1945-D Jefferson Question

Coxe

Just got an eBay lot that is a 1945-D war nickel. It's for my kid's album but some cracks/breaks caught my attention. First, it is an RPM, probably RPM-26 but some west repunch anyway. There is a noticeable crack which breaks in Jefferson's hair. On the reverse, in addition to the RPM, there is a radial crack at about 10:00. Any word on these from you modern folks?

clackamas

Die cracks are common on War Jeffersons most are also some sort of RPM.

Coxe

Thanks for the reply. I kinda figured they would have adjusted the striking pressure for the silver planchets by 1945 to avoid the cracks, but I guess not.

leothelyon

I have heard that the migration of die cracks, from when they start to until the working die breaks, are very interesting/collectable. Although I have never seen such a collection but have quite a few, full die cracks that run the width of a coin may resemble lightning bolts. I recently came across 3 coins where the die crack runs from Jeff's nose to the rim, I call them my snot nose Jeffs. One of these days, I'll post a run of pictures of all my unusal nickels,

Leo

Coxe

Radial cracks usually spell the death of a die for any series. Once they start, they generally progress quickly and lead to a rapid failure. One would expect their numbers per nique case to be very limited and the terminal states quite rare.