HOW MANY PROOF COINS ARE STRUCK ON THE AVERAGE WITH A SET OF PROOF DIES ?

KINCOIN

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baseball
Senior Member
I always try to capitalize that phrase. No offense.

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fcloud

If it is the p1ss1ing minuteman they must have made at least two. I saw them on another thread. Tony

LanLord

Typically the larger the coin the smaller the number of strikes it will perform before becoming unusable for Proof coinage. I don't know that I have seen specific information that would answer this question though.

oldcameoproofsguy

A proof planchet is struck two to four times and the amount of pressure required to strike a proof is: 160+ tons for the halfs, 125 tons for the quarters, 45 tons for the dimes, 90 tons for the nickels and 30 tons for the cents. The half dollar dies wore out quicker than the cent dies simply because of the amount of pressure needed. A typical half dollar die from the 1950 to 1970 era would strike 1,200 to 1,400 coins before being discarded; the cent dies could strike 5000 coins or more before being discarded.

Proof Half dies were repolished after 500 to 1000 coins. The dies were cleaned after 15 to 20 coins were struck.

After 1970 proof dies were prepared then plated with chrome. The chrome plating made the dies far more resistant to wear and many thousands more proofs could be struck from a single die. The chrome plating was necessary also because copper nickel clad coins require more pressure than silver.

As far as pre-1950 proof coinage it is difficult to say how many coins could be struck from a single die. Die steel was of a far inferior quality than today. Bust and seated coinage have die cracks and die breaks which occurred after only a few strikes.

See Cameo and Brilliant Proof Coinage of the 1950 to 1970 Era by Rick Tomaska

KINCOIN

oldcameoproofsguy
Member
So based on what you are telling me, it would take longer for a die to break if it was just stricking silver instead of the other metals. Yes?

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oldcameoproofsguy

Silver is softer than copper nickel clad; more silver coins could be struck on a typical die because less pressure is required for complete metal flow from the planchet into the devices of the die. So if you are comparing these metals the answer would be yes.

KINCOIN

Hey, thanks a lot oldcameoproofsguy
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