I found this penny today. I could see the possible doubling with the naked eye. I looked up 73 doubled dies and cant match it up. Im seeing split seriffs and all the signs of a DD but I know its easy to mistake. Doesnt seem like theres alot on 1973 pennies unless Im not looking in the right place. Before I waste anymore time, this clearly has something fishy going on. Can someone help me please?
The photo of the date only, shows flattened doubling image and the chatter like surface on the numerals to indicate mechanical doubling. IMO, Jim
Im keeping it because its cool to me. After checking out other years closer, this is a good example of MD ...for my tiny collection anyway. Its always cool when you can see errors without any scope or aid.
As I am trying to get better at "seeing" what is a true DD and what is MD, Im taking a look at other coins. Some DDs are so obvious in that they are raised and crystal clear (like the 1955 penny thats so famous). Others like the one below, I would not be able to even tell its raised. What is the best way to determine for a novice? I would guess thats why alot of people post here. Even when you know the visual cues and rules to DDs its still very hard to determine. When I look at the two on this bad boy, it looks flat as a board which should mean its a machine doubled coin or strike double? I would think this below is MD.
The trouble of trying to identify from a picture is you can't angle it and see how high the extra portion is , and unless evenly lighted, the other areas. Also ( and if you are aware of this, I apologize) there are 8 classes of DD, and this ( post 5) appears to be a type VIII, tilted hub, so there would be an gradual angular difference to the height rather than same degree of flatness. It appears the top part of the area of discussion is higher closer to the end of the base of the 2 than on the left. Maybe that is why one like 1972-DDO-009 is a minor DDO, IMO, and the pricing reflects such. Here is an image of a mintmark on one of my 1970S cents.....no RPM, all mechanical doubling, so it can be extreme Jim
Thanks Jim. In all the time Ive been casually around, Ive only found 1 single real listed DD. I was able to find the markers then post it here and confirm. The probably 100 others all were damage or MD. I dont do this everyday as its a hobby for me. It would seem to be very difficult unless youve done this a long time or its your profession. I am still better off taking a moment when I find something curious and try to find a match and if I can/cant post a picture here to see whats said. Ive learned that if you want to have fun doing this on the rare occasion, being humble has to be a trait or you will go nuts or save every stinking coin you find....because if you dont believe people like you, if you look long enough, you can find evidence on just about any coin out there .
as an addendum: If you magnify it enough and pixelate the photo, you can claim evidence of almost anything Jim
Agreed! I can look up certain years of pennies on Wexlers and there are dozens of DDs for a specific year. Some of them are so incredibly difficult to even see in their photos its crazy. I'd have to bet the vast majority of people that frequent this site could look at some of those lesser class DDs and completely miss it. This is such a difficult hobby looking for real DDs part time. The proof is in how many are posted here and how many are not DDs. What is it, 1 in 100 posts might be a legitimate example? And some posters are so confident they proclaim that without question they have an example even when the pros here say probably not. The odds are against you in this "sport" and you have better chances of getting struck by lightning 3 times in one day and hitting the lottery twice then actually finding some of these rarities...yet there is no less than once a week or so that someone states they are sure they have it! I think thats the appeal to some...the odds are not in your favor but just maybe....just maybe , you find something really cool. Its a nice feeling to feel like youve "won" something, its human nature to want to win and to the part time novice, you can win this game with zero effort just looking at your change after buying a slurpee. Well, at least you think so!
In the old old days, you could actually get mint bags of cents in banks, and they had the best chances as they were uncirculated, so it was mainly hit and miss, big flop or big miss. Here, most were S mint. From a bag , I found more than a couple of dozen of these 1970S-DDO-018 And from a 1968S Bag I found several dozen of these. The old collector had hoarded the bags and the deal was , I searched and could keep half and also some of the nicer normals. Unfortunately he passed on and his son is to busy with his inheritance to even want to talk about the old coin collection.... maybe some day. Jim
Ppl are actually buying mechanicaly doubled cents on Ebay if they're substantial enuf. I've sold a few,but only for a few bucks. I've been fooled more times than I'd like to mention on mechanical doubling,its def a learning curve.
