“THE 1971-1972 HIGH RELIEF REVERSE DESIGN VARIETY “SHADOW IKE” and

THE TWO 1972 TYPE 2 IKES”

FOREWORD

This article is in three sections. Each section breaks new ground and combined present perhaps the most important research of the IKE GROUP to date.

Since the high relief 1971 and 1972 Ikes are center stage, this is a good time to summarize the major 1971 and 1972 Ikes to separate low from high relief varieties.

“Relief” is the term for the amount of elevation a coin’s features have above its fields: high relief means the design features are taller (and therefore usually fuller as well). Important new coins like the Eisenhower Dollar in 1971 are struck in the highest relief consistent with available technology and practicality. Frank Gasparro, the Mint’s Chief Engraver at the time, wanted all of his first-year 1971 Ike Dollar coins to be in high relief but existing US Mint die steels could not handle the new harder copper-nickel clad planchets in high relief. With much scrambling, Gasparro arrived at a new low relief design just in time for the coining of the CuNi-clad circulation Ikes in mid-July 1971.

The 1971 and 1972 High Relief Ike Silver Proofs - In 1971, only the 1971-S Proof Ike could be struck in high relief, because it was struck on the somewhat softer silver planchet (80% silver thick outer layer, 20% silver core) and because it was struck twice (all modern proofs are struck twice to assure a full strike).

Therefore, the only high relief 1971 Ike is the 1971-S Silver Proof (no clad Ike Proof was released by the Mint until 1973).

The 1971-S and 1972-S Ike proofs are identical.

The 1971 and 1972 Silver Specimen Ikes - The 1971-S Silver Specimen Ike (silver business strike) was struck in low relief with the same design used to strike the low-relief circulation 1971(P) and 1971-D Ikes: these Specimen Silver Ikes, like all CuNi-clad Ikes, were struck just once.

The 1972-S Silver Specimen Ike, however, thanks to the use of an improved die steel, was struck in high relief, with the same high-relief reverse design used on the 1971-S and 1972-S Ike Proofs.

The 1972(P) Type 2 Ike - One of the stars of this article is the 1972(P) Type 2 Ike, the “King of Ikes”. In fact, this article begins with a first-person account of its discovery by IKE GROUP member, Herb Hicks in March 1972. This Ike is a “mule” as it was struck with mis-matched dies, the common low relief obverse die mated with a high relief reverse die of the same design as that used for the 1971-1972 Ike Proofs and the 1972 Specimen Silver Ike.

Hicks’, Wexler’s, Wiles’ and Ike Group Terminology for the 1972 Ike Reverse Varieties

Hicks Wexler Wiles Ike Group

LOW RELIEF Type A TYPE I RDV-001 T-1 (Type 1)

HIGH RELIEF Type B TYPE II RDV-002 T-2 (Type 2)

(MODIFIED HIGH RELIEF* Type C TYPE III RDV-003 T-3 (Type 3))

Here’s a chart of the Reverse relief of 1971 and 1972 Ikes that might help:

|

LOW RELIEF | HIGH RELIEF

|

1971 1971(P) | 1971-S SP (both sides)

1971-D, 1971-D FEV |

1971-S SB |

|

|

1972 1972(P) T-1 | 1972-S SP (both sides)

1972-D | 1972-S SB (both sides)

| 1972(P) T-2 REVERSE (mule)

| 1972(P) T-3 REVERSE (mule)*

* The T-3 reverse has been called “Modified High Relief”: this is a confusing term as all the different Ike designs are “modified” designs. Furthermore, just to be clear, we don’t know of any published measurements of “low” vrs “high” relief and this is a project we have underway and will publish shortly. The T-3 reverse design was carried on for the rest of the Ike Series, excluding the Bicentennials.

Descriptive short-hand planchet terminology we’ll use in this article - There are multiple descriptors for the Silver Specimen business strike Ikes which the authors want to simplify. The other planchets can be similarly simplified:

- We propose to use “SB”, short for Silver Business strike (also know as Silver Specimen Ikes and “Blue Ikes”), and “SP” for Silver Proof Ikes (also known as “Brown Ikes”).

- Likewise, “CB” is short for CuNi-clad Business strike (circulation) Ikes and “CP” for CuNi-clad Proof Ikes.

PART 1 of 3 – THE 1972 T-2 IS DISCOVERED, A FIRST PERSON ACCOUNT BY HERB HICKS

BOSTON, MARCH 1972 - “My name is Herbert P Hicks. It’s March 1972. I am a piker.  I don’t toss much money around.  Listen, as I walk by, I am so tight, I squeak.

“Strangely enough, such money as I do toss around, I like to spend in the form of man sized hard money coin dollars. I have the heart and soul of an old Westerner misplaced in time and space.  I know of nobody else who gets "silver" dollars from the bank for monetary purposes.   

“Still happy that the long drought from 1964-1971 is finally over, I mosey over to my local bank for my modest weekly supply of 1971 Ike dollars (10-20).

“I am surprised and pleased to see that they are 1972's.  Some of them look greatly improved over the 1971's.  Setting the best ones aside I quickly build up a hoard of 10 keepers. 

“One day later in March, while admiring a weekly Ike dollar purchase, I notice a variation in one of the dollars.  Its reverse is sharper and cleaner (fewer bag marks) than the others but it is also definitely different. 

“While well aware of the early Morgan variations, I didn’t think there could be any similar modern variations.  Why, the mint will tell you every coin is alike, made from one original artwork with no modifications whatsoever or else they would be defying Congress who mandated changes only after 25 years.  But by Jove, these reverses are in what can be truly called High Relief.  I can pick them out by touch alone.

“Returning to my hoard of keepers, they are mostly the variant! Must have kept them because they looked the best.  Now I immediately suspect the high relief reverse might match the 1971 S proof reverse, but I don’t know since I never bought one nor have I seen one.  Why spend $10 when you could get an unc for $3?  But now I had to buy a proof, and it matched!

