1986-D, earliest known Lincoln cent wavy step die found

[wavysteps2003]

It is nice to get a surprise once in awhile and this one came from Chuck Daughtrey who found this wavy step die.





Although not very strong, it is still a very significant find for it pushes the envelope back one more year in the dates for wavy steps. This east shifted 1986-D, Lincoln cent wavy step die has a strong fluting line extension under column # 10 with light step deviation under columns # 6, 7 and 8. If there was one defining characteristic that convinced me that this was in fact a wavy step, it was the offset angle of the fluting line from south, whch was 20 degrees, a common offset angle found in the majority of wavy steps.

Oddly enough, this die still falls under the scope of the single squeeze process, which may have started as early as 1985. The reason that I bring this to light, is that I still have my suspisions, although not confirmed, that this method of die production is the culprit of both wavy step and trail anomalies.

Very nice find Chuck.

WAVYSTEPS2003 aka BJ Neff