1973 S 1c DDO

Russellhome · Veteran Member

Hello everybody. This is my first post here. I'm jumping ship from another forum that was less than friendly to the variety related posters. This looks like the best place to be.

Anyway - here is what I found in a collection of pocket change cents my mom had been hoarding away since the '70s...

There is a clear lump of metal in the lower loop of the 3 and a very light bump of metal on the back side of the 3. It was seeing something happening on boths sides of the 3 that pursuaded J. Wexler to call it a DDO (3 over a 3 variety) and not a die gouge or other anomoly. Unfortunately, I did only find one and it would have been better to have a pair to study.

I thought it might be a DDO similar to the 1963 D 3/3 variety, so I sent it to Billy Crawford to examine. He thought it might be, but suggested a 2nd opinion. So I sent it to John Wexler and he did attribute it as his first 1973 S DDO (1973 S 1c WDDO-001 3/3). It is not an earth-shaking discovery, but it is kind of cool to find the first DDO for the year/mint mark.

Steven · Expert Member

Welcome Ken,
Nice find. Guess I'll be looking at my 73S cents again.
There are very helpful and knowledgable folks here. That's why I've kinda hung my hat here.

Steven

coppercoins · Site Admin

Hi Ken, and welcome to the forum.

My personal take on this one is that if it happens to be a doubled die, it's probably too minor to list because it would disappear in the later die states. When it takes a great amount of magnification to see doubling, most people wouldn't appreciate it anyway.

coop · Expert Member

Welcome to the Site Ken. Definitley the right place to be. Great to see others enjoying the site as much as others already have. I've found a 1973-D RPM or OMM recently, Just got to get it sent off to Bob to see what it is for sure. It is something though. I found 4 of them in a roll. I've got a few more rolls to go through that I think came from the same source. Just got to dig them out. Interesting year. A found something on a 2006-D L on LIBERTY, don't know if it is really collectable, but got lots of them. I found a wide seperation on an late 80's mintmark that if it is really that, it could be the widest seperation for the Lincoln Series for RPMs. Just don't know yet and I can't get images to post from my image host. They updated their site and I can't get in to use it and their is no way to message them. I'm locked out. I guess I will have to wait till they want paid to be able to email them. If they don't fix the problem I'm out of their service as I can't get any results. Everytime some update happens, I complain and they just keep doing it. I guess it is time to leave. There are just so many images I have their that will need to be moved. Crying or Very sad

Russellhome · Veteran Member

I do not have great photographic equipment (or skill) - and the photo above is a little deceptive. The lump of metal on the inner loop of the 3 is pretty thick and can easily be seen with just a 10x loop. It is bigger and bolder than many of the 'bar under the L of LIBERTY' DDOs I've seen. Like the 1963 3/3, it may very well be that the lump will disappear over time, but I'd bet that a good many were minted where it can still be clearly seen. I will admit -- it almost went in the discard pile as a die chip. But seeing just a little bump on the back side of the 3 prompted me to send it in for examination.

I did another photo. Below is as close as I can get with my digital camera. Again - the lump on the lower inner part of the 3 is clearly visible. It may or may not be listable. But I still think it might be of some interest as one of the few things that can be found on a 1973 S cent as far as a variety is concerned.

I'm hoping that I get a chance to see the photo(s) that John Wexler took of it - he certainly has the equipment and skill to get a better shot that I did. Wexler chose to list it, Crawford chose not to. So it may be borderline - but I thought it worth sharing with the variety collecting world.

And before I forget -- thanks for the warm welcome!

Steven · Expert Member

I ran across a few similar in the 53D also. Not sure as to what it is but set them back for a later look.

Steven

Russellhome · Veteran Member

Nice find Steven. Yes - it does appear to have much the same look as the 1973 S I found. Neither is a match for the one sandwiched right in between your '53 and my '73 ...

... but it is cool that there are similar occurrences happening on on all these years ending in '3'. Kinda strange.

wavysteps2003 · Expert Member

Nice picture Ken of the 1963 doubled die. That picture got me to thinking though; if I am correct, that is the only part of that die that is doubled. Just an idea, but possibly are we looking at the same scenario that happened with the 1956-D slanted 5? Could this have been a damaged master die that was abraded and then put into service as a working die? Just a thought.

WAVYSTEPS2003

PS welcome to the forum Ken.

coop · Expert Member

On the 1963-D doubled die I've even found proof coins with the same thing that happened to the date. But on other parts of the coin you can see the same spread.

This coin came from what appears as a tripled die.