Rotated dies, older type coins

JD

How common are rotated dies (20% +/-) in older type coins such as capped bust half dimes. Are they worth any more/less than coins without rotated dies?

lordmarcovan

It's fairly common with early issues like that. Usually such coins command little or no premium, but they are rather interesting. Some collectors will pay a tiny premium for them, maybe. But not too many.

RotatedRainbows

LM is correct, in the early days of the mint dies were held in place with a set screw against the round die shaft which made them prone to rotating. In later years (after 1850) the mint started to grind a flat spot on the shaft where the set screw would be and that greatly reduced the incidents of die rotation. Few early coins with die rotation under 90° command any type of premium, actually the 1807 large cent is far more rare with normal die rotation then it is with rotated dies.

Russ

I have an 1864 Two Cent that's rotated 180. From what I understand, it is very common for these. Cool, anyway.

Russ, NCNE

dorkkarl

in the early days, w/ the open-collar coins, the minters were constantly experimenting w/ different alignments in order to avoid having high-relief detail on each side of the coin directly opposite each other, as that would cause striking weakness in that area. many times, it's actually a challenge to locate coins, such as bust dimes, w/o rotated dies.

of course, the really tough ones to spot are the ones w/ 360 degre rotation.....

K S