1996P-1DER-033T Trail Die Reverse

Description

Jason Dick's discovery of the 1996P-1DER-033T trail die reverse on the Philadelphia Mint Lincoln Memorial Cent documents a late die state specimen with diagnostics on both sides. At Stage C, the obverse shows a die crack on Lincoln's nose, a hallmark of advanced die fatigue where metal stress fractures propagate across the portrait. The reverse, also at LDS, carries a die gouge above the designer's initials along with die clashes visible in bays 4 and 9 of the Memorial building. These bay clashes, where obverse design elements transferred onto the reverse die during an unstruck die contact event, provide additional confirmation markers. Trail die varieties preserve vestiges of a prior hub impression on the working die, producing faint secondary design traces on struck coins. The convergence of a portrait die crack, a reverse die gouge near the VDB initials, and clash marks in two specific bays creates a multi-point diagnostic profile. The 1996 Philadelphia Mint cent belongs to the later era of the Memorial reverse design introduced in 1959.

Die Markers

• Stage “C”, obverse is LDS – a die crack is seen on Lincoln’s nose.
• Reverse is LDS – a die gouge is seen above the designer’s initials. Die clashes are seen in bays 4 and 9.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Jason Dick
• Expert attribution by Trail Dies

External References