Overdates, the Top U.S. Die Variety by Kevin Flynn is now available.  This book is beingself-published, with only a limited number printed.  The book is 8 ½ by 11, 240 pages.  Softcover.

Overdates are one of themost sought after and in demand type of die variety.  An overdate is a coin that exhibits more thanone date or part of a date than intended for that coin.  Over the 230+ years the U.S. Mint has beenstriking coins; there are only approximately 112 overdates that have beendocumented.  The majority of these overdateswere created in the first 50 years of the Mint's history.  Of the 112 overdates known, 71 (67%) werecreated between 1796 and 1929.

These die varieties are sought after becausethey are sometimes so dramatic and visually stimulating, especially on theearly overdates, whereas you can sometimes see the full current and previousdigits overlapping.  Rarity is normally relativelyhigh for overdates, leading also to very high demand.  Most overdates command a nice premium overthe normal date, with the exception only a single die was used for a date in aseries and denomination, making all coins struck from that die an overdate.

Many of the early overdatesare believed to have been created intentionally with the objective of reusingunused or slightly used working dies from previous year's coin production.  Die steel was expensive, the die makingprocess time consuming, and there probably only a handful of coin collectors,which created an environment for saving money and time, without concern ofpublic opinion.  Other overdates arebelieved to have been created accidentally or by inexperienced Mint employees,such as a Mint employee accidently picking up the wrong date punch.  Another scenario occurred when the date waspart of the working hub and if on subsequent hubbings and working hub with adifferent date was used.  There is agreat deal of mystery and lure on how and why they were created.  There are no Mint records that document theorigins or cause for most of these.  Formany overdates, the evidence on the coins is the primary resource to learnabout these die varieties.

Overdates also present a general mysteryon how and why they were created.  Werethey created intentionally, accidentally, to save time and money in creatingdies, not wanting to waste die steel, as a novelty, for financial benefit, tomake something cool, or for some other reason. Were overdates created for different reasons during different timeperiods?  What was the process used increating overdates?  Dates were struckinto the working up through 1908 by hand. Were dates ever struck into working dies outside of the Mint?  What Mint employees were tasked in strikingdates into the working dies?  Was thisthe low man of the totem pole responsibility? It is believed that working dies were annealed to soften them to be ableto strike the dates into them, were the working dies annealed to a lesserdegree than if they were being hubbed? These are only a few of the many questions on overdates and how theywere created.  There are no Mint archiverecords regarding the creation of overdates. 

Another challenge is sometimesestablishing whether a coin exhibits an overdate or is incorrectly listed as anoverdate.  One of the more frequentproblems seen is when a valid overdate is found for a given year and denominationand coins from other dies are classified as overdates, even though theunderlying remnants do not have the characteristics of a digit.  For example, many of these refuted overdatesare more likely the result of a die crack. Take for example the 1869/(8) Two cent piece that has extra metalbetween the knob and middle of the 9. This was refuted by showing an early die state that did not have the diecrack below and through the date and in the 9. By studying all overdates in one book, we can better establish criteriato determine whether a variety should be listed as an overdate.  We can also attempt to establish patternsthat might help us understand how and why overdates were created.