“When it became obvious that these variants with the high relief reverse were scarce, I decided to hunt for them, started using even more dollar coins, up to 10 a week for tolls and the wife given 40 Ikes for the weekly trip to the grocery store.  But still being an expensive item I would only get 10 or 20 dollars from the bank at a time, just went more often, and saved the few high relief ones.  Twice only got 40 Ike's at one time.  One batch of these had 6 winners and the other had 7. 

“I decided to try the only other full service bank in town.  At first they had no 1972's and when they got a bag in but there were no variants in it.   Tried many banks and branches around the area:  most had the variant.   A little at a time, I went through the equivalent of almost 2 full bags of 1972 Ike's.  When the variant High Relief was present, it was in a ratio of 1 in 6 or 7.

“Of interest to me, about 4 in 5 variants had a progressive die crack on the reverse through “STATES”(Figure 1).

Figure 1 Variant 1972(P) Ike (Type B) Late Stage Die Crack

“When the mint announced in mid-1972 that they were going to produce high relief reverse 1972 circulation strikes in August, my heart sank.  The hoard would be worthless, might just as well dump it now.  But being a professional procrastinator, fortunately, I waited until the new ones were released and it turned out to be yet another 1972 Philadelphia Mint Variety!

Recognizing three different 1972 Reverse Designs, I named them Type A, Type B and Type C. It soon dawned on me that the presence of the same die crack in 4 of 5 Type B Ikes meant the Type B was struck with a single reverse die.”

Figure 2 Type A Type B Type C

Herb Hicks, a living legend in the world of Ikes, provided this first person account recently at the other authors’ request. His “variant” Ikes are the 1972 “TYPE B” (which we now recognize as the 1972 Type 2 “King of Ikes” but in honor of Herb and this stunning personal account we’ll continue to use “Type B” for a while in this article).

Herb published a ground-breaking account of all three 1972 (P) Ikes in the April 1974 issue of the ANA’s THE NUMISMATIST, a pithy, razor sharp piece that has become a classic in Ike dollar literature which described his three reverses in great detail.

His article was the first to point out that the “Type B” reverse has the same high relief design used to strike the reverse of the 1971-S proofs. He wrote that his March cracked-die “Type B” was a one-die Ike and because the average die life in 1972 was around 100,000 strikes, the Type B mintage was also around 100,000. This figure has stuck.

In the April 1974 article, Herb mentioned a specific feature of this “Type B” reverse that nobody picked up until Herb brought it almost apologetically to the attention of his fellow IKE GROUP members. That feature, the heart of this article, is a small incuse (cut into the field, inset) crescent that hugs the Earth from about 10:30 to 11:30 (visualize a clock face superimposed on the Earth).

FIGURE 3 THE “SHADOW” ON THE 1972 (P) TYPE 2 IKE

Visible to the naked eye (or loupe for us “mature” folk), this little “shadow” is present on every single 1972 Type 2 Ike. Be patient trying to see it for the first time, it will not jump off the coin but once found it is easy to see under a good light with naked eye or loupe. Since it has rounded edges it is curiously difficult to see under a microscope.

Once the authors saw the shadow on Herb’s Type B 1972(P), we soon noticed the shadow was present on another Ike, the only Business Strike Silver Ike with the Type B reverse, the 1972-S SB, but only on about a third of them.

FIGURE 4 THE “SHADOW” ON THE 1972-S BS SILVER IKE

The authors have named the 1972-S BS silver Ike with the incuse crescent shadow “The Shadow Ike” (“SI”).

Getting back to Herb’s 1972 March Type B Variant Ike, Mint authorities and others have stated that this “Type B” was indeed struck with a proof reverse die that somehow got into the Philadelphia for-circulation production line. Makes sense since the only High Relief reverse die available in January or February 1972 was the High Relief Type 2 reverse die used to strike the 1971-S Ike Proof (the 1972-S Proof wasn’t minted until September and December of 1972).

But the incuse crescent is not present on the 1971-S Proof reverse (nor the 1972-S Proof reverse). What’s going on here?

- to be continued -

(Part 2 will start with a review of hubs and dies as we work through this question.)

(Part 3 will introduce the two populations of 1972 Type 2 Ikes.)

“THE 1971-1972 HIGH RELIEF REVERSE DESIGN VARIETY “SHADOW IKE” and

THE TWO 1972 TYPE 2 IKES”

PART 2 OF 3

In Part 1 the authors introduced the high relief Reverse Design Variety we call the “Shadow Ike” (“SI”) and pointed out that the same “Shadow” image is present on all 72 (P) Type 2 Ikes and on a third of 72-S SB Ikes. We agreed that the 72 Type 2 reverse was probably struck with a proof reverse die and asked why the Shadow image was not present on either the 71-S or 72-S Ike Proof?

Figure 1 THE 1972-S SB “SHADOW IKE”

In part 2, in order to provide a rational explanation for the absence of the Shadow image on 2/3’s of the 72-S SB Ikes and its absence on the 71 and 72-S Ike Proofs, the authors will:

1. review hubs and dies,

2. report observations consistent with a conclusion that the dies which struck the reverse of both the ’71-S and ’72-S Ike Proofs originally had the Shadow image but the image was erased with the frosting and polishing these dies received to create frosted devices and mirror fields,

3. review the Mint’s published monthly mintages of Ikes in 1971 and ’72,

4. present our observation of 1972-S SB Ikes that point to progressive “fade” of the Shadow image, fade of the “Extra Lunar Lines”, and fade of the Design Peg Leg of the obverse R or LIBERTY as evidence the dies that struck the 72-S SB Ikes received multiple whole-face re-polishing and re-frosting treatments during their life span which progressively removed the Shadow and Extra Lunar Lines images and which produced corresponding fade in the obvese R’s Design Peg Leg.

