Jefferson Nickel Variety of the Week - 1964-D E PLURI'D'US UNUM
BigDowgie
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Ok folks, how many of you have heard of this one? I was made aware of this one 30+ years ago and have never personally seen one........until a couple weeks ago and then BAM, got one!
I need to do some more digging for previous writings to understand how the heck this one occurred. I'm also not exactly sure if one would consider this a variety (due to the fact that multiple examples exist) or and mint error or is it both? I did find this information on the internet, which is quoted below:
"Most people are familiar with the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM on U.S. coins, even though many don't know what it means (it's a Latin phrase meaning "Out of many, one," and signifies that out of my states, one nation has been forged in this country). But often, familiarity breeds inattentiveness. That's why many collectors didn't notice at first when 1964-D Jefferson nickels appeared with PLURIBUS misspelled as PLURI"D"US. Heavy polishing of one or more dies had caused the center of the letter "B" to become obliterated, leading to this interesting error."
The brief explanation above does not address the rounding of the "B" to produce the "D"? Is this a die chip that just happened to occur in the perfect spot?
One final thought, if there are multiple examples of this one in circulated condition.....I'm now hunting that BU example!
I asked a lot of questions here! Help if you can and Happy Hunting!
Comments
Thanks for pointing out this interesting variety.
I am very skeptical that the 'D' is really a 'B' with its center obliterated. Look at the right side of a 'B' on a normal nickel and you will see convex curves on the the top and lower portions, and you will see varying thicknesses along that curve. This 'D' has the complete shape of a 'D' for this font - not of a damaged 'B'. Without more background, I have to assume someone retyped this motto and mistakenly entered a 'D' instead of a 'B'. I believe it is a misspelling, not a damaged die.
My strategy is about collecting what I intend to keep, not investing in what I plan to sell.
I'll keep my eye out BD
Steve
Hi BD, nice coin there! I've been looking for one of these for many years as well, just haven't found one yet.
Congrats on a great find!
An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book.
"Retyped"?
As I recall the process, master hubs are created and used to make working hubs, which are used to make master dies, which are used to make working dies - or some mix of those steps. I assumed that there was only one (or very few) master hubs. Where does "typing" come into play?
I do agree that at first glance the D does not appear to be a misshapen B, but I also see that the whole word PLURIBUS is very thin, so the polished dies angle does make sense. Maybe the B was essentially polished off and the die was re-engraved by hand and the person made more of a D (maybe they couldn't spell)?
I was not aware of this variety. I find tons of 1964 P/D nickels in roll searching - I will have to pay closer attention.
Cool, which ever or whatever it is. More to look for.
My War Nickels https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/nickels/jefferson-nickels-specialty-sets/jefferson-nickels-fs-basic-war-set-circulation-strikes-1942-1945/publishedset/94452
Perhaps I should have enclosed "retyped " in quotes. The notion of using a typewriter on a die in 1964 is ridiculous, so I did not expect anyone to take that literally. I do assume there is some sort of typesetting going on to form the words. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)
My point is that it seems this was a misspelling (wrong letter chosen) instead of a 'B' misformed into a 'D'.
My strategy is about collecting what I intend to keep, not investing in what I plan to sell.
I don't see any typesetting involved either. Perhaps in the days when dies were hand made with letter punches such a typo could be made, but that has not been the case for almost 200 years as far as I know.
Since then it was plaster models reduced to a steel hub, and perhaps now they use computers as well, but I have not heard of a random misspelling via any of those processes.
Cool variety BigDog - I was waiting for this after you mentioned it to me at the FUN show! I may look for one of those.
I remember that coin from the late 1960's. I completely forgot about it till this post. It got a fair amount of coverage back then before it just went POOF.
Pete
Interesting, gotta start looking more carefully !!!
This has to be from a heavily polished die. I can't think of any other scenario of how such a thing would happen.
I was not aware of this anomaly.... How interesting. It certainly looks like a 'D'... and no indication that it was a 'B'....Another thing to add to the list for searching on snowy days...
Cheers, RickO
RickO, those snowy days are not over yet! Get searching!
Hey crew, I wanted to revisit this variety/error.
I am curious if anyone else owns one of these 1964-D E PLURI"D"US samples? It is my understanding that there are more than one of these. I'd have to do some digging, as there was an article written about this many, many years ago. If I find it, I will update the post.
If there are more than one, and maybe many, this may provide some rational that this is a mint variety? We could post pictures to compare characteristics to make a better determination.
Let's see what folks might have!
Thanks
I found another one! Posted in the Coin Community Forum back from March 2017. Thoughts now?
Mine again.
Looks like the die was polished, IMO. It would be interesting to read what had been written about it. Don't forget, the mint was very secretive about the minting process in the past and there was very little info available now until the 80s if I recall correctly.
Still love this variety, ever since I saw it in the Breen Encyclopedia, published in 1988!
An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book.
Nice.
Hoard the keys.
Sorry, but my thought is Allen was on crack when he wrote this article. This is the first example I have owned and have never seen one since this find.
Enjoy this one again.
The by line even spelled Alan's name wrong. It is Alan not Allan.
Wonder how polishing the die would turn a B into a D. Doesnt seem likely.
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I'm thinking if it was over polished that it had to then be reengraved into a D.
Successful BST with ad4400, Kccoin, lablover, pointfivezero, koynekwest, jwitten, coin22lover, HalfDimeDude, erwindoc, jyzskowsi, COINS MAKE CENTS, AlanSki, BryceM
I don't remember this, but will be searching for it in the future. There are still many 1964-D nickels in circulation.
I think it was polished right into a "D". Sometimes unexplainable things happen to coin dies.