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I have an 1898 H Cent which I think the H is unusually high, the left top bar of the H is under the leaf. Is this a special variety or just a die error, I wouldn't believe it to be a die error, since the characters on a die aren't mobile, so I figure there was a die that was made with the "H" higher than the other.

Thanks, for your answers....

The H's on the '98 were handpunched into each die. Because of that, the H's are all over ... left, right, high, .low etc. None are any scarcer than any other.

Thks!

So if I understand from this one, and the fact that top left branch of the "H" is under the leaf, the "H" was punched prior to the full die punch?

No, all of the working dies were struck by the hub/matrix with NO mintmark. That area was just a blank part of the field. Then each partially finished working die was handpunched by by the minting crew with an "H". It could have been a different person handpunching the H's each day/week so they were never in the same place twice in a row.

they are hand punched into the die then the die strikes them all the same

But you have more than one working die. Each die, with a hand-punched N, would have the H in a slightly different place. All of the coins that were struck from that single working die would be the same, but you have/had more than one working die. There were 1 million coins struck and , by that time, Reverse dies were lasting about 60-80,000 strikes, so you had maybe 15-20 working dies, all with the H in maybe slightly different places.

PolarBear58 wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 08, 2021 9:50 am

Is this a special variety or just a die error, I wouldn't believe it to be a die error, since the characters on a die aren't mobile

Bill is right. a "variety", yes. but nothing special.