1969-S DOUBLED DIE CENT DISCOVERY

First there was one, then three and now there are four 1969-S Doubled Die Obverse No. 1 cents that have been found by collectors within just the past three years.

Such a find is financially rewarding. One of them sold for $126,500.

The valuable variety shows strong hub doubling on the date, LIBERTY and IN GOD WE TRUST.

In a telephone interview with the finder of the latest specimen, I learned that he had found it in a roll of 1969-S cents that he had put together from tens of thousands of cents that he had pulled from $25 bank boxes of predominantly circulated cents from 1998 through 2005.

On March 29, 2010, he found this 1969-S doubled die; the fourth coin down in the first of approximately 20 rolls of the date that he still hadn't taken back to the bank. He said he immediately knew there was something wrong with the coin because the date and mottoes on the obverse seemed fuzzy. A closer look with a glass revealed that it was indeed the doubled die.

Later, when error-variety coin specialist Charles Clark was advised by fellow collector, Tony Zupkas, that Brian was claiming to have found a 1969-S doubled die cent, he was skeptical since most reports of this nature turn out to be strike doubling. Strike doubling is a form of doubling that occurs within a split second after the strike and/or at the time the coin is being ejected from the press and adds no value to a coin. A true doubled die coin is one that struck with a die that is itself doubled – made that way during the hubbing process.

In this case of the 1969-S doubled die obverse No. 1, we have what is referred to as a Class 1 Rotated Hub doubled die. This class of doubling occurs when there is a rotational misalignment between images.

As can be seen in the images shown here, the final overlying image is rotated counterclockwise in relation to the earlier underlying image. The direction of spread on hub doubling is defined as the direction you must move from the underlying images to the usually stronger overlying image. Thus, this variety is defined as a Class 1 Rotated Hub with counterclockwise doubling.

To read the complete article, see: $100,000 find (numismaticnews.net/article/100000_find/)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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