2005 P Ocean View 5c DDRs - Minnesota Transplants

[Russellhome]

Too Minor? I agree that many of them are. But some of them are naked eye visible - and in these single squeeze days - naked eye visible varieties are hard to come by. I think, more than anything else -- people just don't 'see' the doubling because it involves tree branches and not some other design element (such as letters or columns) that look odd when doubling occurs. I think that is why it took so long for these "OIV DDRs" to turn up -- the doubling just looks like part of the design until you learn what the design is supposed to look like.

But if, for example, the N of OCEAN had been the center of the reverse design, the kind of offsets seen on some of these DDRs would have been considered huge and impressive. Here is an example of the CDDR-047 with same offset applied to the N of OCEAN as exists for the extra branch.



Even the offset of the CDDR-034 (The DDR shown above in an earlier post) would appear pretty bold looking if it had occured on the letter N and not the 2nd branch up on the tree:



Just to be clear, the examples above are fake -- they are meant to illustrate how the offset of some of these OIV DDRs would look if the doubling was on a letter and not tree branches.

Just like the MN 25c DDRs, the doubling on the OIV nickels does not involve letters and is limited only to the center of the design. They are more like the 'column doubling' on a Lincoln - and not spread over a larger part of the design like the more traditional doubled dies. Even had a letters been at the center, the only thing doubled would have been some or all of a single letter.

SO - in the end, I think these will not be everyones 'cup of tea'. As bold as some of them are, many will not see the point in collecting extra rocks, trees, and branches. Initially, I felt that way about the MN DDRs. Then I found a few and the varieties kind of grew on me. I now have the designs memorized - so the doubling jumps right out. I guess time will tell if these varieties ever take off -- but as of right now, they are pretty flat. I see that the MN and OR 25c DDRs have fallen way off in price as well. So it appears that the collector base is limited for these as well.

Just my 5 cents worth on the subject.

[Bob P]

Ken.
I finally got my first one that I could verify. It is DDR #006 (WDDR-004). I really want to get started on finding these, but I can't seem to get started. Would it be advantageous to just buy the mint sets and look through them??

[Russellhome]

As I've stated before, I got lucky in that I was buying up cheap 2005 SMS rolls before any of the 5c and 25c DDRs were discovered -- and that is one of the biggest reasons I got off to such a hot start in finding these. I had a good stock-pile from several different sources to start my search.

Over the past year and a half, I've searched over 750 6 coin nickel sets and probably the same number of mint sets. That is still a drop in the bucket compared to overall mintage - so I'm not sure if I searched a large enough sample to make reliable "odds" statements about the sets. But for what it is worth, I've had much better luck with the 6 coin sets as far as doubled die nickels go. I've even bought sets knowing they contained a P OIV DDR and found an S DDR as a bonus.

On the other hand -- with 22 coin mint sets, you have at least a dozen varieties in the MN and OR quarters that you can search for -- and because the Mint Set boxes are sealed - you know you are not looking through previously searched stock. So to me, it is a coin toss as to what is the best source. Getting sets at the right price is what matters most. Because of what sets did in 2004, there were many speculators buying 2005 sets in bulk (both 6 coin WJ sets and 22 coin mint sets). I've managed to find a few guys willing to take a pretty significant loss just to recoup part of their investment. $3-$4 below mint issue price is about what I've paid for bulk purchases of 25 to 50 sets.

And finally, I've had pretty decent luck selling off SMS rolls and recouping most of my investment. It is a lot of work -- a lot harder than just returning face value coins to the bank -- but the DD finds have been worth it. I've found lots of minor DDs and have managed to find a few lots with a nice mix of bolder doubled dies.

One more thing... Don't overlook business strikes. I think the surface has barely been scratched on those. Crawford found one of the boldest discoveries yet in pocket change (Listed on Ribar's site as WDDR-028). In my area, I normally get multiple examples of the 2005 P OIV 5c in circulated bank rolls. I've also got lucky on eBay and managed to get OIV BU roll lots for around $3 per roll shipped. They are not nearly as pretty as SMS coins - but getting them at face value or just above is pretty attractive.

[Russellhome]

I recently found a few different minor 2005 P OIV 5c business strike DDOs. One of them is shown below (photographed the best I could). It has just slight notching on the lower right tips of the "R" and "U" of trust.



This is nothing compared to the 2005 P SMS OIV DDO (shown below) - but as far as I know, they are the only known business strike DDOs. More than anything else, I guess it is worth checking the obverse on these OIV nickels -- perhaps there is a better DDO out there.

[coop]

NICE!