Kennedy 1974D double die error

Charlie184 · January 17, 2006 11:39AM

In the last 4 months, I have searched about 12,000, yes twelve thousand, Kennedy half dollars for the 1974D double die error, on the obverse. No luck. I dont' know why I did that, just one of those burrs you get under the skin. Anyway, are they THAT rare? Coinfacts lists 79 million '74Ds minted.

I have, however, found irregularities on the reverse. I don't know what exactly to call it, but some of the letters, mainly in "STATES OF AMERICA", seem to be "stuttered". I mean the I, for example, has another partial I right beside it. Barely noticible with the naked eye, but very apparent with 10x magnification. Is this, in fact, a double die? or what? I don't have a camera good enough, yet, to submit photos.

Any advise or comments?

cladking · January 17, 2006 11:47AM

No, they aren't that scarce. I'd be interested to know the sources of the raw coins you searched
to have such bad luck.

I've found about 1:95 in mint sets though it has been claimed that they are more common than this
in these sets. Choice coins aren't to tough but gems are quite scarce. I've never seen one nicer than
MS-65 or so.

ar18 · January 17, 2006 11:56AM

first it is doubled die, not double die. Second based on your description it could be a doubled die or strike doubling"double die". Also I agree with cladking, these are not to hard to find I have 8 circulated and 16 mint specimans MS-64 and below IMO, bu maybe you are looking at the wrong parts of the coin??

dgreene56 · January 17, 2006 11:59AM

I've had a similar experience (not finding any) in searching many raw coins. Someone told me somewhere along the line that these were only found in mint sets. I don't know if that is true or not, but if so, it would explain the lack of success in searching for them outside of mint sets.

ar18 · January 17, 2006 12:03PM

I have found several 73-D and 74-D in circulated rolls.

Charlie184 · January 17, 2006 12:11PM

<< <i>No, they aren't that scarce. I'd be interested to know the sources of the raw coins you searched
to have such bad luck.

I've found about 1:95 in mint sets though it has been claimed that they are more common than this
in these sets. Choice coins aren't to tough but gems are quite scarce. I've never seen one nicer than
MS-65 or so. >>

I just went to the banks and asked for all their half dollars. Got some real funny looks from tellers. The most I got at one location is 2000 coins. I learned that any of the rolls that were done by machine, didn't have any '64 to 69' coins in them. I guess they must have some scanning system in the machine.

I also found two Franklins and one Walking Liberty in the bunch.

Charlie184 · January 17, 2006 12:18PM

<< <i>first it is doubled die, not double die. Second based on your description it could be a doubled die or strike doubling"double die". Also I agree with cladking, these are not to hard to find I have 8 circulated and 16 mint specimans MS-64 and below IMO, bu maybe you are looking at the wrong parts of the coin?? >>

I am looking mainly at the "WE TRUST", as it shows in the photos in the Red Book.

ar18 · January 17, 2006 12:21PM

look at the 74 too, but in mint sets, you should be able to find one.

koynekwest · January 17, 2006 12:52PM

Look in the mint sets. Many of these have been picked through, but at one time I was finding one in about every ten sets I looked at.

DHeath · January 17, 2006 8:46PM

This thread could use a pic.

Gandyjai · January 17, 2006 9:36PM

NICE PICS!

They can be found in Mint Sets but, are not as easy to find as they used to be.
The MS64's have can be found $75-$100 pretty easily....However the 65's aren't
seen too often and can fetch $450-$500.

Brian

eyoung429 · January 18, 2006 12:01AM

I have been lucky enough to find several and was including them in our "Swaps" that Boom does on holidays and such.

Just do a search here in the forum and you will be surprised how many time this one came up.

Conder101 · January 18, 2006 12:14AM

This error has been known for quite some time so many of them have already been pulled out of circulation. If no one had been searching for them, out of 12,000 randomly selected coins you would expect to find three pieces (And this is assuming that the die ran for its full life and didn't get pulled early.). With years of them being pulled, and the chance that some of the 12,000 you searched were recycled. I would have expected you to find one coin. If Claking is right and they show up in mint sets at a 1:95 ratio then I would think that a significant percentage of the mintage went into the mint sets.

Tols196024 · January 18, 2006 1:02AM

It it makes you fell any better, I've searched through more than 200,000 halves in the last 9 months and have only found 3 1974-D DDO's.

Charlie184 · January 18, 2006 1:29AM

<< <i>It it makes you fell any better, I've searched through more than 200,000 halves in the last 9 months and have only found 3 1974-D DDO's. >>

Yah, in a sick kind of way, it does.

drjules · January 18, 2006 1:31AM

<< <i>It it makes you fell any better, I've searched through more than 200,000 halves in the last 9 months and have only found 3 1974-D DDO's. >>

200,000

Conder101 · January 18, 2006 2:02AM

Oh and those figures I quoted as to how many you would have found, those would be if you were just searching 1974-D kennedy halves. If you are looking through mixed date halves then the expected number you should find would go down considerably.

Charlie184 · January 18, 2006 8:03AM

I went through another 2000 coins today. Still no doubled die. However, I did find a proof 1996 with very few very light scratches and contact marks. This is the second proof I have found while doing this "research".

Kennedy 1974D double die error

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