Weak strike or Die adjustment?

[Bugmann1974]

I have a Jefferson nickle that has a super mushy strike yet is MS. I think it is a '54S. I will post pictures later.

 

My question is, how do you tell the difference between a weak strike and a die adjustment error?

[physics-fan3.14]

Post a pic - but my guess is weak strike based on the mintmark alone.

[Bugmann1974]

If it is just a weak strike it would have to be the weakest Jefferson I have ever seen... He practicaly has no mouth and he is mostly bald

 

[James_OldeTowne]

I think that a weak strike and die adjustment are essentially the same thing.

[Coindude]

What James is saying is correct. Did you consider the fact the dies may have been grease filled?

[BillJones]

A weak strike can come for worn-out dies, and also dies that have not been prepared properly before they were put into service. The technical term is basoning.

 

A weatk strike can also result when the gap is the press improperly set. I think that is the case here. The coin as decent luster, but the details, especially in the centers are lacking.

 

BTW years ago I saw a 1954 mint set that contained the worst struck Jefferson nickels that I have ever seen. They were toned like the rest of set which led me to believe that they were not replacements.

[physics-fan3.14]

Wow, that is a weak strike. The guy who spaced the dies at the San Fran mint must not have known what he was doing, because this is a common problem with S mint coins of this era.

[coinman1794]

That is a late die state with considerable flatness and distortion of the dies causing a lack of detail. Grease filled dies are also common on these and yours probably suffers from this too. 1954-S is very often found like yours.

[Bugmann1974]

Thanks for the info guys. I love learning new stuff.

 

This coin was in a UNC Jefferson set that I bought a few years back, I replaced it with a much better struck example and stuck this one aside. I had just come back across it recently.

[truthteller]

A die adjustment strike or a set up strike have a defined appearance. Due to lower than normal pressure from a regular strike, the metal flow will appear equal on both sides of the coin. In addition, the fields of the coin may be sharp and distinct while the higher relief portions may be flat and shallow. A mushy strike usually has evidence of poor striking qualities throughout the coin.

 

 

 

TRUTH

[James_OldeTowne]

The guy who spaced the dies at the San Fran mint must not have known what he was doing, because this is a common problem with S mint coins of this era.

Actually, if I remember my numismatic lore correctly, that guy did know what he was doing in spacing the San Francisco dies a tad further apart than they should normally have been! Philadelphia chronically shipped too few dies to her sister mints to meet mintage requirements, so San Fran and Denver both had to get maximum life out of their dies. Thus, they intentionally set the dies apart to produce weaker strikes, since that would wear the dies a little more slowly and allow more coins to be struck off each die.

 

I believe this was true up through the 1960s. Dies became much cheaper to manufacture during the 1960s and 1970s, so the baby mints received closer to their fair share as time went on.

[physics-fan3.14]

I have heard that James, yes. Of course, it doesn't help the FBL collector any, that's for sure.