Hi All,

More questions again, sorry. I bought my son a 1999 1/10 ounce gold eagle and was just checking it out under the microscope. I know, i know too much free time. Well it looks like the "LIBERTY" and the stars above it are doubled on the bottom and the right (or maybe the left) edge. I searched the net and did find an example that the people selling it wanted $5000 dollars for. That appears to be much to high, are they that rare? Maybe my son has some collage money, well at least his books. Thanks,

Jason

Although I thought they used a "proof style" of manufacture even for the business strikes on the gold coins it sounds like machine or strike doubling. Granted I am no expert on this matter as I've not heard of a certified doubled die from this series.

Hi Vfox,

Thanks, I wasn't sure either. Here is the one I found, it looks like a Ebay company, so I don't know how much I would trust the pricing. Here is the URL:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...Y_BIN_Stores_IT

They have pictures of the double die, mine looks very similar.

Jason

I've gatta tell you that's impressive looking on a gold coin. But I think I'll stick with my original thoughts about it being strike/machine doubling. Did you think about sending it in for third party grading?

Yes, but I wanted to see if it is really worth $5000 first. If it is only worth $100, then I wouldn't bother getting it graded.

I don't have my reference works here at work, but at some point the mint changed to a single press hubbing mechanism which theoretically makes double dies impossible (I guess they could accidently hub the same die twice). I will leave it to the experts, but at some point shouldn't all such doubling be machine (or strike) doubling? Interesting, but hardly a premium.

the fact that the coin on e bay is not in a slab says a lot. I don't beleive that it is a double die there have been none reported...but you could send it in.

I will see how the other one pans out and see if they even are able to sell it at that price. So what do you look for in a double die or double strike? Is there a way to tell the difference?

Jason

there is a different "look" to a true double die.... it's hard to explain but if you look at enough double dies you will see what I am talking about. Find a good picture of a 1995 double die cent and study the doubling. It just has a different look to it then mechanacial doubling. I wish I could be more clear on the differences.... I will go through some coins tommorow at the shop and see if I can find some examples.

notice the rounded not smashed look to the doubling... that is the "look" I was talking about

notice how the doubling appears to be smashed??

I have a 2001 lincoln cent that has hard crisp well defined strike doubling on it, it looks like true hub doubling but I can't find a listing for it existing. So it must be strike/machined right? The gold 1/10th pictured def does have that mushy look to it, and if you've seen enough strike doubles as well as true doubled dies you can see a big difference in nearly all of their empty fields. A normal doubled die is crisp and smooth just like a normal coin, while nearly every strike double i've come across has a mushy, or just different looking field area. The 1/10th pictured has that muchy look to it, if you ask me.

vfox just because it hasn't been reported dosen't mean %100 that it isn't... but it helps a lot.

the only thing I can reccomend to people who don't know is to send it in to either ngc or pcgs

That's true. There was a close AM 1992 cent just recently discovered. You never know what else is out there.

When I get my little USB microscope I'll take some shots of it...my digital camera and scanner suck for close ups lol.

Thanks Matt and everyone else! I can see the difference now. So on average how often does a double strike happen? I would think that with a die doubling you could determine the number of coins that were minted by that die. Doesn't a typical die last for around 150,000 strikes?

a double strike and strike doubling are 2 different things.... double strikes are unheard of on bullion issues... this coin is strike doubled... this is a different kind of doubling all together and very common

Hi,
The guy selling the gold coin on eby has little idea about doubling on coins. His shows classic pictures of Mechanical doubling which actually detracts from the grade of a coin. No need to send the one in question in to be graded.
Have Fun,
Bill