Average Die life of modern coinage?

Manorcourtman

Does anyone know what the typical die life is these days for Lincoln cents? How about nickels, quarters and halves???

lordmarcovan

Sounds like something Cladking might know.

TigersFan2

You can buy a die here.

Die for Auction

BillJones

Actually it's die and collar for sale.

I still have obverse and reverse dies plus the coollar for the 1968-S nickel. I picked out an obverse that still shows the date and mint mark.

I once had a set for the quarter with the date and mint mark, but I sold that when I was a dealer. I wish I still had it.

TopographicOceans

I had a modern canceled die from the mint and IIRC it had paperwork showing start/end date it was used and the reason it was removed.

TopographicOceans

This is what I was talking about

cladking

It varies a lot of course, by denomination.

I believe they're only getting about 400,000 now days for quarters since
they change the designs so quickly before they've perfected techniques.

Die life has been increasing for many years as they lower the relief and im-
prove die steel quality. It's, no doubt, close to a million for dimes and at
least double that for pennies now days.

Strike quality standards have increased a lot in recent years which also has
a big effect on average die life.

ProofArtworkonCircs

Typical dies may be in short supply. They are famous for breaking up early or for lasting a very long time.

cladking

<< <i>Typical dies may be in short supply. They are famous for breaking up early or for lasting a very long time. >>



Indeed. Relatively few will fail near the middle of its life expectancy. The percentage of failed
dies varies over time as well.

davewesen

I had one that got twice as many strikes, but also retired for 'Starburst'. I have never heard of that before and could not see it on die/

Generally the larger and proof dies wear out quicker from size and pressure.



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