surface metal, we have a good explanation for the relatively
short life span of Ike dies (see TABLE 1) as well as the earlier appearance of
“flow lines” on Ikes compared to any other coin.
Ikes show
Variable Changes as They Age - Compounding these observations and
deductions, 71-2 Ikes vary considerably in the manner each shows its age. Some Ike dies maintained or achieved an
almost pristine central device while the fields became deeply furrowed. Some dies show early smearing of IN (IN GOD
WE TRUST) before significant flow lines developed there. Many Ikes show premature orange peel on their
central devices. In fact, if the die state of
individual 71-2 Ikes was determined by their individually most advanced
localized changes, 95% of ’71-2 Ikes would have to be categorized as LDS and
VLDS.
One approach to dealing with this dilemma would be
that used in grading coins, multi-factorial analysis that weighs a number of
die-state “grading” factors simultaneously to arrive at a single composite die
state “grade”. The authors suggest
formalizing such a system for 71-2 Ike die states would be exceedingly
difficult and not worth the time and effort - especially since there is an
easier approach.
Adjusting
Del’s Die State Definitions for 71-2 Ikes
- While the authors have the
utmost respect for Del’s pioneering work, we feel that making the 10 X loupe
the defining parameter for die state determination is a good approach for 71-2
Ikes:
-
VEDS – no die flow lines visible under a 10X loupe anywhere on the coin.
-
EDS – earliest 10X die flow lines but no significant 10X smearing of any
device.
-
MDS – substantial 10X die flow lines beginning and early 10X smearing of
most minor devices.
-
LDS – marked 10X flow lines and moderate 10X smearing of most minor
devices.
-
VLDS – coarse die flow lines and marked 10X and/or naked-eye smearing of some minor
devices.
We think these definitions are clear, require only a
loupe, and result in 71-2 Ike die-state percentages that are in line with Del’s
percentages. It is possible that our
definitions would work well on other denominations, arriving at the same
relative percentages as Del. Our definitions might also prove more “user
friendly” and thus help propel die states into the center of numismatic study
and collecting. Our hobby has exploded
with the advent of TPGs and Internet venues:
think of the revolution an appreciation of die states could bring. We might all start “seeing” die states very
much the way we look for, “see” and pay for higher mint-state grades
We believe both Del’s die-state definitions and our
own work reasonably well with 73-on Ikes because the 52100 die steel Ike dies behaved
like smaller denomination dies: there
was no premature die aging and the pattern of aging fits Del’s descriptions
quite well.
It’s interesting to note that the Mint apparently
chose to take advantage of the superior production qualities of the new die
steel and did not push these ’73-on Ike dies into VLDS (possibly Gasparro’s
last Ike hoorah, as the SBA dies were pushed very hard in their first year
(1979)). In other words, by avoiding
VLDS die states, the Mint obtained better looking Ikes by giving up potentially
much greater production per die. Even
so, the Mint on average probably got more than double the production from the
52100 dies, at least after they worked out the bugs (in 1972, the “new” dies
were famous for cracking up, sometimes explosively).
We note that the letter devices inside the rim still
do not show much smear toward the rim: the neutral zone still appears to be in the
vicinity of these letters.
Because there are few if any VLDS ’73-on Ikes, we have adjusted Del’s percentages for each of the remaining die states. Then, using an internal April 1974 Mint memo giving an average Ike obverse die life of 256,128 strikes (5 dies, 1,280,640 pieces in April, 1972)), we projected Del’s percentages for 250,000 pieces:
VEDS = 0.7% = 1,750
EDS = 8% = 20,000
MDS = 30% = 75,000
LDS = 61% = 153,000
(VLDS = 0%)
Therefore, almost half of 1973 and later Ikes are MDS or better.
+ To be continued using a close examination of the two 1972 TYPE 2 Ikes and pictures
added but hung now as Article of the Month for July as it is so timely. +