RE: 2016P's how many different dies are used normally in a year?

[VAB2013]

Since I am going through 2016P's I have found 11 trail dies and a lot of duplicates of them.

To try to make my searching easier, I am photographing a reverse marker for each different die I see. I don't think one is an earlier die state of the other because the reverse marker is strong on every one. So far I have seen 13 different reverse dies and another 11 that are trail dies. What amount is normal for a year in Shield Cents?

I have found a few that are not trail dies and do not have a reverse marker so maybe those are earlier die states.

Just curious... thank you for helping!

[Maineman750]

At least 8,146 were made for 2015 if the figure of 1 million coins per die is correct.

[willbrooks]

Assuming a normal mintage year of a 4.5 billiion each of P and D, and each die striking, let's say, 750,000 each, that makes 12000 dies, and I'm guessing half of them have "trails." So you have a long way to go. lol.

[VAB2013]

Thank you very much Roger and Will! Oh my goodness that is a lot of dies! And I'm just on 24 LOL! I will stop this process as soon as I stop getting full bricks of 2016's, but for now it is helping :)

[Maineman750]

Now there's a goal for you Viv....collect one cent from each die for the entire year....it would be a unique collection if nothing else.

[jfines69]

If you are talking working dies then alot... What about the working hubs and the master dies and hubs??? If my memory serves me correct wasn't there only 2 master dies for 1972???

[GrumpyEd]

A more realistic goal that won't put you in a straight jacket is to sort your next box by die pairs.
Probably end up with 20-50 die pairs in it :)

It's not like they run through the year.

I you consider the press speeds in a constant run, they don't last long, maybe a day or so.
In 2006 I was sorting a lot of dated bricks, I did see a few dies that showed up over a few weeks (based on brick dates) but that is going by the box dates, you never know if it was because of how they mixed the cents at the outfit that rolled them or from the mint to the rolling outfits or if the dies might have been taken off and cleaned up and put back. My guess is it has more to do with how the cents get mixed at the rolling outfits.

[VAB2013]

A more realistic goal that won't put you in a straight jacket is to sort your next box by die pairs.
Probably end up with 20-50 die pairs in it :)

It's not like they run through the year.

I you consider the press speeds in a constant run, they don't last long, maybe a day or so.
In 2006 I was sorting a lot of dated bricks, I did see a few dies that showed up over a few weeks (based on brick dates) but that is going by the box dates, you never know if it was because of how they mixed the cents at the outfit that rolled them or from the mint to the rolling outfits or if the dies might have been taken off and cleaned up and put back. My guess is it has more to do with how the cents get mixed at the rolling outfits.

Thank you Ed! I never thought about a die only lasting a couple of days, WOW! I have been sorting them by die pairs and that does help a lot for searching! I have memorized 20 or so reverse die markers and made photos of them for reference while I'm searching. Finding a lot of trail dies, some trail dies that I am not sure about... just having fun searching!