1959 D Cent: Wide AM, Reverse of 1959 P or Normal? Initial pic added
in2Coins
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First 2 photos are from PCGS:
1959 P: PCGS Photos
My 59 D. WIDE AM, Reverse of 59 P or Normal?
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I noticed your thread was at the bottom of the page and about to go to the second page with no responses.
I took a minute to look at a few photos on Coin Facts and it appears there was 2 different hub designs.
It appears the wider AM was used for proofs and the closer AM for business strikes.
I did find examples of proofs & business strikes with both reverses.
Back in the day it was not uncommon to get the most use from a die that they could so it would not be uncommon to find a proof reverse die used for business strike coins.
It doesn't appear to be as uncommon as the newer 1992 and above dies.
Because it may have been a common occurrence to use the proof dies there may be little or no collector interest.
My findings were from a very quick search, you may want to take time to research it further.
I looked at several from 1959 to 1964 and stopped there.
Others may chime in with more or better information from this time period and die usage.
Here's what CONECA has documented for Lincoln Memorial reverses:
http://www.varietyvista.com/01b LC Doubled Dies Vol 2/Memorial Reverse Design Varieties.htm
They have only 1 reverse hub for 1959, but based on what you posted, there might be another. What do the designer's initials look like on each?
Truly intrigued by this post.
Looking forward to pictures of both designer’s initials.
Wayne
Kennedys are my quest...
Just a quick scan across eBay, I saw 59-D's with the wide AM.
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
In this case, it appears to me that this may be a die-polishing issue, with serifs on some coins reduced due to over-polishing. The so-called "wide AM" coins appear identical in design to the others except that the bases of the letters appear farther apart due to the reduced serifs. Since both die states appear to be common, it could be that a master or sub-master die was over-polished, leading to many working dies with this condition. If there were truly a second design, one would expect to see other distinct differences (such as the designer's initials, as already mentioned). I've looked over the images and do not see any such differences.
Thanks for all the responses. Will take some photos of the designer’s initial and will post photos.