1. A REVIEW OF HUBS AND DIES

The Master Hub is created by the Janvier Reducing Lathe which reduces and transfers the original Galvano design (typically 8 to 10 inches in diameter) to the end of a short section of steel rod (“blank”) which will eventually have exact diameter and relief (height of the image above the fields) of the side of the coin to be struck. The process requires about a week of repeated continuous very fine spiral engraving by a cutting stylus on the blank: the stylus is mounted on one end of the Janvier reducing linkage on whose other end is a tracer making the same spiral path on the much larger Galvano. The result is a gradually transfer of the Galvano design to the end of a short steel rod destined to be the Master Hub. This is far from an automatic process and requires a full-time attendant who has to make frequent delicate adjustments so creating a Master Hub is not a trivial undertaking.

The Janvier-produced Master Hub is hardened (heat-treated) and used to “hub” (“sink”) the Master Die (hubbing is the process of squeezing a hardened hub’s or die’s image into a softened (annealed) steel blank which will then become the next-in-line hubbed die or hub). The Ike Group has learned recently that roughly 10 hubbings were used to sink a Master Die, presumably to decrease working stresses on the Master Hub. (By the way, it seems that working hubs and working dies may have required five hubbings and doesn’t that open the door to some serious Ike hub doubling. . .)

The Master Die is then hardened and used to hub (“raise”) Working Hubs, and finally Working Hubs hub the Working Dies that strike the planchets to create coins.

All hubs look exactly like the corresponding face of the coin whereas dies look like a recessed mold of that face. A hub’s features are said to be in “relief” whereas a die’s features are “incuse” (concave) (depressed into the die metal with images below the plane of the field of the die).

Let’s use your face as an example: we’ll call your face a hub since it is in relief. Rip off a big square of aluminum foil and press it firmly over all of your face (use your imagination or take a deep breath), thereby creating a mold of your face. Now hold the molded foil in position but a foot or two away: you will be looking at an incuse image of your face corresponding to a die. You have just “hubbed” an incuse aluminum-foil “die” from a “hub” (your face). Fortunately your face did not need to be hardened…

When a working die strikes a planchet, the planchet metal is forced into the incuse design sunk into that die, that is, the planchet metal is forced into the die. If the strike is full, all the die’s incuse features will appear in relief on the struck planchet.

The sequence outlined above provides for a Master Hub and Master Dies that serve to store the designed image and the potential for an unlimited down-stream supply of working dies. The Ike Group estimates that that each Ike Master Die could hub maybe a hundred Working Hubs, each of which could hub maybe a hundred dies. In 1971 and 1972, according to the Mint, Ike dies lasted for roughly 110,000 circulation Ikes and roughly 1500 proof Ikes, so working hubs got a workout (interesting that the number of dies required for Ike Proofs was greater than that required for circulation Ikes). There are no die-life figures for SB Ikes that we know of but our observations suggest roughly 30,000 to 50,000 SB Ikes per die.

Now let’s get back to our incuse “Shadow” crescent on one third of the 1972-S BS Silver Ikes. Since that crescent is incuse in the field of the struck Ike, the die creating it would have that same feature in relief, rising above the die’s field. (Having any element on a die rising above the plane of the field is highly unorthodox, yet Gasparro used the same approach to emphasize the separation of the Eagle’s legs and a few other details.) If you’re not able to visualize this relationship, fret not, it’s counter-intuitive to most of us at first. Try visualizing the flat face of a die with its incuse design details re-fitted onto the face of a coin that die created: our little crescent-shaped incuse “shadow” on a third of the 1972-S SB Ikes (and on all the 1972(P) Type B Ikes) would appear as a little crescent mound rising above the field on the die that struck it.

But how deep is the crescent (and how high the corresponding crescent mound on the die)? The Ike Group is just now measuring the relief of the various Ikes (results will be published here by winter ’09). We can say that the relief of the Eagle on the high-relief reverse is roughly 100/10,000 of an inch (1/100 of an inch). We estimate that the Shadow is roughly 2-5% as deep as the Eagle has relief, that is, on the order of 3/10,000 of an inch deep. Our little crescent mound on the die is no mountain!

2. PROOF DIE POLISHING AND THE SHADOW CRESCENT

In the 1970’s, all hubs and die were made (and all the obverse mint marks added) at the Philadelphia Mint. At the Philadelphia Mint, the 1971 and 1972 High Relief reverse dies destined for San Francisco Proof production were checked for flaws after their last Hubbing, mint-marked, hardened and shipped. At the San Francisco Mint, all Proof dies were heavily frosted over their entire surface and then their fields were carefully and thoroughly polished to insure a perfect mirror finish that would contrast with their now deeply frosted devices. (It is likely that these High Relief Proof dies were also given a test polish at the Philly Mint prior to shipping and again at the San Francisco Mint prior to frosting.)

Remember that all Ike dies had relatively flat fields. Proof dies are simply dies that have been frosted and polished: the recessed images maintain their frosting while the initial heavy polishing removes whatever frosting the fields received, turning the die’s fields into mirrors and thereby creating cameo contrast. Device frosting, by the way, we believe was repeated several times over the life of Ike proof dies to maintain a high proportion of cameo proofs. Each re-frosting probably required some degree of touch-up re-polishing to repair whatever frosting leaked onto the fields, but that’s another story.

The initial heavy polishing given the 1971-S and 1972-S Proof dies is the rub, literally, as it would probably have removed our little, shallow, in-relief crescent! In fact, at this point in the article we have no way to determine if the 1971-S and 1972-S Proof reverse was created by Shadow Ike High-Relief hubbed dies or possibly by non-Shadow Ike High-Relief reverse hubbed dies (we will resolve this question shortly).

3. WAS THE SHADOW REVERSE DIE FROM 1971 OR 1972? LET’S LOOK AT THE MINT’S MONTHLY MINTAGE FIGURES

Normally it wouldn’t matter as identical High Relief reverse dies carrying the TYPE 2 design would have been used in both 1971 and 1972 Proof production since the date is carried on the obverse die, but in this case it’s worth digging a bit due to the possibility of two different reverse designs, one with and one without the Shadow.

The 1971-72 production dates are interesting in this regard. TABLE 1 provides the specifics. Keep in mind that Herb’s 1972 March Type 2 was probably run somewhere in late January or February 1972 and no later than early March.

