Anybody have the Cherrypickers' Guide to Rare Die Varieties, Vol. II (Dimes-Dollars) by Bill Faviz, J. T. Stanton yet? I know I will get one soon and wanted to know what the first impressions are.

I received a copy today and my first impressions are favorable. Time will tell how thorough it is and how realistic the pricing is, but so far I like it!

Cherrypicker's Guide Vol II

I am reading away at this volume and am happy that I have added it to my numismatic library.

There is an interesting table for the average die life for striking various US coins. For example, Roosevelt dime dies have an average life of 300,000 strikes. According to my Redbook, 1,328,000,000 2004-P dimes were minted. So, they used approximately 4427 dies (for obverse and for reverse) for these dimes. Gives you an estimate of the possible rarity of die-dependent varieties.

Interestingly, it is noted that the average figure of 300,000 is from about 400,000 at Denver but only about 230,000 at Philadelphia. A better estimate for the number of dies used to strike 2004-P dimes is, therefore 5774. But why this difference at the two mints? Lower striking pressure at Denver? Better PM? Better planchets or die manufacture?