Tweet
Here is a nice doubled die reverse on a Panama 1971 20 Balboas matte finish coin struck by Franklin Mint. The doubling shows best as shown on the images below and on the designer's initials HF and the back of Balboa's head.
I wrote about this coin in my Visiting Varieties column appearing in the April or March 2005 issue of World Coin News saying the following:
"Most long time collectors remember all to well the oversize Panamanian 20 Balboa pieces of the 1970s and ‘80s.. These 61 mm sterling silver monstrosities were produced in such large quantities during the 1970s that eventually they'd be seen offered just about everywhere as little more than scrap silver. In time few collectors even gave them a second look. Who then would really take them seriously enough to study them for varieties?
Tim Hargis of ANACS, the Columbus, Ohio based grading service, did when he picked up an uncirculated 1971 FM 20 balboas with the matte finish while attending the Michigan State Numismatic Society Spring Convention this April. This is the one year of issue version that commemorates the 150th Anniversary of Central American Independence. He's one of those folks that knows: "that doubled dies are where you find them," which can be just about anywhere!
As it turns out that he hefted up a coin with a rather major hub doubled die reverse. It also tells us an interesting, though puzzling, story about how the die reverse dies were made.
The coin exhibits its strongest doubling on the date while noteworthy doubling is evidenced on much of the legend about the rim. The strongest areas are on 150 ANNIVERSARIO DE LA along the left and upper rim and on CENTRO on the lower rim.
What is perhaps the coin's most interesting attribute is the fact that only the first three digits of the date show any doubling. What this tells us is that the die was made from a hub with just the first digits of the date present and the fourth digit punched in by hand. The first three digits were hub doubled and the last punched in normally. This practice would have allowed the Franklin Mint to use the same hub for years at a time instead of it becoming obsolete after the initial year of use. It is not an uncommon practice as we've seen this often on other world coins. Nonetheless, what is confusing is why it was done on a commemorative die intended to be use just one year. It is a mystery that might be an interesting research project for anybody interested in Panamanian coins.
Hub doubling, or what collectors commonly refer to as a doubled die, is possible due to a phenomenon known as work hardening. This causes the metal of the face of a die to become too hard and too brittle to allow a complete image to be sunk into the die in one operation without causing it to crack or shatter (during the multiple hubbing process). As a result, several impressions or hubbings are required to produce a die when using this process. Between each hubbing the die is removed from the press and annealed (softened) thus allowing for another impression without shattering the die. If for some reason a partially finished die is reinstalled into a press for strengthening and the hub and die is improperly indexed, resulting in a misalignment of images, or if the hub varies in design from the one(s) used for earlier impressions hub doubling will result.
Some countries still utilize the multiple hubbing process while others have phased it out in favor of the single squeeze restrained hubbing process that requires just one pass of the hub on a die blank to create the finished image. The United States Mint began hubbing dies with the single squeeze process in [FY] 1985 and fully integrated it into the production of all dies (except for some medals) in 1997 and 1998."
I wrote about this coin in my Visiting Varieties column appearing in the April or March 2005 issue of World Coin News saying the following:
"Most long time collectors remember all to well the oversize Panamanian 20 Balboa pieces of the 1970s and ‘80s.. These 61 mm sterling silver monstrosities were produced in such large quantities during the 1970s that eventually they'd be seen offered just about everywhere as little more than scrap silver. In time few collectors even gave them a second look. Who then would really take them seriously enough to study them for varieties?
Tim Hargis of ANACS, the Columbus, Ohio based grading service, did when he picked up an uncirculated 1971 FM 20 balboas with the matte finish while attending the Michigan State Numismatic Society Spring Convention this April. This is the one year of issue version that commemorates the 150th Anniversary of Central American Independence. He's one of those folks that knows: "that doubled dies are where you find them," which can be just about anywhere!
As it turns out that he hefted up a coin with a rather major hub doubled die reverse. It also tells us an interesting, though puzzling, story about how the die reverse dies were made.
The coin exhibits its strongest doubling on the date while noteworthy doubling is evidenced on much of the legend about the rim. The strongest areas are on 150 ANNIVERSARIO DE LA along the left and upper rim and on CENTRO on the lower rim.
What is perhaps the coin's most interesting attribute is the fact that only the first three digits of the date show any doubling. What this tells us is that the die was made from a hub with just the first digits of the date present and the fourth digit punched in by hand. The first three digits were hub doubled and the last punched in normally. This practice would have allowed the Franklin Mint to use the same hub for years at a time instead of it becoming obsolete after the initial year of use. It is not an uncommon practice as we've seen this often on other world coins. Nonetheless, what is confusing is why it was done on a commemorative die intended to be use just one year. It is a mystery that might be an interesting research project for anybody interested in Panamanian coins.
Hub doubling, or what collectors commonly refer to as a doubled die, is possible due to a phenomenon known as work hardening. This causes the metal of the face of a die to become too hard and too brittle to allow a complete image to be sunk into the die in one operation without causing it to crack or shatter (during the multiple hubbing process). As a result, several impressions or hubbings are required to produce a die when using this process. Between each hubbing the die is removed from the press and annealed (softened) thus allowing for another impression without shattering the die. If for some reason a partially finished die is reinstalled into a press for strengthening and the hub and die is improperly indexed, resulting in a misalignment of images, or if the hub varies in design from the one(s) used for earlier impressions hub doubling will result.
Some countries still utilize the multiple hubbing process while others have phased it out in favor of the single squeeze restrained hubbing process that requires just one pass of the hub on a die blank to create the finished image. The United States Mint began hubbing dies with the single squeeze process in [FY] 1985 and fully integrated it into the production of all dies (except for some medals) in 1997 and 1998."
Panama-1971-20-Balboa-Matte-DDO-001-Tim Hargis-of-ANACS-W.jpg
Panama-1971-20-Balboa-Matte-DDO-001-Tim Hargis-of-ANACS-Date-W.jpg
Panama-1971-20-Balboa-Matte-DDO-001-Tim Hargis-of-ANACSa-W.jpg
Panama-1971-20-Balboa-Matte-DDO-001-Tim Hargis-of-ANACSb-W.jpg
Panama-1971-20-Balboa-Matte-DDO-001-Tim Hargis-of-ANACSd-W.jpg
Panama-1971-20-Balboa-Matte-DDO-001-Tim Hargis-of-ANACS-g-W.jpg
Panama-1971-20-Balboa-Matte-DDO-001-Tim Hargis-of-ANACS-h-W.jpg
Panama-1971-20-Balboa-Matte-DDO-001-Tim Hargis-of-ANACS-Date-W.jpg
Panama-1971-20-Balboa-Matte-DDO-001-Tim Hargis-of-ANACSa-W.jpg
Panama-1971-20-Balboa-Matte-DDO-001-Tim Hargis-of-ANACSb-W.jpg
Panama-1971-20-Balboa-Matte-DDO-001-Tim Hargis-of-ANACSd-W.jpg
Panama-1971-20-Balboa-Matte-DDO-001-Tim Hargis-of-ANACS-g-W.jpg
Panama-1971-20-Balboa-Matte-DDO-001-Tim Hargis-of-ANACS-h-W.jpg
Comment