Searching mint sewn bags

[tholley]

I just finished searching a bag of 1972P pennies and found 18 type 3 DDOs.

I just started searching a bag of 1980P pennies. The bag was stamped with a date of Jan. 1980.

Is there any information anywhere about what months various varieties were made?

This is only the second mint bag I've ever bought. I'm enjoying going through them, but if there is information that may help me choose which bags I should purchase, I'd be very interested in learning.

For instance, if it turns out that bags from June or July produce the greatest results for the 1980 ddo, then I'd want to search for bags from that period to purchase.

Also, information about when coins are minted for each year would be appreciated as well. I would think that production for 1980 pennies would have started in 1979 sometime. It could be that a bag dated Jan. is actually from the end of the run.

I enjoy searching, but would like to search more intelligently. Thanks.

[eagames]

Welcome!

I think the 1995 DDOs were mostly found in March dated bags.

The 2006 DDOs turned up in March then other varieties later in the year. I found a bunch of 1DO-007s and 1DO-010s in a lucky box dated in March.

Even though there's always a good month you still can find nothing good in them (or a hoard) and you might find some in other dated bags/boxes. Sometimes a coin might be at the bottom of a bin then get shipped later.

I haven't heard what the "lucky" months were for 71-72-83-84.

[Dick]

Welcome, tholley! If it is varieties, particularilt in "copper", you have the right place. Enjoy!
Now about the bags. Where can you find bags, and even better, look for a date? None of the places I have rried, have anything but boxes, and they are all out-dated! I still haven't seen a 2009 cent, and usually I can have a box of solid date cents by November. Two years ago, I was given 8 boxes of cents, 4 from AZ, and four from CA, for my birthday. There were two boxes of 2007 from AZ, and one from CA About the ssame time in '07, I got two boxes of 2008. Where are the 2009??? my bamnk, (B of A), can't even get the quarters in for 2008. I had some OK, AZ, NM, and AK sent to me, but OK is the only one that I have a full roll, of!
Dick

[coop]

Welcome to the forum tholley! Always nice to see a new face (well I guess we don't see your face?) Great to hear your voice. (Well I guess we don't hear your voice either?) I guess we get to read your thoughts. (I'm giving up!)

Anyway I'm putting out the BIG welcome sign just for you!

[coppercoins]

I don't know that there ever was particular knowledge of which month most of the different major doubled dies were produced, but it is interesting information to assemble when it becomes available.

As for the 1980 DDO, I don't know.

[Dick]

IMHO, I don't believe that there is any particular month, that would contribute to this ocurrance. The reasoning being, that there has been little, (if any at all), research done in this area. these , that have been noticed, don't seem to have any rhyme, or reason, other than pure co-incidence.

Dick

[eagames]

The varieties get made while a die is used.
Dies don't last long so it's very much limited to a timeframe.

A modern die might get taken off and returned later but they only last a limited number of days and most coins from that die other than stragglers will be in that same period.

[Dick]

As I understand it, the one who might have some insight in that respect, would be Ken Potter, being as he worked there, (in the mint), so he might comment. I would also say that it depends on when the new dates are started in production. Mike D, could you ask Ken? thanks,
Dick

[tholley]

It is my thinking that if one particular die is responsible for producing a particular variety, then that variety is only produced by that die during the production run. I don't really know what the production life of a die is, or how many coins it can produce during that "life".

But, it seems to me, that if die X produced variety Y, the "life" of X was the month of March, then variety Y is most likely found in coins produced in the month of March.

I don't know, but I feel that there's a good chance the mint keeps track of die numbers and the dates of installation and removal.

So, to follow my line of thinking, I would think that information about time periods of production for varieties is a matter of trying to determine what die produced the variety and what time period that die was used.

I don't know much about the production of coins or how the mint operates, so I realise my logic may be flawed and it may be much harder to determine these things than I think. But I believe this information has to be out there and I feel certain that SOMEONE has to know about it. Perhaps they're not sharing, or didn't realise others may be interested, so haven't offered the information.

But if I want to find a particular variety through purchasing mint bags or bank rolled coins, I'd like to narrow the scope of my search to at least a three month period.

Certainly this information is valuable. It would have to make a good book. If someone is in possession of this information, they would stand to make more from book sales than from searching coins, I would think.

[Dick]

tholley, your logic is sound, and the reasoning, as well The life of a die used to be arounf a quarter million, with the copper cents, (Memorial, I believe. With the change over to the "zinlolns, it is much more, due to the lesser strength of the planchet. As far as the wheats, I don't know, because they were used "unti death do us part", or the ey broke, and had to be removed). The mint records could give some info.. I don't think they kepf 'individual records, rather the gross production. Most of this is conjecture, on my part. I am not that informed. Potter did work in the mint, and likely would be able to address your questions.
Dickl

[eagames]

(this is based on opinion not proven)

I think modern dies only get used a few days, they might remove or swap dies and use it again but combined life is only a few days. That's why varieties mostly show up in certain months.

The most of any listed variety that I have found is about 450 of one variety in one box of 2500 cents.

Still straglers get mixed in other groups so you still might find one in a later shipment. I imagine big bins and a few might hang out in the bottom and get shipped later or get mixed up in the rolling/distributing plants.

If they made 10 billion cents (a big year of P-D) that means they needed 10,000 die pairs in that year. I bet they get more than a million coins per die so they might need less but it's still a lot of dies. If they got 10 million coins per die it still takes 1000 die pairs. Using the 10,000 number you can assume that to find one coin from a specific die in a well mixed baunch of cents means you need to look at 10,000 coins. If the variety was a big DDO they might have pulled the die much sooner so you might need to look at many more cents to find that variety unless you get a "lucky" batch.

[coppercoins]

Die generally have a life span of 2-3 days...sometimes a week. Most varieties of a given die were bagged just after they were produced, meaning that all die varieties would be grouped in bags of certain dates within a 2-3 week period.

Problem is, there are so few bags left now of many of the older dates, it's impossible to reconstruct the valuable information that could have been collected back then. Only thing we can do now is watch for bags, report what came in them, and record the dates on the bags. Not that another bag of the same time period would ever surface, but there's a chance.

[hasfam]

over time, I have read accounts of certain DD's being found in particular concentrated areas. The 1955, the 1983 DDR, and the 1995 are the dates I recall reading about. You might be able to find these stories/blogs/threads with a little diligence on Google. And speaking of concentrated areas, weren't most of the 2006-#13's found mostly in Indiana & KY?