To help get you oriented, the important information from TABLE 1 for our purposes is this:

- the bulk of 1971-S Proofs were minted in December 1971 and March, 1972;

- the 1972-S Silver business strike Ike was minted late in 1972 (October,

November and December) as was the 1972-S Ike Proof (September and

December).

TABLE 1 - 1971-1972 IKE MINTAGE BY MONTH

(1972 Ikes are in italics)

____________Calendar Year1971________________

CUNI-CLAD SB IKES SP IKES

JAN -0- -0- -0-

FEB -0- -0- -0-

MAR -0- -0- -0-

APR -0- -0- -0-

MAY -0- -0- -0-

JUNE -0- 497,010 -0-

JULY 7,750,000 2,599,044 -0-

AUG 21,131,000 1,185,020 -0-

SEPT 22,423,000 1,405,024 2,180 (1971) (Peg Leg)

OCT 18,009,000 495,404 -0-

NOV 14,554,000 487,024 -0-

DEC 32,519,424 -0- 1,219,990 (1971) (Peg Leg)

______________Calendar Year 1972_________________

CUNI-CLAD SB IKES SP IKES

JAN 26,284,000 -0- -0-

FEB 29,719,000 -0- -0- (and the 72(P) T2!)

MAR 24,992,000 200,004 (1971!) 2,806,244 (1971!) (Serif-R)

APR 14,160,000 -0- -0-

MAY 15,300,000 -0- 540 (?)

JUNE 6,432,225 -0- 236,820 (1971!) (? Serif-R?)

JULY 6,845,286 -0- -0-

AUG 14,999,000 -0- -0-

SEP 15,466.000 -0- 1,490,250

OCT 11,663,000 948,024 -0-

NOV 2,578,000 879,024 -0-

DEC -0- 344,008 320,841

It seems likely Herb’s March 1972(P) Type 2 Ike with its high relief proof die reverse was struck with a 1971-S reverse die destined for coining proofs at the S-Mint (remember that only the Proof 1971-S was struck in high relief: the 1971-S BU Silver Ike was struck in low relief and with a different design). We can thus reason that the 1971-S Proof high relief reverse die probably carried the Shadow image even though the Shadow image does not show on any 1971-S Ike Proofs thanks to proof die polishing.

4. SOME OBSERVATIONS THAT LEAD TO A NEW CONCEPT: THE 1972-S SB DIES WERE RE-POLISHED AND RE-FROSTED SEVERAL TIMES DURING THEIR LIFE SPAN

THE 1972-S SB “SHADOW IKE’s” “EXTRA LUNAR LINES”

The incuse crescent is not the only incuse feature on the 1972-S SB “Shadow Ike” (“SI”). Two sets of incuse lines can also be found in the fields hugging the lunar margin on either side of the Eagle’s legs (Figure 2a). We call then “Extra Lunar Lines” (ELL). It seems Frank Gasparro really liked his early Ikes to have incuse features.

Figure 2a 1972-S Shadow Ike’s additional incuse lines at lunar margin

As one would expect, these incuse lines are also found on the 1972(P) Type B reverse.

Figure 2b Same incuse lines on the 1972(P) Type B reverse

These incuse Extra Lunar Lines are also found on about half of non-Shadow 1972-S SB Ikes, but when present they are not as robust as on the Shadow Ike. In fact they present in a spectrum of “fade” from middling to gone.

Since these Extra Lunar Lines, like the shadow crescent, are in relief on the 72 SB Shadow Ike dies, is it possible these lines were progressively abraded away during re-frosting treatments that maintained the rich frost on a majority of these Ikes? Is it possible that each such re-frosting treatment included some polishing/abrading that progressively ate away part of the in-relief reverse die nubbins responsible for the SI incuse crescent (the first to go) and the Extra Lunar Lines (to follow)?

The answer is a yes, that is entirely possible! It is likely that periodic re-frosting was necessary to maintain a high percentage of well-frosted 1972-S SB Ikes and each such re-frosting would probably have been proceeded by light whole-field abrading/polishing to remove any uneven residual frosting, using the same “lapping” machine employed to polish die fields being prepared for striking proofs. The SB dies would then have been whole-surface re-frosted, we think via air-blasted small particulates.

In other words, The Ike Group is suggesting that the Shadow Image was the Original High Relief Reverse Design used on all ’71-72-S high relief dies, including all ’72-S SB Ikes, but the image was polished off all the ’71 and ’72 Reverse Proof Ike dies and through a similar mechanism was progressively abraded/polished off the 72-S SB Ike Reverse Dies by about 1/3 of their die life.

These are challenging and concepts but there are two soft “tests” we can examine here that add some evidence in favor of our hypothesis:

- First, might we find some subtle indications of incuse shadow residua on some 1971-S and 1972-S Ike Proofs?

- Second, are there other indications of field abrading/polishing on the 1972-S business strike Ikes?

The first test - One can indeed find both ’71-S and ’72-S Ike Proofs with traces of incuse shadow image (Figure 3)!

This shadow image residua, however, is very subtle - you have to slowly wobble the proof under a grading lamp to get the reflection just right: challenging, but not impossible. My guess is 5% to10% of 71-S and 72-S Proofs have this feature.

The 71-S and 72-S proofs depicted in Figure 3 were the first two chosen as candidates when I caught a fleeting image on the 72-S Proof during routine handling: capturing that fleeting image in my ‘scope was difficult at first but I’m convinced it is real because of its location and absolute absence on a majority of these proofs:

Figure 3 1972-S Ike Proof on your left, 1971-S Ike Proof on your right

The second test - Figure 4 (below) shows four 1972-S business strike Ikes pulled from a pile of about 20, pulled just by their varying fullness of the Obverse design Peg Leg R. You are looking at a miniature experiment indicating that the Shadow image is present when the left Peg Leg of the R is full, and absent when the leg is significantly less full and that there are intermediate stages of “fade” of the Shadow Image that correlate with intermediate fade of the obverse Peg Leg (it appears that the 72-S SB Ikes usually were struck with obverse and reverse dies that remained paired).

