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The 1988 RDV-006 Reverse Of 1989 Transitional Lincoln Cent
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Started by Toaster-migration,

23 posts in this topic

Toaster-migration

Toaster-migration

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Posted (edited)

The designers initials "FG" on a regular strike 1988-P has a straight "G" with no hook.

The hooked "FG" didnt appear untill the 1989 strikes.

 

 

You can see the differences here:

http://varietyvista.com/Lincoln%20Cent%20RDV%20Changes.htm

 

This coin is further identified by the die break from the corner of the memorial building and running through the "I" in "UNITED"

This coin is also identified by the sunken die area below "IN GOD"

The correct (Regular strike) reverse for a 1988 is RDV-005.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Toaster
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cladking

cladking

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Very nice! It looks like die #3 to me and MDS.

 

I always really appreciate the mules.

 

I've long believed these occur at the beginning of the year when the technician inadvertantly replaces only the obverse die. This is consistent with the fact that mintages of these is almost invariably less than average.

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cladking

cladking

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So, since I know squat about this cent, is there a numismatic value attached to this coin.

 

Toaster probably knows more than I about it but there's always a market for very hard to locate coins. This cent is always going to be tough since even though as many as three million might have been produced by all the dies they are in circulation and will not be retrieved. Zinc cents disappear at a rate approaching 5% annually and even if people began searching now the bulk of these would be in landfill or consumed in fires before they were found.

 

It seems improbable that people will even start looking until the FED has starting melting the coins to retrieve their zinc.

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Toaster-migration

Toaster-migration

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"I've long believed these occur at the beginning of the year when the technician inadvertantly replaces only the obverse die"

 

This can not be true in this case because if only the obverse die for the new year,in this case 1988,was changed but not the reverse die for the previous year which was 1987 then the coin would have a 1987 reverse which is RDV-005 and the RDV-005 is the same reverse as the 1988.

 

the reverse die used on this 1988 is the NEXT YEARS reverse,not the last years reverse.

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cladking

cladking

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"I've long believed these occur at the beginning of the year when the technician inadvertantly replaces only the obverse die"

 

This can not be true in this case because if only the obverse die for the new year,in this case 1988,was changed but not the reverse die for the previous year which was 1987 then the coin would have a 1987 reverse which is RDV-005 and the RDV-005 is the same reverse as the 1988.

 

the reverse die used on this 1988 is the NEXT YEARS reverse,not the last years reverse.

 

Yes, of course. It's so typically the reverse die that doesn't get replaced I didn't even think of it. I believe this is because it's very easy to tell if the obverse die has been changed just by looking at the date.

 

In this particular case it would appear the reverse dies got changed but not the obverse dies.

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KarenHolcomb

KarenHolcomb

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On 4/17/2010 at 8:20 PM, Toaster-migration said:

"I've long believed these occur at the beginning of the year when the technician inadvertantly replaces only the obverse die"

 

This can not be true in this case because if only the obverse die for the new year,in this case 1988,was changed but not the reverse die for the previous year which was 1987 then the coin would have a 1987 reverse which is RDV-005 and the RDV-005 is the same reverse as the 1988.

 

the reverse die used on this 1988 is the NEXT YEARS reverse,not the last years reverse.

Wow! Lucky you. What did they wind up being worth, if that's not shameful to ask.

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Mohawk

Mohawk

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Nice find!  I've been looking for these myself in my cent searches (I'm trying to finish my childhood set of Canadian cents out of circulation), and I haven't found one.  They are pretty scarce and many have likely been lost to attrition.....I can't tell you how many corroded and nasty zinc cents I've seen from both the US and Canada that are too far gone to even date. 

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dleonard-3

dleonard-3

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The mint made a lot of dies, both obverse and reverse for 1988 cents, and pretty much every modern year.  So many, in fact, that it is nearly impossible to identify die marriages, and I don't know of any collector that is attempting to collect modern cents by die variety.  Early large Cents are pretty tough to collect this way, and they usually only had a few dies made each year.  I don't dis-agree that this may be a 1988 obverse muled with a 1989 reverse, but really, how much demand could there be for such an obscure coin.  Still an interesting discussion.  Thanks for posting.

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Mohawk

Mohawk

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On ‎6‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 1:25 PM, dleonard-3 said:

The mint made a lot of dies, both obverse and reverse for 1988 cents, and pretty much every modern year.  So many, in fact, that it is nearly impossible to identify die marriages, and I don't know of any collector that is attempting to collect modern cents by die variety.  Early large Cents are pretty tough to collect this way, and they usually only had a few dies made each year.  I don't dis-agree that this may be a 1988 obverse muled with a 1989 reverse, but really, how much demand could there be for such an obscure coin.  Still an interesting discussion.  Thanks for posting.

You'd be surprised.  This coin really isn't that obscure to modern coin collectors, and there are many, many collectors of modern coins. Lincoln Cents are also one of the most popular, if not the most popular, of the modern US series.  The only modern US series that may be contenders are Kennedy Half Dollars and Silver Eagles  And Karen is right on about the price, a nice one of these does go for over $100.  Even a mid-grade one goes for around $45, so there is definitely a demand for this variety.

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World Colonial

World Colonial

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9 hours ago, Mohawk said:

You'd be surprised.  This coin really isn't that obscure to modern coin collectors, and there are many, many collectors of modern coins. Lincoln Cents are also one of the most popular, if not the most popular, of the modern US series.  The only modern US series that may be contenders are Kennedy Half Dollars and Silver Eagles  And Karen is right on about the price, a nice one of these does go for over $100.  Even a mid-grade one goes for around $45, so there is definitely a demand for this variety.

Die varieties listed in reference books (especially the Red Book) are a lot more widely collected than those which are not.  With the prices you listed, I presume this is one of them.

But I also believe dleonard is correct.   Most die variety collectors are almost certainly "cherry pickers" who will pay little if any premium to face value for most circulating die varieties and little if any premium to the price for a "regular" date on an earlier coin.

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