die varieties

[coppercoins]

Well, thing is, the 1909S VDB is not a die variety...not unless it has a doubled die or a repunched mintmark. Since the VBD was intended, it would be technically defined as a "variety".

My favorite "variety" is the 1970S small date proof....really tough to cherry these days, most of them have been swallowed up and slabbed.

My favorite "die variety" is the 1968D DDR #1 that I don't have...simply because it's my birth year and it's the best die variety for the date.

See the difference? "Variety" defines large letters, small letters, large date, small date, high number, low number, type 1, type 2, et. al.

"Die variety" defines doubled dies, repunched mintmarks, over mintmarks, repunched dates, overdates...things that were caused on the die by mistake.

Incidently, none of these are "errors", an entirely different breed of mistake.

[coppercoins]

Another "variety" I forgot to mention that would be even in the running with the 1970S small date proof wouldbe the 1928S large mintmark. These are exceedingly difficult to find, but when you do they usually don't sell at a premium because many people don't know they exist. They are noticeably larger than the small mintmark and were estimated a number of years ago to be 40 times rarer than the small mintmark. I will provide photos of each at some point in the future, when I can get a good small mintmark example to photograph...I've concentrated so much on buying up the large mintmark examples I've found, I neglected to buy small mintmark examples to go with them.

[Bob P]

I actually have two favorite varieties, both of which I have in my collection. The first is the 1972P Doubled die #1 of which my avavtar shows a portion of it. My second favorite is the 1984p Doubled ear (Die # 1). I got both coins late last year, but with over a thousand doubled dies on hands, it's not too difficult to find a different favorite each and every day.

Bob P