When a greater number of 72-S SB Ikes are examined:

- 10-15% have the full Shadow image with a full Peg Leg,

- another 20-30% have a weaker Shadow with less fullness of the Peg Leg

- 60% have no Shadow image and varying further loss of Peg Leg fullness.

As mentioned earlier, the “Extra Lunar Lines” are full when the Shadow image is full but we can add that they fade a bit as the Shadow fades. The Lines fade further in about half the 72-S SB Ikes with no Shadow as we wrote earlier. The fullness-to-fade continuum of these Extra Lunar Lines also correlates with the fullness-to-fade of the Peg Leg,

These observations are not easy to see at first: the shallow Shadow image has a gradual slope off the field so it takes a bit of practice to pick out the full examples from the not-quite full from the really not-full examples. With respect to the obverse Peg Leg, its high relief design makes progressive fade less obvious than is the case with the low relief, rather flat Design Peg Leg of the 1971-S Peg Leg Proof Ike. With study and practice, however, one can begin to pick out the un-faded Shadow images by looking for full obverse Peg Legs.

Each set of four photographs below in Figure 4 was taken with identical coin placement, ‘scope and camera settings. The Shadow image is difficult to photograph and I did not try to get the best possible angle of coin against lighting to bring it out. Each coin is angled just a bit on the same make-shift stand for consistency. The resulting images more or less re-create the appearance of the Shadow image with the coin casually in hand. It’s easier to judge degree of fade in hand than it is to judge from pictures (including mine below) because we have a sense of three dimensions with the devices in hand but only two in photographs, but here they are anyway. Note that the top “R” is a hybrid DDO-MDD, one of which we highlighted in our May-June 08 ES article, “1972 Promoted Compound Doubled Master Die” and the entire R and the Shadow are quite full. The middle two examples show some loss of relief of the R and fade of the shadow. The last example shows no shadow and a further fading of the R:

Figure 4 Four paired 1972-S SB Ikes, Reverse left, Obverse right:

That concludes the more technical aspect of this article but before we move on to the fun sections, lets briefly examine the interesting cataloging conundrum raised by these 1972 Silver Ikes:

1. Our research provides evidence that there is probably only one 1971-72 high relief Reverse Design Variety (RDV), the “Shadow Ike”, but what do we call the 71-72 Ike Proofs since they do not show this “Shadow”? Do we call these two Ike proof populations “errors”? They are not “shadow-less” by design (thus not a different “RDV”), nor are they simply die-state coins as their reverse dies were hung in presses without the shadow. How should they be cataloged?

2. Similarly, what do we call the 1972-S SB Ikes without the Shadow? In a sense, these are die-state Ikes because their progressively changing images occurred after the dies were put into service, but are they “errors”? Since the loss of the Shadow is the result of purposeful Mint die work and because the progressive loss of the shadow was probably not intentional (and likely not even anticipated), how do we categorize these Ikes?

SUMMARY SO FAR

We’ve learned that Herb Hicks found quite a few “Variant” (Type 2) Ikes in March 1972 with a high relief reverse that seemed identical to that on the 1971-S Ike Proof, except Herb’s ’72 Variant Ikes also have a shallow incuse crescent “Shadow” hugging the Earth from 10:30 to 11:30 and two sets of distinct incuse lines in the fields just off the lunar margins on either side of the eagle (Extra Lunar Lines).

We learned that the 1972-S SB Ike carries this same reverse as Herb’s Type-2 Ikes but only about a third have the shallow incuse “Shadow” and only about 2/3’s have the two sets of distinct incuse lines in the field at the lunar margin.

We’ve learned that the Shadow image is strong on about 15-20% of 72-S SB Ikes and weaker to very weak on another 15-20% of 72-S SB Ikes.

We’ve learned that the 72-S SB Ike’s “Extra Lunar Lines” are strong when the Shadow image is strong and weaker when the Shadow image is weaker. The lines persist, however, on about half of 72-S silver business strike Ikes when no Shadow image is present, in varying degrees of fade from faded to fade-out.

We’ve learned that the 72-S SB Ike’s Obverse Design Peg Leg R of LIBERTY seems to fade in lock-step with the fading Shadow image and fading Extra Lunar Lines, consistent with sequential abrading/polishing of both dies that we propose were employed as part of multiple die re-frosting treatments during the life of the dies.

We’ve also learned that roughly 5% to 10% of ‘71-S and ‘72-S SP Ikes show subtle Shadow image residua when the proof is slowly wobbled under a good light source, a soft but intriguing indication that the high relief reverse dies that struck these proofs had the incuse Shadow image before these dies were heavily polished as part of their initial proof-die preparation.

We concluded that the “Shadow Ike” High-Relief Reverse is likely the original Reverse Design Variety and pondered briefly how the Shadow-less 71-S and 72-S Ike proofs and the Shadow-less 72-S SB Ikes could be categorized.

- to be continued -

“THE 1971-1972 HIGH RELIEF REVERSE DESIGN VARIETY “SHADOW IKE” and

THE TWO 1972 TYPE 2 IKES”

PART III

In Part 1 we presented Herbert Hicks’ remarkable story of his March 1972 Type B Eisenhower Dollar (now called the Type 2, “the King of Ikes”) and the interesting 1972-S SB (Silver Business strike) “Shadow Ike”. Both share a small incuse crescent hugging the Earth at 10:30.

In Part 2, we reviewed hubs and dies to lay a foundation for our conclusion that the high relief Shadow Ike reverse design was probably the Original Reverse Design Variety used on all the 1971 and 1972 high relief Ikes: the 71-S and 72-S SP Ikes, the 72-S SB IKES, and the 1972(P) Type 2, even though there is no obvious Shadow Image on either proof and the image fades quickly on the 72-S SB Ike.

