The Midwest Winter Sale 2008
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Please Note: A 15% Buyers' Premium is added to the hammer price of all lots in this sale.
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(About The Images)
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Lot Title:
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1955 "doubled die" Lincoln cent, NGC MS-63 RB
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Description:
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As the wettest tropical cyclone on record for the northeast United States, Hurricane Diane followed close on the heels of Hurricane Connie, which had struck North Carolina on August 12 - five days earlier. It would be followed in early September by Hurricane Ione. Together, these three tropical storms would be responsible for over 200 deaths and wreak widespread flooding and destruction across the Atlantic seaboard. Indeed, at the time she struck the coast, Diane proved to be the costliest hurricane disaster in United States history (to be surpassed ten years later by Hurricane Betsy).
The heavy rain Diane brought to New England caused immediate and devastating flood damage. Streams turned into rivers, and rivers turned into giant lakes that flooded the river banks, invading towns and sweeping away whole housing subdivisions. Numerous flood records were reported throughout the northeast. As much as 19 inches of rain fell across Massachusetts, devastating several New England towns, including the appropriately named Waterbury, Connecticut, making these areas look more like a devastated war zone than American towns and cities.
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, mint officials inspecting coins during the midnight shift at the mint discovered a problem with some of the cents that had just been minted. Apparently, a die had been hubbed with two impressions rotated slightly from each other, causing coins minted from the dies to show doubling of the obverse details. Under normal circumstances, the 20,000 or more such coins would have been rejected for failure to meet quality standards, the entire shift's run sent back for melting and subsequent reuse in manufacture of new blanks. On this night, however, a decision with long-term numismatic ramifications would be made, and that was to go ahead and allow release of the inferior coins along with the ten million others that were ready for shipment to the Federal Reserve bank. It was deemed that the shortage of cents caused by Hurricane Diane was sufficient cause to allow for release of the coins. If not for Diane, the coins undoubtedly would have been destroyed.
David Lange (1996) indicates that citizens first began discovering the coins in circulation in Massachusetts and upstate New York in late 1955. The fascination with the flamboyant doubling of the obverse devices led to interest in the subject of doubled-dies - an interest that remains unabated today. Indeed, scarcely a week goes by without a new doubled-die seeming to be reported. Of course, doubled-dies have occurred throughout the era that coins have been hubbed into a master die with multiple impressions, but the extreme deformity of the 1955 Doubled Die Obverse remains the "king" of this variety.
The coin at hand displays the classic symptoms that the issue is known for, including dramatic doubling of the peripheral letters, and less doubling of Lincoln's profile. Only a bit of mellowing of the original salmon-red color shows on the high-relief areas, particularly on the President's forehead, jacket lapels and shoulder. The reverse has mellowed slightly less. Plenty of original mint luster rotates around each side, and a mere handful of moderate bagmarks on the portrait determine the grade. This is a very scarce coin with a full "red" designation.
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Low Estimate:
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$3,800.00 |
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High Estimate:
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$4,700.00 |
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Lot Status:
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Bidding has been closed for this lot. |
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Hammered Price: |
$4,750.00
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Price Realized:
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$5,462.50 |
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Price history for items of the same classification:
| Lot # | Auction | Current Bid or Hammer Price | Description |
| 468 | The Midwest Winter Sale 2008 on 02/08/2008 | $1,250.00 |
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1955 "doubled die" Lincoln cent, ANACS AU-55, whizzed
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Kudos to ANACS for discovering evidence of whizzing, because this doubled die cent appears fully original from most viewing angles. Clearly, the process was applied some time ago, as the coin has... |
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| 470 | The Midwest Winter Sale 2008 on 02/08/2008 | $3,750.00 |
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1955 "doubled die" Lincoln cent, NGC MS-64 BN
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A marvelous array of neon blue tones glow prominently from the devices of this alluring Lincoln cent variety, complemented very nicely by smoldering embers of original mint red around the peripheries.... |
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