How Collectible are Dies?
Hemispherical
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There is an auction coming up for items from the Northwest Territorial Mint.
I have never owned a die. How collectible are they?
Edit to add: Used the term “die” do to the article’s title. I know, I should have done my due diligence prior to posting.
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Comments
It depends upon how popular the items they were used to make are with collectors. U.S. mint dies have a following, but there are not a large number of them for most coins. Ninteenth century U.S. mint dies are rare, and can bring strong prices. In the 20th century, 1968 Proof coin and Atlanta Olympics coin dies immediately come to mind. There were also some dies that were totally blanked, but I forget how they were once used (State Quarters?). They were of no interest to me. To me, the more detail that is left on the die, the better.
Most collectors don't care about dies. The market for them is small, but when something like a Civil War Token dies comes to market (There are only three or four of them available to the hobby.) the biding for them can be intense.
These Texas Mint dies look interesting, but there seems to be quite a few of them, If all of those pieces are in one sale, that could depress the prices.
I only see two in the group I'd like.
The illustrated pieces appear to be hubs or punches, and not working dies or master dies. As such they likely have only curiosity value. if the sale has real working dies for various tokens and medals, then more interest could be expected.
Very Very popular. (dies that is, not hubs)
I sell Olympic "X"'d Dies, 1968-S Torched
Dies, modern Defaced Dies, and even
Collars from the SF Mint, among other items.
There will be an interesting announcement
in a few weeks about this subject.
Been selling U.S. Mint Dies since the very
early '70's.
I was putting together a set of the X cancelled Atlanta Olympic dies. Probably had about 8 of them before I decided to liquidate to help fund a real estate purchase. Made a tidy profit.
I still have a 1968 quarter die set that was torched on the die surface. This set still shows some of the design which is unusual as most were obliterated. I tried to sell this set when set up at several shows. Was a great conversation piece and it got people to stop and look at my inventory, but nobody made an offer.
Here is a quick cell photo as I have to step out.
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!
Those 68-S 25c Torched Dies above have much more
detail showing than almost all the others I've seen
like that. Nice pair!
At the ANA Convention in Seattle back around 1990(?) I handled an uncancelled Seated Liberty dollar reverse die with an S Mint Mark, The owner was looking for offers. I have no idea where it is today.
Talk about building suspense.
Sorry, but I can't disclose what it is.
Not a huge deal, but a big deal for me.
Not a ''new discovery", I'll say that......
very collectible!
BHNC #203
Here's the best die I have. This was made by the Key company of Philadelphia and was used to strike this token.
As had been noted, those are hubs, not dies in the original post.
I imagine that their main value is to other mints which might want to use them to produce elements on dies.
For example, I know that the Shirepost Mint bought some of the hubs from the old Roger Williams mint to use in their own creations.
I don't even know whether I'd classify them as hubs, being that they all only bear a single design element - in my world, I'd refer to them as device punches - hubs should have more than one element on them.
This is a trial of the obverse and reverse hubs used to make the American Congress pattern Fugio dies - note the complexity of the design on both sides:
What is now proved was once only imagined. - William Blake
Thank you all for the information and pics.
Buried in the lots... after the bottles (amazing how much the bottles are being priced)
U.S. Assay Office S.F. Brass Plate
SS Central America Gold Nuggets
Candelaria misspelled on the token
There is so much more, but... there are other things I am interested in. 😷
Some years ago, at a coin show in the Seattle area, I listened to a conversation about some Carson City dies that were dug up near the mint. It was said that they were in private hands but would sell for a lot of money if offered. I have not heard anything about them since then. Perhaps someone here has further information.... Cheers, RickO
I own these. They should be back in my possession in January at FUN at which point most will be sold. They are the original dies for the Heraldic Art Medal series. I made restrike sets from them in copper!
I'd like to take my granddaughter to visit a private mint to see a working mint in production. Is there a list of private mints that have tours in the greater Philadelphia area? Peace Roy
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