PART IV. Die Errors:

Die retouching (master hub, master die, working hub or working die)

Retouched details on master and working hubs (1920s

to 1940s)

Definition: From the 1920s to the late 1940s, the Mint retouched some master and working hubs, generally in an effort to sharpen outlines. Every denomination is affected. While most of the retouching affects the outlines of major design elements, some master and working hubs had interior parts of the busts retouched as well. The term “channeling” is used when referring to retouching efforts that produce a thin trough at the margin of affected design elements.

The 1937(P) Lincoln cent seen above at left shows retouching in the form of a channel along the outline of Lincoln’s bust. The image to the above right shows a 1943(P) Lincoln cent with the same type of channeling as the 1937(P) Lincoln cent.

The 1937(P) Buffalo nickel (Indian head nickel) pictured above has channeling at the bottom of the lowest feather and the half feather. The Indian’s hairline that covers his neck also appears to have been retouched.

The 1942(P) Winged Liberty dime (Mercury dime) pictured above shows channeling around Liberty’s bust.

The 1943-D Winged Liberty dime pictured above shows retouching on the forward hair-line of Liberty. The wings on Liberty’s cap also received some channeling on this working hub.

The 1940(P) Washington quarter at upper left shows channeling along the outline of Washington’s queue. The 1941(P) Washington quarter pictured at upper right also has channeling on the outline of the bow and the interior line of the bow’s tail. These grooves may have been carved on the master hub since channeling appears on many of the Washington quarters of that decade.

This 1923(P) Peace dollar shows definite signs of being retouched. The images above show a portion of Liberty’s crown. A magnified view of the affected rays (above right) show channels on the left side of each ray, with the channel terminating at Liberty’s hair line. Another interesting feature is that the channels appear to have been carved twice.

Other design features on the same 1923(P) Peace dollar also seem to have been retouched. The area around Liberty’s cap, especially under the cap, appear to have been strongly retouched (image at left). Liberty’s flowing hair also shows signs of being retouched (image at right).

Another retouched area on the same 1923(P) Peace dollar is the back of Liberty’s neck (image at left). While most retouching seen on Peace dollars affects the obverse die, the image at right shows retouching under the eagle’s bill and strong retouching of the line separating the upper bill from the lower bill. This reverse was found on a 1924(P) Peace dollar.

The eagle’s claws and the shafts of the arrows have been retouched on the reverse face of this 1942 (P) Washington quarter.

The image above is from a 1944(P) Washington quarter that shows the exact same retouching.

The reverse of a 1940(P) Washington quarter also has the same retouching. This also holds true for every year that I have researched up to and including 1949. Obviously, this means that the same master hub was used for all Washington quarters from 1940 to 1949.

However, this does not seem to be the case with the obverse die. See the next set of images below.

The image to the right shows the obverse of a 1942(P) Washington quarter. The channeling is most obvious from the tip of Washington’s nose to the upper part of his neck. Not shown is the channeling around the lower part of
Washington’s queue and bow.

Except for the base, the entire outline of Washington’s bust on this 1944(P) Washington quarter was highlighted by channeling.

The obverse die that struck this 1946(P) Washington quarter shows channeling only on Washington’s queue and bow.

The variability documented above would indicate that portions of the obverse die (e.g., queue and bow) were retouched on the master hub used during the 1940s, while additional retouching was occasionally performed on individual working hubs.