In Part 3, the up-tempo finale of this triptych, the authors will present:

1. a pictorial presentation of the three 1972 Philadelphia Ikes so you will never forget their appearance,

2. a contrail image at the south end of the Shadow image and a corresponding image on the remarkable 1971-D Friendly Eagle Variety (FEV, RDV-006), and a bit more delightful Gasparro mischief!

3. Observations leading to our conclusion that there was a second 1972 Type 2 production run in August ’72, our estimates of their respective mintages and our efforts to deduce if both runs were accidental or purposeful.

1. A REVIEW OF THE THREE 1972 (P) IKES

All three have the same obverse, a continuation of the 1971 Type 1 low relief obverse design but each has a different reverse:

- Herb’s 1972 Low Relief “Type A” Reverse Ike, now called “Type 1” (hereafter “T-1”), is a continuation of the initial 1971 low relief reverse design used for all 1971 Ikes except the high relief 1971-S Proof and the 1971-D “Friendly Eagle Variety” (low relief). The T-1 was produced at both the Philadelphia and Denver mints from July 1971 through early August 1972 (Figure 1a).

Figure 1a T-1 EARTH AND ISLANDS

- Herb’s 1972 High Relief “Type B” Reverse, now called “Type 2” (hereafter “T-2”), is the “variant” Herb found among1972 (P) Ikes in the Boston area beginning in March of 1972: it is a “mule” of sorts, combining the original low relief 1971-1972 obverse and the high relief 1971-S “Proof” reverse (except Herb’s MarchT-2 has the incuse crescent). There are no known Denver T-2’s (Figure 1b).

Figure 1b T-2 EARTH AND ISLANDS

- Herb’s 1972 High Relief “Type C” Reverse, now called “Type 3 (hereafter “T-3”), has a new (“modified”) high relief reverse design which was continued through 1978 except for the two Bicentennial reverses (Type 4 and Type 5 Reverse Designs). The 1972 T-3 was produced only at the Philadelphia Mint, from late-July or early August into early November. According to Mint authorities, the T-3 was the first production Ike whose reverse die was made from the new more resilient steel (believe that if you want to, we think the 72-S SB and/or the March T-2 came earlier) (Figure 1c).

Figure 1c T3 EARTH AND ISLANDS

As you surmised from these six pictures, the easiest naked-eye markers for these three reverse designs are their different Earths:

· The low relief T-1 reverse has a slightly flattened Earth at 10:30 o’clock and the islands off Florida are three in-relief bumps Southeast off its tip.

· The high relief T-2 reverse has a round Earth and the islands are incuse lines off Florida’s Southeast: also note Florida points further to the south.

· The high relief T-3 also has a round Earth but the islands are back to three in-relief bumps, this time centered under Florida.

Some of us like to have examples for ready reference: for us, there is an easy way to have these three different reverses at hand to more easily keep them in mind (Figure 2), the first three SB Ikes (Silver Business Strike Ikes)!

- the T-1 (Low Relief) reverse is carried on the 1971-S SB reverse;

- the T-2 (High Relief) reverse is carried on the 1972-S SB reverse;

- the T-3 (High Relief) reverse is carried on the 1973-S SB reverse.

Then, remember that the High Relief T-2 Reverse Design also appears on the 1971-S Proof, the 1972-S Proof and the 1972 (P) T-2 and you are on your way to Ike expertise.

Figure 2 T-1 SB 1971-S T-2 SB 1972-S (SI) T-3 SB 1973-S

2. LIFT-OFF AND RE-ENTRY VEHICLES PLUS A PLANTED FLAG, WONDERFUL EXAMPLES OF GASPARRO’S LOVE OF DETAILS

Let’s revisit the photographs of the 1972-2 SB IKE Shadow Image presented in SECTION I:

Figure 3 1972-S SB “Shadow Image”

Did you notice the pointed image at the far southern end of the Shadow? Look closely. Remind you of anything? How about this image?

Figure 4 NASA Apollo 16 Medal

This is the classic NASA “Contrail” image displayed by any vehicle travelling rapidly in the outer atmosphere.

The IKE GROUP presents for your consideration this suggestion: the contrail image seen at the far south of the Shadow image represents the lift-off vehicle and the “Shadow” represents its exhaust plume.

OK, OK, sounds far-fetched at first but we’re serious. But please examine this image:

Figure 5 1971-D FRIENDLY EAGLE VARIETY (FEV, RDV-006) EARTH

Notice anything at exactly the same location as the south-pointing contrail on the Shadow Ike high-relief reverse?

Another contrail image! This time pointing north. The IKE GROUP suggests this bit of Gasparro creativity is his portreyal of the Apollo 11 Re-entry Vehicle.

From our extensive research of Gasparro’s Ike designs and from the excruciatingly minute coin design details Gasparro labored over and fought for (he had threatened to resign if all the minute details on his proposed new design for the reverse of the Lincoln Memorial Cent were not approved), we suggest these contrail images had a special important to Gasparro.

(to be continued)

It’s also a fact that Gasparo was under severe time constraints when designing the new Ike Dollar (by late 1969 the Mint was hoping for and planning for 1970 production and distribution, pending Congressional approval) and it is obvious that Gasparo basically copied the Apollo 11 Mission Patch for his design of the reverse of the new Eisenhower Dollar:

Figure 1 Apollo 11 Mission Patch

For this he received some static (and a threatened suit by Michael Collins, the Mission Patch designer who wanted MC added to the reverse) so it is no wonder that in small ways Gasparro tried to make the design his own. For example, in addition to the Apollo vehicles, Gasparro planted a flag on the moon (bet you didn’t know that!). The flag is present on every high-relief non-Bicentennial reverse from the 1970 Galvano through the 1978 Ikes. Curiously, it is a triangular flag and some of us wonder if Gasparro knew the astronauts had plans to hit a few golf balls on the moon during one of the next lunar landings.

Figure 2 Close-up 1970 reverse galvano showing triangular flag

We know Gasparro was as passionately patriotic as he was proud of his detailed engraving, but he also seemed to enjoy a bit of numismatic creativity and even mischief now and then. We believe the presence of the Apollo 11 lift-off and re-entry vehicles on his two earliest and most important early Ike reverse designs is simply Gasparro at his most creative and his way of making these Ike reverses his own designs.

