RWB

You can find almost everything about 1936-42 proofs, including loss of designer's initials, in my book on the subject. Member "FlyingAl" has done some additional analysis and has some excellent examples in his collection.

The fair market value seemed to be about $10,000, but insurance will pay only up to the declared value. Hope this all works out. Very frustrating.

Die Spacing. In post Civil War U.S. Mints, dies were mounted in the toggle presses by either the press room foreman or a person designated the "Die setter." Their job was to correctly insert dies and align working dies, including spacing. If not disturbed, or intentionally altered, the coins were supposed to come from the press with full details. One goal was to have coins from every mint that were indistinguishable from one another - important for public confidence, gold coin export, and circumvention of counterfeiters. Coins with less than ideal detail could occur in four ways: 1. Accidental error in spacing; 2. Shift of alignment/spacing wedges above the upper die chuck; 3. Deliberate increase in spacing to reduce blow pressure and get longer life from dies; and 4. Excessively hard planchets. #1 Does not explain the instances of insufficient detail for certain years or specific mints. It would imply gross incompetence in the Foreman of Die Setter. Not something expected from long-term employees. #2 Is possible and could occur without being noticed by the press operator - who was minimally trained and concentrated on stacking planchets in feeding tubes, and removing bins of coins. This would also produce a wide variety of detail loss. #3 Is likely wherever a mint had problems with poor die life and is mentioned in New Orleans Mint documents. #4 Has been identified as a long-term problem at New Orleans. The annealing furnaces could not properly soften the volume of dollar planchets that Mint HQ demanded be processed. This is documented over decades and specifically investigated in 1900. Overall, I feel that #2, 3, and 4 are likely causes although #3 and 4 are probably the endemic causes.

A broadstruck coin is rarer than pocket change; however, there are more crows who pay a lot for shiny things than buzzards for squished things.

Dennis Tucker Retiring as Publisher at Whitman Virginia Beach, Virginia) — Following a nineteen-year career as publisher at Whitman Publishing, Dennis Tucker will retire at the end of February 2024. He plans to spend time with family in the United States and the Philippines while pursuing creative and philanthropic projects. Tucker has served Whitman as its publisher from December 2004, when the company was owned by Atlanta-based Anderson Press, through its recent acquisition by CDN Publishing. During that time he has overseen the publication of more than 300 titles ranging from 64-page monographs to 1,504-page references in the fields of numismatics, banking and financial history, the American presidency, U.S. military history, and other nonfiction topics. “Dennis Tucker has been a loyal leader and a guiding figure in our business,” said Whitman president Mary Burleson. “He has built lasting relationships with researchers and numismatic industry leaders, developed and mentored our editorial staff, worked as an advocate for readers and a partner for authors, and served as an ambassador to the numismatic community and non-collectors alike. I want to publicly thank Dennis for his dedication over a long and productive career.” Tucker has been part of the modern renaissance in numismatic publishing that started in 2003 with the addition of Q. David Bowers as Whitman’s numismatic director. He helped develop more than two dozen volumes in the best-selling Bowers Series, as well as the popular “100 Greatest” library, many encyclopedic reference books, and twenty editions of the Red Book, which sold more than six million copies during his tenure. An award-winning author himself, Tucker wrote the Whitman book American Gold and Silver: U.S. Mint Collector and Investor Coins and Medals, Bicentennial to Date (2016). He has written more than 400 articles published in commercial, scholarly, and popular numismatic journals and periodicals; given more than 40 numismatic presentations and lectures nationwide; taught courses at the American Numismatic Association’s Summer Seminar at Colorado College; and been interviewed for hobby and mainstream media including NPR’s “Planet Money” and “Morning Edition.” He has earned numerous hobby recognitions including the ANA’s Glenn B. Smedley Memorial Award. In 2020 he was commissioned a Kentucky Colonel by Governor Andy Beshear for his career in publishing and for promoting the Commonwealth’s numismatic history. In 2021 he was named by Coin World as one of the most influential people in numismatics from 1960 to 2020. After his retirement Tucker will continue in various numismatic roles and activities, including as secretary pro tem of the Rittenhouse Society, and as coauthor (with Coin World editor Steve Roach) of the ANA’s “Collecting Friends” blog column. He will finish his second term this year as numismatic specialist of the Treasury Department’s Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, and he serves as chairman of the board of directors of Brayhope Farm, Inc., a New York charitable nonprofit that offers community health and educational programs for autistic children and others with physical, developmental, behavioral/emotional, and sensory needs. “My time with Whitman has been a dream come true, one of the great pleasures in my life,” Tucker said. “The people involved –– collectors, dealers, researchers, writers, historians, and co-workers—have made it a rich and fulfilling journey. I look forward to remaining active in numismatics and keeping in touch with my many friends in and around the hobby.”

