1995 Doubled Die Lincoln Cent

[Guest]

Although there are many doubled die lincoln cents out there, I've read that the 1995 is an important one. What makes it so important? I am the proud owner of 2 of them. One NGC graded MS-67 RD and one MS-68 RD.

[coppercoins-migration]

Your question baffles me - I don't know what would make it more important than many others, but here are a couple of points about it:

 

1. This doubled die was used for an entire lifetime of a typical die, as is evidenced by the progression of markers. It is estimated that there are more of these in existence than any other major die variety in US coins.

 

2. It is the last major die variety known in US coinage. Two years after the release of this die the US mint went to a new hubbing process that eliminates the possibility of new doubled dies occurring. Other than an obscure and extremely minor doubled die reverse reported on a 1998 cent, no confirmed reports of a doubled die exist after 1997.

 

3. It is one of the first real case studies of where a difference in value "should" be predicated by the age of the die, or "die state" by the mainstream market. Many years ago, numismatologist Delma K. Romines conducted a study to determine how repeated use of dies shows on the coins they minted. He developed a "die grading system", for lack of a better term, and called it "die states". Die variety specialists use die state to determine not only which markers to look for in attributing a die variety, but also to determine approximately how many coins of a given die variety exist. If a die strikes 90,000 coins (hypothetically) before entering Late Die State (LDS) and you have an LDS copy of a particular die variety, it is somewhat safe to assume there are at least 90,000 of them in existance.

 

To make a longer story a bit shorter, there are 7 different recognized die states ranging from the earliest struck, Very Early Die State (VEDS) to the latest possible struck with a die, Very Late Die State (VLDS). The 1995 doubled die exists in all of the die states. Some suggest (and I agree) that the VEDS examples of the doubled die should sell for far more money than the VLDS examples, and here's why: Mr. Romines' study indicates that fewer than 0.3% of all coins struck with a die can be VEDS before the die enters Early Die State (EDS). Conversely, over 75% of all coins struck with a die living its full life on the press are struck with the die while in VLDS. That makes the VLDS copies FAR more populous than the VEDS copies.

 

Because of Mr. Romines' study in die state, and the range of die state in known examples of the 1995 doubled die, it is estimated that there are between 800,000 and 1.2 million of them in existance. This would make the 1995 doubled die the most populous major die variety known. Of this number, fewer than 5,000 would be VEDS, while over 700,000 of them would be VLDS. The remainder would fill the gaps between.

 

I hope this helps...