Design Changes

First Edition

May 2011

by James Wiles, Ph.D.

For the most part these design changes go unnoticed.  But for the ardent numismatist, they are diamonds in the rough, just waiting to be discovered.  Competing designs are often placed into production side by side until old dies are past their production life.  Thus the differing designs can be found with ease.  Sometimes, however, the old design is retired quickly or the new design slips in at year's end or accidentally and a rarity is born.

Since the mint kept few records of such changes, it is left to the numismatist to discover them on his own.  It has only been since the variety revolution of the last 25 years that many of these design changes have been cataloged.  An increasing number are being added to the informational databases as cherrypickers diligently inspect every coin they come across, looking for that elusive variety for their collections.

Examples

• Lincoln Cent ODV Changes
• Lincoln Cent Wheat RDV Changes
• Lincoln Cent Memorial RDV Changes
• Eisenhower Dollar ODV Changes
• Eisenhower Dollar RDV Changes

Keep up-to-date by visiting www.varietyvista.com.

Re-engraved Designs

Though technically a die error, the re-engraved design (RED) is usually collected as a sub-category of the design change.  Occasionally a design element is accidentally removed through abrasion and then re-engraved by hand.  Currently this is a rare category with only a small handful of confirmed specimens and most of them on proof coins.

Examples

• 1953 cent RED-001
• 1953 cent RED-002
• 1938 nickel RED-001
• 1952 nickel RED-001
• 1953 nickel RED-001
• 1954 nickel RED-001
• 1941 quarter RED-001
• 1952 quarter RED-001
• 1953 quarter RED-001
• 1957-D quarter RED-001
• 1944-D half RED-001

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Copyright James Wiles, 2011

Email: jameswiles@sbcglobal.net

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