1972 Ike Varieties and 1976 Ike Varieties
1972 Ike Varieties
The Redbook mentions three die variations for the 1972 Ike Philadelphia minted coins.
Excerpts form the Redbook:
Low relief dies were used for all copper-nickel issues of 1971, all uncirculated silver of 1972, and most copper-nickel coins of 1972.
High relief dies were used for all proofs of 1971, all silver issues of 1972, and the reverse of some exceptional Philadelphia copper-nickel coins of 1972. ...
Modified high relief reverse dies were used for late 1972 Philadelphia copper-nickel coins and for all subsequent issues. ...
End of excerpts.
I have the 1971, 1972 and 1973 proofs and the Ike is not in the 1971 and 1972. I was at a local coin shop asking about these two proofs. They told me they where made as singles for those two years (plus some) but they where out of them. They went on to tell me about the blue packs and that they had those in stock. The Blue packs are Silver clad so I put two and two together. The Blue packs from 1971, 1972 and 1973 can be used as a reference to detect the different reliefs of the 1972 Philadelphia Ikes. I bought the whole Blue pack series 1971 thru 1974. I don't know how Types are issued, but I would assume that they run in the sequence the coins are issued. Given this, the 1971 example would be type I. This is the most common. The 1972 example would be Type II. this is the rarest. I am guessing that the 1972 Type II was stamped from the 1972 uncirculated Silver dies on regular planchets because they don't have the proof qualities. The 1973 example would be Type III. These are the next rarest.
My typing of the 1972 reliefs to I, II and III here is by no means official so don't use it as such.
Using these examples, I found all three types in my 1972 circulated Ikes. Out of 170 Ikes I got from the bank yesterday, I found 1 Type II, 4 Type III and 23 Type I coins. I would really like to get the actual number that where minted for each type. I would also like to know why the Redbook (or any other for that matter) doesn't type these.
Paul Coleman
1971 Blue pack (Type I)
1972 Blue pack
1973 Blue pack
1976 Ike Varieties
The Red book simply states: :Variety 1: Design in low relief, bold lettering on reverse. Variety 2: Sharp design, delicate lettering on reverse".
Variety I and II exist for P, D and S mint business strikes.
I find the best way to tell the difference is to pick out one of the "T"s and focus on the ends of the horizontal line. If they are square it is a Variety 1. If it is angled it is a variety 2.
1976 Type I.
1976 Type II.