3a. THE SECOND RUN OF 1972 TS IKES

Ready for the story of the second run of T-2’s, the “August” run?

The authors have been searching for T-2’s for several years: it is one of the prize “cherries” of the Ike series, worth around $100 in attractive AU and around $3,000 in attractive MS65. Over the past four years the authors have cherried about 200 T-2’s, mostly on the central East Coast and perhaps concentrated somewhat in southern Florida (the East Coast is the primary distribution of the Eastern Federal Reserve Banks that are supplied by the Philadelphia Mint, probably with a tilt (excuse the pun) in the 1970’s toward the gambling operations off the coast of Florida).

All of our cherried T-2’s have the same incuse “Shadow Ike” crescent on the reverse that Herb found on his March batch:

Figure 3a The “Shadow’s typical appearance on a T2 Ike.

Less than 10% of our cherried T-2’s, however, had Herb’s March T-2 reverse die cracks!

And, about one half of our cherried T-2’s had identical small “Talon Heads” (we call them “Talon Tips”) (Figure 3b), a die-clash image in the center of Ike’s temple, along with die-clash repair die-abrasions on the reverse with a faint residual outline of Ike’s Jaw Line to the South and East of the Earth.

Figure 3b “Talon Tip” on left and die-clash die-abrasion “repairs” on reverse over Ike’s faint “Jaw Line” image on right, same T-2.

Are you with still us? There is one more key observation: not one of Herb’s “stash” of die-cracked March 1972 T-2’s has this Talon Tip image or any other indication of die-clash! And not one of our cherried die-clashed Talon-Tip T-2’s has Herb’s die crack!

Figure 3c 1972(P) March T-2 Ike (Type B) Late Stage Die Crack through “STATES”

Based on these observations and on our research into die-clashed Ikes, we propose that the identical die-clash images on half our cherried T2’s is consistent with a second one die-pair run distinct from Herb’s one die-pair cracked-die March run.

We ran into a bit of good luck in 2006 when one of the authors opened three original 1972 (P) Ike rolls he had purchased in Philadelphia in 1973. One roll had one and another had two BU Talon-Head non-die-cracked T-2’s midst BU T-1’s and BU T-3’s.

This observation suggests that our cherried one die-pair “Talon Tip” die-clashed 1972 T-2’s were run at or near the transition from T-1 to T3- production in late July or early August. Subsequent Federal Reserve Bank distribution apparently favored the middle and southern coastal States in contrast to Herb’s March T-2 run that wound up mostly in the greater Boston area.

How large was this second T-2 run? The frequency with which we have found Talon-Tip non-die-crack T2’s on the central and southern East Coast indicates somewhat more than 100,000 minted, with one author estimating twice that number. An interesting possibility is the mint used the new more durable die-steel for the August T-2 High Relief reverse die (the same die steel the Mint reported using for the 1972 T-3 High-Relief reverse dies), in which case a full one-die T-2 run could have produced as many as 200,000 August T-2’s.

But 100,000 March-run T-2’s and even 200,000 August-run T-2’s doesn’t explain the relative scarcity of Herb’s March die-cracked T-2’s among our cherried T-2’s (under 10%). . .

But what if the March T-2 run was much smaller than 100,000? Say 10,000 to 20,000?

“But…but…but you said earlier that the population of the March run was 100,000?”

Yes we did, 100,000 has been the accepted mintage, but the authors have a new observation to bring to the table, the relatively early die-state of Herb’s March T2’s with the largest die cracks! These must have been among the last March T-2 Ikes struck before the die failed or was pulled.

Thanks to tips from Alan Herbert and James Wiles, we have applied Del Romines’ meticulous work on die states in pennies through half dollars, to Ikes: it is likely Ike dies ripped even more quickly through “Early Die State” (EDS) to “Middle die State” (MDS) than Del’s smaller denominations and spent most of their production life in “Late Die State” (LDS) and “Very Late Die State” (VLDS):

.

Del proposed roughly 3% of a die’s life was spent in EDS, 15% in MDS 30% in LDS and 50% in VLDS. In rough numbers, the Ike Group proposes that the Ike production percent of each die state is 2% in EDS, 10% in MDS, 25% in LDS and 60% in VLDS.

The March release T-2’s with the largest die cracks are still in mid Middle Die State (see Figure 4, below). We estimate this corresponds to 10,000 March T-2 Ikes struck if the traditional W-1 tool steel was used and 20,000 if the reverse die was made from the improved die steel the Mint reported using on the ’72 T-3 Ikes (likely one of the family of 52100 or similar tool steels).

Figure 4 Advanced die crack showing early to middle Middle Die State. The photo was taken with the Ike at about a 30 degree upward tilt to bring out the die crack, sharply exaggerating the pulling of die metal from the tops of peripheral letters toward the rim, the hall mark of Middle Die States according to Romines’ research. But note the absence of significant die flow lines, placing this advanced die-cracked March T-2 Ike in the first half of MDS in our opinion.

3b. THE TWO T-2 RUNS: ACCIDENTAL OR PURPOSEFUL?

Was the March T-2 run purposeful or accidental? We may never know. The Mint’s new more resilient die-steel, probably first used for Ike dies on this single March 1972 reverse die, continued the seemingly chaotic 1970 and 1971 design changes well into 1972 (culminating with a single obverse and reverse design for all 1973 Ikes).

To make matters worse, the Mint purposefully confused current and after-the-fact research efforts, kept few original records and Stella Hackel had most of these retained records destroyed when she became the Director of the Mint in November 1977.

While one can see the desirability of a full test run to test if a High Relief Reverse die would hold up in a circulation production line, the Philadelphia Mint had a test room to run such tests so why use the production line and then release the March run T-2 “mule” into circulation? Letting a mule get into circulation would appear to be a major stumble. In fact, the “Mint authorities” persistently denied reports for many months that a 1972 “Variant” Ike had been released in March. Releasing a mule Ike into circulation? Most embarrassing! Jobs could have been lost (first rule of Government employees: never admit a mistake).

