rotated dies?

sackman

Back in 1816, were the rules the same as today? I have a g-4 1816 large cent that the reverse is rotated about 45 degrees. I need to know if this would add any value to the coin. I bought the coin for $24 dollars a couple years ago, and have recently noticed the rotation. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Scott

cladking

This site doesn't always work.

Most of the old coins have a lot of rotated dies. Someone
with more specific knowledge should be along.

Welcome aboard.

sackman

Well its the first one I've seen (being this old) or have had in my collection for 25 years. Maybe someone else can shed some light on this.

cladking

<< <i>Well its the first one I've seen (being this old) or have had in my collection for 25 years. Maybe someone else can shed some light on this. >>




They do list two rotations for this. It doesn't say if they are the same die pair or not.

When dies rotate they normally shift in small increments until they reach a point that the
rotational forces are in balance. Normally this will be primarily determined by the desings
of the die. They will rest where the most die fill is opposite the least die fill typically but
there might be multiple points of stability.

I believe that if the designs don't offer any truly stable positions then the die can continu-
ally rotate from the rythmm of the press and adjoining presses. This would explain the
near random orientation of some tokens.