pennies from the teens look better

[Humanicus]

I have noticed wheat cents from the teens have stronger detail stamped in them. The hair has more detail, the neck lines are better. Where these better dies at the times? I don't see them above the teens. Does anyone know why?

[BillJones]

The U.S. Mint System went down the tubes in the 1920s. The overall quality of the coins went way down perhaps because of the need to make dies for the Peace Dollars. That is reason giver for no Philadelphia cents in 1922, and the low quality 1922 Plain cents.

 

The condition of the matrix dies and resulting hubs also had something to do with it. As those tools were used more, the lost details.

[coinman1794]

The U.S. Mint System went down the tubes in the 1920s. The overall quality of the coins went way down perhaps because of the need to make dies for the Peace Dollars. That is reason giver for no Philadelphia cents in 1922, and the low quality 1922 Plain cents.

 

The condition of the matrix dies and resulting hubs also had something to do with it. As those tools were used more, the lost details.

 

The condition of the master hubs tends to deteriorate over time, causing a gradual loss of detail from year to year.

[DWLange]

The most detail the Lincoln Cent ever had was in 1916. The new obverse hub introduced that year resulted in magnificent coins when the working dies were fresh. The details were so delicate, however, that the huge mintages of World War I wore down that master hub. This condition, combined with the cost cutting measures implented after the war, gave us a decade of mediocre coins. Even though quality control improved during the 1930s, the loss of master hub detail was not addressed until a new master obverse hub debuted with 1969's cent coinage.

[Humanicus]

Thank you for your information.