1999-S Lincoln Proof close AM

[KurtS]

I picked this up today at a show. No blurry photos this time--it's the real deal!


Thanks to Richard Cooper for this nicely assembled pic!

[eagames]

Nice one!

Did you cherry pick it at a show?

I keep looking at sets but have not picked one yet, if I find a sealed set with one I'm going to keep the set sealed.

[KurtS]

Yes, and thanks! Leafing through a binder of proof cents, and there it was!
Hmm...next show I'll look through proof sets too!

[doubledguy]

Kurt,

Any chance that I could persuade you into sending that one to me so that I can get some photos of it? Kevin Flynn and I are working on a Second Edition to our 1996 book The Authoritative Reference on Lincoln Cents and I would like to shoot some photos of the variety to include in this Second Edition. I would gladly reimburse you for your shipping costs to send the coin here.

John A. Wexler
doubledguy

[KurtS]

John,
I got your email, and I'm a bit surprised this coin is scarce enough that you need a copy for your next edition. Just curious--is there any estimation of how many dies were involved?

Since we don't know each other, I guess I'm not quite ready to send this coin anywhere yet. I'm going to have a dealer friend look at it this week--not to sell, but for info on the coin.

[gription]

[KurtS]

Gripton, thanks!

I'm fairly new to Lincoln die varieties, so I hope to read more books by the experts in the near future. I know very few coin experts, so I appreciate your input, and I'll keep in touch on this coin, thanks!

[Dick]

KurtS, you will be very happy you started checking the varieties. It is a very interesting and informative area of coin collecting. nice fibdm by the way!
Dick

[KurtS]

Dick,
Yes--in the short time I've done it, I've found it very rewarding. I particularly like the aspect of discovery--and getting more than you pay for--not often the case when buying coins!

[doubledguy]

Hi Kurt,
I can certainly understand your apprehension at wanting to send it. I am the John A. Wexler that has authored or coauthored at least 17 book on die varieties. My first one was entitled THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF DOUBLED DIES Volume 1 which was published in 1978. In 1983 I coauthored the original THE RPM BOOK with Tom Miller and in 1984 I authored THE LINCOLN CENT DOUBLED DIE.

For a period of time between the late 1970's and the early 1980's I published a monthly magazine entitled ERROR-VARIETY NEWS.

Other books of mine include THE 1995 DOUBLED DIE LINCOLN CENT, THE BEST OF THE JEFFERSON NICKEL DOUBLED DIE VARIETIES, THE BEST OF THE WASHINGTON QUARTER DOUBLED DIE VARIETIES, TREASURE HUNTING BUFFALO NICKELS, TREASURE HUNTING MERCURY DIMES, THE AUTHORITATIVE REFERENCE ON LINCOLN CENTS, and a few others.

I write a monthly column in COIN WORLD newspaper entitled "Varieties Notebook." It is actually in twice a month but Ken Potter and I alternate as author of the column.

The 1999-S Close AM that you found is very rare. If only one die was involved, there probably are no more than 3,000 that exist as proof dies are retired from use after striking about 3,000 coins. If more than one die was involved, then multiply that mintage by the number of dies involved. Even if 10 dies were involved (highly unlikely), that would still be a mintage of no more than 30,000 coins.

The only way to determine the number of dies involved is to see different specimens to record die markers and that is what I am trying to do.

I wish you the very best with all of your collecting endeavors. If you are new at variety coins, you will enjoy it and with a find like this one, you are off to a fantastic start!

John
(doubledguy)

[gription]

[KurtS]

John,
Thanks for telling me a bit more about yourself and all those books and publications you've written. Very interesting...I'll look into those. I have only restarted my collecting recently, so all the information and help here has been great.

As few as 3,000 minted? Well, that just might be my best cherry-pick to date. I have mostly looked for Indian Head die varieties, but became interested again in recent Lincoln strikes.

Thanks!!
Kurt

[coppercoins]

Not only is John all that he posted above, but he's also indirectly the reason why this site is here.

Back in 1985 I found his book, "The Lincoln Cent Doubled Die," and I used that book to kick off my interest in the Lincoln cent that eventually led to the publication of this site. That followed my 1983 find of my first ever doubled die, a 1939 DDR nickel. I was so interested in the doubling on the nickel, I sought out information, and his book on Lincolns was the only one I found.

I still have not met John in person - oddly enough he's the one expert that brought me into this hobby, yet he's one of three (out of 10 or more) Lincoln cent authors I have not met. The other two are Ken Potter and Billy Crawford. I have had email conversations with all of them, I just haven't ever met these three person to person. Billy is the only one of the three I've ever spoken to on the phone.

Funny story - I went to the 1999 ANA convention in Chicago for the sole reason to meet John or Ken in person, just to find that neither attended. I did the same in 2004 with the Pittsburgh ANA convention to get the same results...neither were there, but I did get to meet James Wiles for the first time at that one. One of these days I will meet John in person if I have to drive to PA!!

My life in publishing information on the Lincoln cent has been far easier than John's could have been. I know this because of the advance of technology that came along before I got involved in writing about them. Software development has come a long way, but the internet is the chief reason why people know my name. John started in the day when there was no internet. Snail mail was the only way to communicate back and forth with collectors, and you had to be a subscriber to the coin newspapers to even know any of this existed.

My hat's off to John for being one of the official unofficial co-founders of the die variety market. He, along with the few others that wrote about the subject back in the 70s and 80s, is chiefly to credit for the hobby we have today.

A couple of things many of you probably do not know about him...as far as I know (correct me if wrong), John developed and authored the die variety system for doubled dies that CONECA used for many years (looks like 1-O-I, 2-R-VI, etc). He is also to credit for laying the foundation in defining the classes of hub doubling...class I, rotated; class II, distorted, class III, design; class IV, offset; etc.

If there's anyone here who indeed knows his stuff about this subject, it's John. I'd think that with experience in the field, Bob, Billy, or myself could help all the same, but we didn't pioneer this hobby....John did.

[doubledguy]

Hello Chuck,

Thanks for all of the kind words. Boy, now I really feel old!!!

I do need to clarify, however, that the development of the classes of doubling for doubled dies was a shared effort with Alan Herbert, who still writes for NUMISMATIC NEWS. He was my mentor when I first came into the die variety hobby in 1971 and we worked together on the classes and the numbering system that was used at that time.

I'd like to take full credit for all of those things, but it just wouldn't be true and it certainly wouldn't be fair to Alan.

Chuck, we will meet. Now that I am retired from teaching (retired at the end of January), I am hoping to get out to coin shows, something I just never had the time to do in the past. There are a lot of great folks out there that I want to meet as well.

John

[doubledguy]

Hello Gription,

You ask about slabs.

They do make shooting photos a lot tougher as the plastic of the slab tends to give off a lot of glare when you are trying to shoot photos.

I have successfully shot photos through the slabs so if that is all that is available, I am interested and would not turn it down if there was an opportunity to shoot photos that I need for my files.

What else do I need?

I am looking to shoot photos of a 1969-S Die #1 Doubled Die cent, a 1917 (VF or better) Die #1 Doubled Die cent, a 1927 Die #1 (VF or better) Doubled Die cent, and a 1972-S 1c Proof WDDO-001 (Die #1) Doubled Die cent.

If you have any of those and would be willing to send them, I'd gladly reimburse you for your postage expenses. Of course I am looking for the 1992-P, 1992-D, 1998-S, and 1999-S Close AM varieties.

John
doubledguy