Though all we have is supposition, the authors feel the March T-2 run itself was likely purposeful, an early test of the new die steel, but it’s likely the struck coins got into circulation by accident.

So what about the August T-2 run? Was it an accident, or could it have been purposeful? Could its release have been purposeful?

Perhaps it was also a test of some sort, possibly a test of an improved version of the new tougher die steel (both W-1 and 52100 tool steels come in a variety of specific alloys and both respond differently to the wide array of heat and annealing treatments available at the time so there was much room for experimentation and fine-tuning). But why not rely on the extensive high relief reverse T-3 run for testing, especially since a one-die-pair test run can not control multiple variables? And if an additional test was desired, why not run it in the test room and then destroy the test Ikes? By August 1972, the chaos of the early Ike design and production was settling down a bit so it seems less likely that “accidents” of this magnitude would happen. The Ike Group therefore leans toward the conclusion that the August T-2 run and release were purposeful. But for what purpose?

How about to cover-up the accidental March T-2 release? Increase the T2 population and dilute the March run as a kind of smoke screen? Make the T2 look intentional? Put out a bunch more T2’s while transitioning to the 1972 Type 3 High Relief Reverse?

Maybe not such a stretch: the authors have published an article proposing that the two brief 1971-S SB Peg Leg Ike Design Varieties were purposeful and intended to give the impression that the proof re-treatment fading die-state peg leg 1971-SP was also purposeful. We have also written that the left leg of the “R” of “LIBERTY” on the Type 2 1976 Bicentennial Obverse seems modeled after the 1974-S Proof Design “Eskimo Boot” Peg Leg Ikes which itself was likely a smoke screen for the proof re-treatment die-state 74-S peg legs.

It does seem unlikely that both T-2 runs and releases were accidental, just too great a coincidence, especially in the context of Gasparro’s compulsive attention to all details in the production of his beloved Ikes.

We’ll probably never know for sure, but doesn’t what we’re learning of the Shadow Ike and the two releases of the 1972(P) T-2 Ikes add to our appreciation of the richness of the history of the early years of the Eisenhower dollar and of Frank Gasparro as a perfectionist who enjoyed a delicious bit of dark mischief now and then!

Let’s close with this most appropriate introduction to an old Lamar Cranston radio mystery show (old-timers will get it), perhaps the best answer we can provide for the many remaining Ike mysteries:

“Who knows what darkness lurks within the hearts of men? The Shadow does…, ahhh ha ha Ha HA HA HA HA HA!”

SUMMARY

The IKE GROUP proposes that the original design for the high relief reverse dies (used for the 71-S and 72-S Ike silver proofs (SP), the 72-S silver business strike Ikes (SB) and the 1972(P) T-2 Ikes) had a shallow in-relief crescent “Shadow” just off the earth between 10:30 and 11:30 and several in-relief “Extra Lunar Lines” hovering just above the lunar margins on either side of the Eagle’s legs.

The dies destined to strike the 71-S and 72-S proofs, however, were polished, frosted and re-polished prior to being used in proof production, thereby erasing these shallow in-relief crescents, though a trace of an incuse crescent can be found on 5% to 10% of 71 and 72 SP Ikes, an important observation.

On struck 72-S SB Ikes, the incuse Shadow image faded along with but faster than the incuse Extra Lunar Lines, presumably due to multiple re-frosting treatments that we suggest included some field abrading/polishing to remove old frosting remnants prior to each re-frosting. As a result, only a third of 72-S SB Ikes have the Shadow image, in varying degrees of fade, while 2/3’s have the Extra Lunar Lines, also in varying degrees of fade. On the obverse, the Design Peg Leg shows a subtle spectrum of fade mostly in lock-step with the fade in the Shadow image and Extra Lunar Lines.

This article gave the authors an opportunity to once again illustrate Frank Gasparro’s love of fine detail and our sense that he enjoyed a bit of dark humor now and then. In particular, we introduce the 72-S SB Shadow Ike’s Apollo 11 lift off vehicle contrail image and exhaust plume, and, the 1971-D Friendly Eagle Variety’s (RDV-006) Re-Entry Vehicle contrail image, as well as a triangular flag Gasparro “planted” on the moon on all his high relief non-Bicentennial reverses from 1970 Galvano through 1978 Ikes.

We explain our observations and our reasoning that there are two one-die pair 1972(P) Type 2 populations:

- a population released in March 1972, discovered by author Herb Hicks, of which 80% have an evolving spidery die crack in ‘STATES”: the oldest die state is MDS (Middle Die State) and none show die clash.

- and a population probably minted in late-July or early-August 1972 at or around the time of the switch from Type 1 to Type 3 production, of which roughly half show the identical die-clash pattern including an obverse “Talon Tip” (a small Talon Head image) and reverse die abrasions over traces of Ike’s Jaw Line to the south and east of the moon: none of these have Herb’s die crack, completing a compelling statistical case for two separate populations of 1972 T-2 Ikes.

Because Herb’s March Type 2 release has no examples in later than middle Middle Die State, we estimate a mintage of 10 to 20,000 depending if the “W-1” or the newer more resilient tool die steel (“52100”?) was used (we favor the latter).

The August Type 2 was likely struck with the new more resilient 52100 tool die steel (the Mint reported a new die steel was being used on the Type 3 reverse) in which case its mintage could be greater than the 125,000 average die-life for the common1971-72 Ike reverse dies, with a probable outside limit of 200,000 – 250,000.

Herb’s March Type 2 therefore probably had about one tenth the mintage of the August Type 2 run, roughly 20,000 and 200,000 respectively.

Both of these one die-pair runs of 1972(P) Type 2 Ikes have the full incuse Shadow image and full incuse Extra Lunar Lines as there would be no frosting or frosting re-treatments on these circulation Ike production dies.