Owner Comments:
Lyman Allen #3.02a (KM #179) - Total Mintage: 10,000,000 (Variety mintage unknown)
Historical Perspective
The U.S. mint prepared all of the working dies used at the Philippine Mint in Manila. At the time, the mint used a hub and die process for producing working dies for coin production as follows:
1. A master hub is created by reducing the original design to the size of the coin to be struck. The master hub is a positive image, just like the coin, but does not contain any digits of the date or mint mark so that it can be used for multiple years.
2. One or more master dies are created by striking the master die blanks with the master hub. Multiple blows are required to fully transfer the design with each master die undergoing an annealing process between blows. Generally, one cycle is performed per day, but if the dies are needed urgently, two cycles can be performed per day.
3. When the design has been fully transferred, the master die was annealed one more time and the first three digits of the date were added to the master die. If a mint mark is required, it would probably be added at this point as well. The master die is then hardened in preparation for striking the working hubs.
4. Working hubs are made from the master die using the same process as described above.
5. Working dies are made from the working hub using the same process as described above.
6. The final digit of the date is added to each working die. and the die is hardened before being used to strike coins.
So, how did this variety come to be much more common than a regular date? Based on examination of many 1937, 1938, and 1939 Centavos, I have a hypothesis. All of the
1s in the dates of the
1937 Centavos appear to have a thin, straight serif on the top, a thinner central upright and a smaller base. All of the
1s in the dates of the
1939 Centavos on the other hand, have a much larger serif that has a different angle than in 1937, a wider central upright, and a broader base. The
1s in the dates of the majority of the 1938 Centavos appear to be a combination of the 1937 type one, over-struck by the 1939 style
1. My suspicion is that at least two different master dies were used in creating the working hubs and working dies for 1938. One or more left over from 1937 and the other(s) created new in 1938 with the larger serif one in the date. If these master dies were used interchangeably to create working hubs, and again with the working dies, it's amazing that any of the coins struck contain a "normal date." However, coins with only the 1937 style one and with only the 1939 style one have been found to exist, although they are rare relative to the doubled one which comprises the majority of the extant population. Although not relevant to understanding the 1938 date issue, it is interesting to note that the the 1937 style
1 was again used on the 1940 and 1941 one centavo dies.
This Coin
This coin exhibits an average strike for a 1938 One Centavo. In spite of the relatively poor strike, the doubled "1" in the date is clearly visible. It was self-submitted to NGC for variety attribution as A-3,02a, but was given a new designation of VP-001 (VP meaning Variety Plus). I disagree with this assessment and contend that the 1938/1938 designation currently associated with variety A-3.02a by NGC is incorrect. . I also submitted the coin shown in Variety Plus as the 1938/1938, and I don't see the full doubling of the date. It may take some time, but I will be working with NGC to get this sorted out.
Varieties:
ALLEN-3.02 - Normal date and mint mark.
ALLEN-3.02a - Strongly doubled "1" in the date.
Date acquired: 9/8/2012 (Raw coin)
Date graded: 8/4/2022 (self submitted to NGC)
Rev. 8/29/2022