1892 New Orleans reverse dies used

[RogerB]

Reverse dies, 1892, from New Orleans Mint destroyed. This might help in matching against varieties.

18930105 NO Reverse dies 1892 destroyed.jpg (199.9 KiB) Viewed 315 times

[messydesk]

Alan identified 13 reverse dies for 1892-O in his die study, which is close to the number 15 in the report indicates. The other at least two dies could easily be represented by coins too worn to show up in Heritage or SB auction photos or coins that were never released. There may also be a reverse die or two that was carried over from 1892 to 1893.

[RogerB]

We are also without information about the dates/mints of coins melted 1918-19.

[LateDateMorganGuy]

Seems like just because they destroyed them, does not necessarily mean they were all used?

[messydesk]

Seems like just because they destroyed them, does not necessarily mean they were all used?

Obverse dies, yes, but unused reverse dies could be used the following year.

[Longstrider]

Very cool!

[RogerB]

The Engraver pulled usable reverse dies from those returned by mints. These were renumbered and issued the next calendar year. All obverse dies of the previous year were destroyed.

Reverse dies destroyed sets a minimum on the quantity used - it's a good indicator, just not perfect. Engraver Barber might have accepted lightly used dies for renumbering, but we lack the information to determine when this was done. All those die records are missing.

This is applicable to calendar years after 1880. A previous post explains this cut-off date.