Great way for an author to learn what most interests collectors about a controversial subject ! Nice.

Damage is unique to each coin, but it is not an error and has no value whatever.

Here are photos of the OP's 1976-D, and two Unc examples. All have the D within a depression (on the coin). This is actually a small raised area in the die where the tiny mintmark pushed up metal and the die field was not smoothed afterward. The large "S" is an optical illusion.

"Ignorance + Greed = 1964 SMS" The falsely called "1964 SMS" coins are merely early strikes from ordinary dies. The identical situation occurs every time new dies are put into service. Those dies go on to make hundreds of thousands of coins before they deteriorate and are fulled from service. The entire story AND certification is a lie and a fraud. [Please give FlyingAl the space to complete his research and article. This kind of thing is not accomplished on a deadline.]

OK, now the OP is evidently teasing.... dings, MS70, etc....

Neither mule, donkey, pony or any other animalia clash -- or anything else. STOP looking at U-tube "error coins" videos; almost all are lies.

No such thing as "1964 Special Mint Set" coins. The sets were all produced in 1965-67 with coins of those dates. Money-grabbing claims to the contrary, it's simply a fraud perpetrated by ignorance and laziness...oh, and of course, GREED.

Low to mid-range EF, probably cleaned. Nice collection coin for the break.

RE: "Possible 1940S DDO came in today." Appears more like a late stage of the same die crack, this time here's a prominent cud on the wings (stage D). If there's really a doubled die, it's entirely trivial and of no value. The cud is interesting and might bring a small premium above melt.

Why? They just copy what is on the slab label and the promoter's advertising articles.

Copper and manganese alloy OK, but adding silver creates the bad alloy situation. (I broke one several years ago to get change for a gumball machine -- does that count?)

All four are low quality fakes...and presumably so is the so-called "coin dealer."

Thanks for link. Saved the booklet for later reading.

I don't know. Have not paid much attention to Manganese Brass alloys.

The war nickel alloy is a completely different critter. Mint operatives knew it was a "bad" alloy and difficult to roll without cracking and splitting. Plus copper, silver and manganese do not form a true alloy -- only an unstable mixture. "Whiskers" of Mn are commonly seen when these nickels are broken.

Well, my background in historic pistols, etc. is about as effective as a 22-short at 1 mile.... I was going by the coin's illustration and the scale where the cartridges looked more like rifle ammo.

I understand --- to me, they simply do not show what is necessary to distinguish any grade from AU-58 to 69.999991. (They are pleasant illustrations, and usefull for authentic EF and lower.)

Just "bling" for a pro basketball player's neck. It's detail is matched only by its ugliness.

Possible, but very unlikely to avoid detection during melting, ingot casting, rolling and annealing, plus the routine assays made along the way to cutting blanks. Further, most collectors do not realize that silver ingots, and to a lesser extent strips rolled from them, have inconsistencies in fineness between center and edges. This is called "silver segregation" and is described, along with details of the above, in my book From Mine to Mint.

"Not an error, just damage"