IKES WITH DIE CRACKS

[robEzerman]

Do you guys think we may have another class of collectible Ikes? Ikes with die cracks?

Die cracks on Ikes appear on SB, SP, CB and CP Ikes. They are an absolute marker for a given die if the crack is big enough not to easily fill with the nickel dust "gunk" found on the Ike presses.

One can surmise that the population of any particular cracked die's output is not large as a die crack usually heralds a die's crack-up, LOL.

TKO5 (Tom) sent me the following photo of a die-cracked 71-D which has a small cud at one end of the crack, proof that this die was very near the end of its productive life.

Brian has gathered several interesting die-cracked Ikes but Cuds are rare in the series as far as I know.

Anyway, thought it might be fun to begin listing the Ikes with "COLLECTIBLE" die cracks, watcha say?

[Sumdunce]

I know I like to find them and collect them.

I recently found another (posted under the "DOLLAR" cracked in other die state varieties) to add to my collection.

V/R



LaMont

[BrianVaile]

Die cracks have given rise to many popular VAM's in the Morgan series. The "Donkey Tail" comes to mind.
I don't know why the same couldn't be done for the Ike Dollar series.
Herb's die-cracked March 1972-P Type 2 is is a GREAT place to start!.....With the good old FEV following right along afterwards!

We can now identify (3) different Die Crack DIVA's for the FEV! One of which may be a new D/D

Just as Wexler uses them as markers on some of his DDO varieties, I use one die crack
as a marker for one of the D/D RPM's. There is a pretty big die crack running through the Y of LIBERTY in one
that I believe is a D/D. The jury is still out on this D/D...and pondering. I call it the "Slingshot" die crack
because going from right to left, it looks like the trail of something "shot" through a slingshot. This die crack comes
in two "varieties"... it comes in a pre-die abrasion state as well as a heavily abraded state....like they were trying
to fix clash marks or something. They did a pretty good job on it, because I can't find any clash marks. The abrasion lines
are in all of the "right" places (obv. and rev.) and much heavier than my picture shows. (See pics below)

Secondly, there is the very scarce "Oh, NO" die crack reverse, which is probably more scarce than the 71-D WRPM-002 FEV.
So far, I've only heard of one other member here who has found one of these. If any one else finds some, please let us know.

Last, but not least...There's good old "Ted". Ted is very curious because it happens in a VERY early die state! The REV in the
"Ted" is very sharp and pristine. There also appears to be a small cud at the rim at the start of the crack? Somehow, I don't think
this "Ted" one hung around for very long.
The "Ted" die crack FEV is on the reverse and starts at the rim right above the T in UNITED. It curves down and cuts across the E and D
and then curves back up going across the gap to the rim above the S. The crack gets fairly weak past the D but is very strong
through TED. So far, I only have one example of "Ted", but this is one is fairly new to me and I haven't checked out the rest
of my FEV's for "Ted"s...therefore, I can't give you much of a rarity factor or info on this one, other than to say it happens
very early in the life of the die. Hey,....if we can find more "Ted"s and they all have the cud....could we call them "Cuddly Teddies"?
Sorry about that.....I just couldn't resist!

I guess they were having die-cracking problems with the FEV at the beginning of Ike production
in Denver? I wonder how many of these 71-D FEV dies "fell apart" experimenting with the dies on these new large CuNi planchets?

I like the idea of posting and getting a list together of "collectible" die cracks ..Die cracks = VAM's........Why not die cracks = DIVA's?

Happy Hunting!
Brian

[robEzerman]

Brian, great post! I bet Bill will set up a new FORUM TOPIC with this thread as lead-off. . .

Off topic, sorry, have to share, just found a 71-S Proof that's a lock DDO-010, I'm psyched, my first big obverse DD, will post good pictures tomorrow, have the day off. Rob