Double dies vs machine doubling.

haletj

I have many coins with doubling in certain areas, say a 26-s cent with a doubled 'In God We Trust', a 28-d nickel with a doubled date (and 'Liberty' I think) and many many others. I guess I've been told these are machine doubled coins, doubled when struck, not doubled from doubled dies. How do you tell though?

Also, my local dealer says there are some doubled die coins out there worth no premium at all, but others, even with an extremely small spread like a 1917 or 1936 cent, are worth tons. This seems strange.

Priest

the difference is if the secondary image is flat, steplike not rounded this would be mech. or what some have reffered to as die chatter.

RGL

The easiest way to distinguish strike doubling from a doubled die, to me at least, is to examine the lettering (where applicable). On a doubled die, the doubling will follow the serifs in the lettering -- on strike doubling, you will have the secondary image, but it will not follow the serifs ...

clackamas

An easy method is to look at the mint mark if the coin has one. If the mint mark is doubled then its machine doubling. The reason being is that the addition of the mint mark is a seperate process so it can't be doubled in the true sense. The other way is to look for serif splits on the letters or date. If the serif is split you may have a candidate.

Once you get the hang of it and actually find a doubled die its easy to spot the difference. Keep at it.

anoldgoat

I have a 1977 nickel with one 7 doubled. Will post pics when allowed.

coppercoins

Time to resurrect an old thread about this subject. Even though I originally did that thread more than six months ago, the answer is always the same. Enjoy...