1955-D BIEs anyone?

rmpsrpms

I looked through a bunch of 1955-D Rolls this last week and I found a total of 12 different BIEs. 1955-D has a large number of BIEs so is very lucrative if you are interested in these. I took the time to photograph each one since it makes identification easier. The pictures in Cohen are hand drawings and are often not that close to the actual coin.

I also found two BIEs that I can't identify in Cohen, and would appreciate any assistance in attributing them. Let me show those two mystery BIEs first:





And here are the ones I was able to attribute using Cohen:

B255


B312


B320


B325


B406


B420


B440


B449


B503


B804

DAM

The first one is neat. Looks like someone took a wad of copper and stuffed it between the B and E.

keyman64

Cool that you found all of those different things, congrats.

CoinZip

incredible photos

Meltdown

<< <i>incredible photos >>




I agree. It must be rewarding to look through rolls and actually find something!

rmpsrpms

Thanks all...

It is great to look through rolls and find treasures. The BIEs are only worth a few $ each but each one is a little treasure if you care about how Cent dies degrade and disintegrate with use. Why is the particular spot between the B and E so prone to die breakage? On the 3rd one down, B255, you can see the outline of what may have became a larger, complete BIE break. Was the die taken out of service before that cracked part broke away? Or are there examples of that die with the full break in existence?

I've had the most luck with 1955-S regarding BIEs and RPMs. Because so many BU rolls were saved (it was the last year for the Old SF Mint) they are easy to come by. Even OBW are relatively plentiful. They are so plentiful in fact that 1955-S Cent rolls are practically a commodity, and this makes them good for searching because most out there have not been searched.

The 1955-D rolls were far less lucrative, but I did find quite a few treasures. Besides the 12 types of BIEs, I found several of the DDO, a few RPMs including the RPM#3 in the CPG, some very nice toners from a couple of toned rolls (!!), etc. But only about 1/3 of the rolls had anything interesting in them. The others were either already searched or were just not that interesting to start with.

Searching BU rolls of Wheat Cents for Varieties and Gems has been a passion of mine for many years, and I highly recommend it for the intrepid collector, but you have to be very patient...