Tweet
Here's an animation showing the progression from Stage B to E to I to L and back again on the 1955-S RPM #2 Lincoln Cent.
-
-
Studying this progression more carefully, I realized it shows an interesting change to the mintmark itself over the life of the die. In the early stages, the split serif shows well but the split on the upper curve is subdued. As the die wears, it looks like there is metal "creep" that makes the split on the upper curve more pronounced. A similar thing happens on other RPMs, where the RPM becomes more visible in the later die states versus early die states.
I also realized that showing the progression in reverse did not make much sense, and the movement was too choppy. I created a new animation with more transitional images and a quick reset from Stage L back to Stage B. Here it is:
Comment