1945-P Winged Head Liberty (Mercury) Dime FSB
BuffaloIronTail
Posts: 7,484 ✭✭✭✭✭
I can find no reason why this coin is so rare with full bands.
Seems to me, that with the upcoming introduction of the Roosevelt Dime in 1946,
the Mint would have had plenty of reverse dies available for proper minting of this coin.
The dies would all soon be destroyed....with a new coin on the horizon.
Other dates and years are PLENTIFUL in FSB.
Did the Philadelphia Mint go into "economy mode" for this one year only, by reducing striking pressure and creating an inferior product?
.........and if they did, WHY in 1945? The war was ending, and they didn't do it previous to this.
Could it be because of replacement employees? Neglect? indifference?
I'd like to know.
Pete
Seems to me, that with the upcoming introduction of the Roosevelt Dime in 1946,
the Mint would have had plenty of reverse dies available for proper minting of this coin.
The dies would all soon be destroyed....with a new coin on the horizon.
Other dates and years are PLENTIFUL in FSB.
Did the Philadelphia Mint go into "economy mode" for this one year only, by reducing striking pressure and creating an inferior product?
.........and if they did, WHY in 1945? The war was ending, and they didn't do it previous to this.
Could it be because of replacement employees? Neglect? indifference?
I'd like to know.
Pete
"I tell them there's no problems.....only solutions" - John Lennon
0
Comments
Facts:
WWII was winding down in the late fall of 1944. US Mint in Philly was gearing up production of the dimes as that was the most actively used coin of all. Why? Soldiers from the European theatre beginning to come home.
Philly US Mint was making the dimes as fast as they could. No time to make proof sets as they had been suspended after 1942. Time to make new reverse dies? Yea, right.
To make matters worse, in early 1945 the Eastern US economy was booming. Consumers spending like never before. Soldiers streaming home from Europe fueling the economy on the eastern seaboard. No time for new dies. Coins were churned out like never before.
To add to the time constraints of the US Mint employees, FDR passed away in April 1945 and the new Roosie dime was a certainty. Also, the copper-nickel 5c pieces of early 1942 and prior was also returning in 1946 and needed to be set up. No time for new reverse dies.
No one in the collecting fraternity noticed that reverse P mint dies was poorly struck in late 1944 as well as all of 1945. The celebration of the end of WWII in Europe and then in the Pacific had to go on!