Will graders attribute wavy steps?

[eagames]

I found out that ANACs will attribute all of the 06P DDOs with coppercoins numbers

But for the DDRs they will not attribute 1DR-001 or 1DR-002 (the ones with wavy steps) but they will attribute 1DR-003 (the one with extra feet).

That seems odd because it's like they wont attribute wavy steps. I don't agree with that because by attributing they aren't blessing them as DDOs (since they just put the number not even DDO or DDR) they are just (IMHO) saying it matches what an expert published. I mean it should not (IMHO) be up to the graders to decide what is a collectable variety.

Has anyone ever had them put attributions on other wavy step cents?

[wavysteps2003]

Hello Ed - It is frustrating that grading companies such as ANACS, PCGS and NCG will not grade wavy steps and no matter how hard I try, they have an excuse for not doing so each time that I have broached the subject. Even PCI, who initally showed interest in doing so, ran for the hills when I gave them a disc with the over 300 + dies that I have attributed.

Presently, among other projects that I am working on, I am doing a three sectioned article for CONECA's "ERRORSCOPE" on wavy steps and trails (one and the same thing I think) for I beleive that although wavy steps are a known variety, the scope and amount is not very well known. This may help the cause for this die anomaly and help it to be more recognized.

The major reason that the grading companies are not encapsulating wavy steps is actually two fold. The first is that there is still controversy whether this anomaly is actually a doubled die. Some believe it isn't while others, like myself, choose to believe that it is something else, while others stick to their guns and call it a doubled die. And of course, no one is quite sure how this anomaly comes into being. The second reason is probably the most valid; I am approaching 400 different wavy step dies filed and attributed. John Wexler and Billy Crawford also have files I am sure that I do not know of and of course visa-versa. So a rough estimate of over 500 wavy step dies is not unrealistic. The grading companies do not want to attribute anomalies with this amount of numbers, it is just to time consuming, so I can not blame them for not doing so. To isolate just one wavy step die for encapsulation could take a technician many hours to search a data base this large for such a small fee.

The best that we can hope for is that some day the grading companies will encapsulate the major wavy steps and I shall try to see that happen. For now, I would suggest that you do save the ones that you like, using the numbering systems provided (coopercoins, Wexler, Crawford or WSDDR) and hope that that day will come.

You all have a good one.

WAVYSTEPS2003 aka BJ Neff

[Gabe]

I find it a bit ridiculous that ANACS will not grade wavy steps, when they DO grade RPMS listed under wexler. In 1960D alone, Wexler has over 250 Lincoln RPMs listed, and ANACS will certify every single one of them.

By date, it seems to me that the wavy steps number less than the 1960D Wexler RPMs...

[Earwig]

I just talked to a friend who does heat treating on dies and auto toolinging and ask him what could cause a die anomaly and he was telling me that there is different ways of cooling a piece of steel after heat treat if they are settin the dies in jigs and cooling them with outside air slowly the dies near the outside would have air blown on them from a certian source which could explain why the anomalies always seem to run the same way. he said that there would be no way to straighten the lines of the steps, where on a piercing type tool that is cooled in this way they would just heat it to a certain temp and straighten it. But who would know what kind of cooling procedure they use? There r many types and the procedure would be dictated by the type of material they use. This may be a possible explination for the wavy steps but is just speculation. Does any1 know of how many working dies would be made at a time? And does the mint do there own heat treating or is it contracted out? The friend told me that different heat treat companies use different techniques depending on the capabilities of there equiptment. Just thought i would add this explination to the wavy step confussion lol

[wavysteps2003]

Hi Earwig - To be honest with you, the cooling of dies was something that I did not think of. Having admited that however, the possibilities of that being the cause are slim. The one factor to remember about wavy steps is the precise angles that they take; the majority have a 20 degree angle from south (160 degrees and 200 degrees relative) while a few have a 30 degree angle. From 1987 to 2006, these angles have not changed over a two decade span. When working on a probably cause for an effect, there is a rule that must be adhered to; simple stated it is "a random action can not cause a continuous precisioned effect". If the process of cooling the dies was entirely machine accomplished, then the posibility that this could be the cause could be considered. However, right from the start, when the finihed die is taken from the hubbing press, the human element is involved and thus the random action is in place. Even when we start talking about different qualities of steel, we are talking about a random factor which in this case I do not think has any bearing on what causes wavy steps.

So what causes wavy steps? From what I can gather, it is an effect caused by the single squeeze process. This notion is strengthened by the fact that wavy steps occur at both the Denver and Philadelphia Mints and that they started a year after the introduction of the single squeeze presse at both mints in 1986. But that is about as far as I have gotten. Believe me, it is a stumper, LOL.

I would like to thank you though for your idea and it is great to see other people out there trying to figure out what is happening at the Mints and maybe one day, we will stumble into the correct answer of what causes wavy steps.

WAVYSTEPS2003 aka BJ Neff

[Earwig]

My thought was that the dies were somehow arranged in a jig that held them in the same direction so the outside die would have outside air being blown at a specific direction to cool them but it was just a thought. I thought the single squeeze method was suppose to begin in 95 but wasnt perfected until 96 at denver and 98 at phil. That was just something that i heard somewhere but cant recall where

[eagames]

I also thought single squeeze started later.
See page 278 of Chucks book. It says it began in 1997.

Did they start earlier or maybe do both for some years?

[wavysteps2003]

The 1997 date for single squeeze is a bit mis- leading. That date is when ALL the hubbing processes for ALL the business strike denominations were finally switched over.

The "ANNUAL REPORT", FY 1985, from the Director of the Mint makes mention that the single squeeze process was in the experimental stage at both mints. I am sure that they (the mint) were making master dies down to working dies using that process and in fact using them in the coin presses to produce some denominations of coins between 1986 and 1997.

There is some evidence that the Lincoln cent working dies as far back as 1987 may have been made from the single squeeze process. That is when the wavy steps began and from both mints. Before that time, none existed. There is another odd occurance that happened that many do not pay attention to, but yet, it did happen. I have in my collection 12 doubled die obverse from 1988 and over 20 doubled die obverses from 1989. Granted, they are minor doubled dies, however, they do exist. Why was there such a dramatic increase in obverse doubled die for those two years when in 1987 less than 5 have been reported and in 1990 none have been reported? Could the mint have been expermenting with the single squeezre process on the obverse dies for those two years?

For those of you who are interested, this report from the Mint can be viewed on the CONECA main web page, about half way through the web articles.

WAVYSTEPS2003 aka BJ Neff