Was the 1969-S strong DDO Lincoln cent a deliberate error by profiteering mint employees?

oldcameoproofsguy

When this error was discovered the Secret Service would confiscate the coins. If the Secret Service becomes involved would it mean that there might have been some foul play involved? A mint employee could produce a strong double die coin for a motive of profit, make a couple of examples and put a few into circulation to be found later becoming a man made rarity.

When does the government decide that it is OK to have private ownership of such a coin? Is this a case where if I purchased one of these coins would I want to keep my ownership secret for fear of having it confiscated or worse for being indicted for owning contraban?

oreville

Relax.......the coin owes its look to the die showing a doubled look as when they made the impression for the die as it was not done properly. On purpose? Unlikely but the facts were not known at the beginning when it was first discovered so perhaps SS was initially involved.

It is in fact a variety coin in which the design is different than the normal design. The coin, as produced, did not occur at the minting/striking level of the blank planchet but WAY before when the die was created. if foul play was involved in the creation of the working die would be impossible to prove either way.

This is my understanding of the facts........

richbeat

I am also very doubtful that it was done on purpose, and you don't have to worry about purchasing one. Just BE SURE it's a true doubled die. There are 1969S cents that show machine doubling that is VERY SIMILAR to the doubled die. There is an easy way to tell the difference on this particular coin. Machine doubled 1969S cents show doubling on the "S" mint mark. On the true doubled die, there is no doubling on the mint mark.

merz2

Richbeat is quite right.There are of course other diagnostics used,but that is the one most easily seen.

cladking

There were poor counterfeit DDO '69 and '69-S cents which the Secret Service had
been destroying when the real '69-S DDO's were discovered. Initially it was
believed that these were more counterfeits and a few real coins were also de-
stroyed. The owners never recieved any restitution for their coins. It is now
suspected that the other DDO cents were destroyed by the mint and only a
handfull escaped through normal commerce.

silverandvinyl

Richbeat:your description of MDD and DD does that pertain to state quarters? I have a Ma. state quarter with the "in god we trust" all doubled.The P mint mark is not.You can see the double with your naked eye.

richbeat

silverandvinyl,

The chances of a doubled die happening now is supposed to be slim and none. Dies and hubs are made by the "single squeeze" method now, meaning that only one impression is needed to create the hub or die. Formerly it took more than one impression and when these impressions didn't line up exactly, that's when doubled dies would occur. That's a bit of a simplistic description, but it gives you an idea of how it happens. The only way a doubled die could occur now, I suppose, is if something went awry during that single impression, something like clatter or a shift of some sort or something similar. I'd say that your Massachusetts quarter shows machine doubling for this reason. The single squeeze method began at the Denver mint in the summer of 1996 when they opened their own die making shop. In 1996 Denver began this process for cents, nickels and dimes. Quarters were added in 1997. Halves followed in 1999. At Philly single squeezing began in 1997 with cents, nickels, dimes and quarters. Halves followed in 1999. Hope this helps.

Conder101

There were counterfeit DDO 1969 cents but not 69-S cents. Since the Philadelphia doubled dies wetre fake the SS just decided the 69-S Doubled dies were too so they confiscated and destroyed them. I belive they eventually destroyed somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 69-S DDO cents.