My Early Dollar Collecting

[herbhicks]

I made my last big purchase with silver doallrs in 1963 using them for a car down payment. It was night time at a dealership that had extended hours. The next thing I knew there was an extensive line at the cashier's window. Customers, salemen, mechanics, etc. were all lined up buying silver dollars. There was a well worn 1878 CC in that lot. O and S mintmarks were spending money, but it was rare to spend a CC. How I do miss those days, now that they are over.

IN 1971 (that was a long wait) came the Ike dollars. I got a bunch the first day and showed them around. Many that I showed them to said " i just got one in change at the supermarket." Stange, I never found any there. I kept getting a few and spreading thm around. Then when the 1972's came out, I soon realized there was a variety there and upped the activity. My wife now got 40 Ike dollars for the weekly grocery trip for a family of 8.

That variety was quite a shock to the system. I was of the belief that there was no modern die varities at all, let alone radical differences in relief. In 1973, I learned there were other recent series with a similiar history. As far as I know I was the first person to note the 1972 Philly T 2 dollar. Another amazing thing is I discovered the type M quarter of 1968-1970 in 1985. I don't know how folk (including myself) could miss that obvious item so long.

[herbhicks]

I accumulated 1972 type 2 Ikes from the banks as best as I could by getting 10 or 20 Ikes at a time. Only twice did I get 40. If the source were live, 40 dollars would yield 6 or 7 T 2's. I eventually had a little over 200. In August 1972, Mary Brooks, Director of the Mint, announced a new variety of circulating Ike dollars. The new dollars will have "the identical design and relief of the proof dollars," she said. This threw me in a panic. The thought occurred to me that I should sue the mint. H. E. Harris had done that to the Post Office over the Thatcher Ferry Bridge stamp for the Canal Zone and won. But I am just a little guy. They tend to lose when up agains a big institution. My big hoard would mean nothing. I might as well spend them. Fortunately, I put it off. Eventually pictures of the new coins were published and I could see the islands were in relief. Hence we had a new 3rd version of the 1972 dollar. In December I got my first actual specimens from the bank.
Indeed there were 3 different varieties in one year and I could separate them into two piles by touch alone. That was so amazing to me.

Later in 1973, I was to learn 1969 D quarters had high and low relief versions. I eventually found a total of 4 varieties for that date that I could separate into 3 piles by touch. 1968 S had the same 4 varieties, but two of them were proof only.

[Sumdunce]

Over 200 type 2s... am I the only one who's drooling?

Wonderful stories. Keep em coming!



LaMont

[BrianVaile]

Cool stories!

I wonder if Mary knew about the Type 2 being done TWICE? You would have
had a lot of fun with that!

Happy Hunting!
Brian

[robEzerman]

THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB AT THE MINT WAS CYA!! It's possible Mary Woods didn't know of either the March or the August 72 T2, at least not until long after the fact. If she was told about either, it was by some suit at the Mint who was more concerned about keeping his job (staying on the right side of both Mary and Frank) than about conveying accurate factual information.

The best story I can put together is the March T2 was the product of a production-run trial of the 52100 die steel on an Ike reverse high-relief design and the only high relief design available at the time was that used on the 71-S Silver Proof. We have found no record of what happened to that run, how it wound up in circulation but its release was, I think, the Mint's goof, and a serious one. That trial mule should have never left the Mint!

The August T2 run was also likely purposeful but this time its release was probably also purposeful. My guess? To cover up the accidental release of the March T2 http://ikegroup.org/SHADOW11308.htm . Rob

[herbhicks]

I agree with Rob's scenario.

I just had a sudden inspiration. I thought Mary was stretching the truth when she said the new Ikes would match the proofs. Maybe what she meant was that the new Ike reverse would match the new proof reverse of 1973.

When Howard Johnson announced, also in 1972, that proof quarters would be the same as circulation strikes for 1973, he was very specific as to what was going on. I believe that was also the first time that the mint admitted that proof quarters had been different from circulation strikes.

So in 1973 the mint standardized proof and circulation strikes. Not until 1994 did things differ again when the mint started using an older higher relief master for the cent proof reverse.