First time submitting a photo. This Jefferson has had me puzzled for years due to what looks like artistic tooling on the bottom of numbers/letters. Die deterioration? I cannot find any info so I'm asking the pro's. Reverse lettering is normal.
Thanks for the re-post.
Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
A weak strike possibly caused by die erosion. Notice the bifurcation mostly on the bottoms of long up and down letter segments and the shallowness between the top of the letters and coin edge.
If you remember the coin starts as a blank flat planchet with rounded edges and gets 50 tons or so of pressure between a couple dies and the metal flows into the empty spots of the die. Nothing filled in the bottom of the letters. The nickel, copper combination is very hard.
Comments
Thanks for the re-post.
A weak strike possibly caused by die erosion. Notice the bifurcation mostly on the bottoms of long up and down letter segments and the shallowness between the top of the letters and coin edge.
If you remember the coin starts as a blank flat planchet with rounded edges and gets 50 tons or so of pressure between a couple dies and the metal flows into the empty spots of the die. Nothing filled in the bottom of the letters. The nickel, copper combination is very hard.