1967 sms nickel retooled

[hamilton]

I came across this 1967 jefferson nickel from a SMSet, with heavy retooling of the door and both windows in center of monticello, also of the roof edges not shown. I don't know how common this is, but it is interesting, first I've seen.

[diamond]

It certainly does look like retooling. It's puzzling as to why it was done and why it was done so poorly. Retooling is very uncommon in modern issues, so this would be something quite special. It's possible my assessment is incorrect, so will defer to some of our variety experts.

[hamilton]

Thanks Mike; I thought I remembered someone posting some other form tooling of jefferson nickels. The retooling on this nickel is very sloppy as you say, and why just door and windows. It looks as though someone was bored on day.

[wavysteps]

There have been speculations on retooling of dies. I am convinced that some of the 1946-S Lincoln cent working dies were retooled on the 46 digits of the date to strengthen the rather weak last two digits. Then there is the famous three working dies with a blunt top four digits over a sharp top four digit that occurred in 1949 on the San Francisco cent. This again appears to be a strong case for a retooled die.

We can also look at the Lincoln cent form 1936 to 1943; some of the working hubs had an engraved channel around or partially around the obverse bust of Lincoln. Why it was done is unclear.

There are other examples of working dies being retooled as well. One that comes to mind is the adding of the designers initials on the working die of the Walking Liberty half dollar. That was obviously done by someone not to experienced with engraving and not with the proper tool. And I am sure that there are other examples that I am not aware of.

BJ Neff