Wavy Step Lincoln Thread - Attention All Collectors - Take This Poll

[Murphy-migration]

Please take this poll about wavy step Lincoln cents and if you do collect them then feel free to talk about them and post photos of them here. If you would not be a collector of them please explain why. Thank you.

[cpm9ball]

I'd probably give them to Billy.

 

Chris

[vumc409]

Since I collect mainly Lincoln's, I wouldn't be suprised if I didn't already have several of these and just didn't recognize them.

 

Michael

[NewbieCollector-migration]

though i mostly collect lincolns, i haven't noticed bout that wavy steps thing... gotta check first what those wavy steps are...

[Murphy-migration]

Since 52% of viewers know nada - nothing about wavy step Lincolns then I feel like it would be a good thing for those of us who know something about them to share our knowledge. 8 people so far said they would consider collecting wavy steps if they knew more about them. That number is probably very low considering the many people who read these threads and never respond or reply. Anyway here's some of what I know about wavy step Lincoln cents...

 

They are Doubled Dies. The doubling is caused by a tilted hub and can occur in the single squeeze process or the older method which was used before 1997, the multiple hubbing process. Essentially, a die is doubled and the wavy step images are transfered to the coins from the die. Wavy Step is just a name used to describe the transfer of image of the column into the steps below.

 

There are hundreds of different varieties of them and they occur in every year since 1987. By far the majority come from the Philadelphia mint. Curiously, only a very few from Denver were produced or possibly only a few are known. Many more may be out there somewhere waiting to be found. And there are none known from the San Francisco Mint.

 

There seem to be three or four classes of wavy steps. I recognize these three:

 

Minor - very slight waviness of the steps on the Lincoln Memorial. You'd absolutely need a magnifier to see it. I would say that at least 80% or more of all wavy's are minor ones. These are very common.

 

Major - Heavy waviness of at least the first three steps. You may also see some kind of fluting of the columns as lines coming off the columns and flowing down into the steps. You may or may not be able to recognize these with the naked eye. Surely if you're not looking for it, you'd likely miss it. So they are best seen with the aid of a magnifyer. These are not rare, but neither are they easy to find.

 

Monster - There is no doubt upon first sight WHAT this is when you look upon it with the naked eye. It's like looking at a 1955 DDO Lincoln. You just know. If you've got good light to see it by then you'll notice rows of light - no, waves of light! On a couple of the really monster wavy's the waves start at the base of the columns, travel downward into the steps and don't stop till they reach the bottom of the steps. The bottom of the Memorial is actually wavy! These are VERY rare.

 

You're not likely to find them in BU Unc condition unless you happen to be searching New Bankrolls and run across some. The majority are found in circulated change. I have yet to hear of any that were found in mint or proof sets.

 

The waves either fall straight down from the columns or off to an east or west angle and usually only affect 3 to 5 steps.

 

They are currently being recognized and catalogued by a number of respected professionals in the coin collecting community. You can buy Files from some of these pros that will explain much more about wavy steps than I could ever hope to do here. The files usually have good photos to show you what each years varieties look like as well as good descriptions and of course each variety is numbered. I would be glad to put you in touch with three people who I know have them on file.

 

I find that they are a lot of fun to collect.

 

Here's some photos of three wavy steps that I own. You'll see an example of a common Minor Wavy Step, an uncommon Major Wavy Step and last, a rare Monster Wavy:

 

2006, WSDDR-001 pop. a couple hundred

 

2005, WSDDR-001, CROSS-REFERENCES: 2005P-1DR-001; 2005P-1DR-001 pop. 80 that I know of.

 

1999, WSDDR-015, CROSS-REFERENCES: 1999, 1C, CDDR-008; 1999, 1C, CDDR-006; 1999P-1DR-003 pop. 2 known (This is the Holy Grail of wavy steps. It is the most wavy of them all. There are other contenders though.)

[bochiman]

I read Coin World's (believe it was them) article about these before (maybe the NN).

Anyway, it isn't an "error" or doubling that jumps out at one.

 

I, personally, have no desire to collect these nor read about them in the trade rags anymore.

 

Good for people that want to learn more about them or who care about every little intricacy (which, these are cool from the standpoint of the fact that the US Mint says doubling can't occur anymore), but my money stays with items that are move visible and fun to own.

[vumc409]

Murphy,

 

Thanks for the great information. I knew none of this...

 

 

 

Billy,

 

What can you tell us about these?

 

Michael

[Die Varieties]

Murphy,

 

Thanks for the great information. I knew none of this...

 

 

 

Billy,

 

What can you tell us about these?

 

Michael

 

Murphy has covered it very well. I collect them and have quite a few in my files. From the photos -- it looks like your 1999 is in my files as 1999 1c CDDR-008. That's a neat one and one of the strongest.

 

So far -- I don't have any "wavy step" types listed yet for 2006. But, I believe it's only a matter of time. Another interesting aspect is for 2004 I have over 20 DDO listings while comparing to 2005 -- I do not have any DDOs listed!

[WAVYSTEPS2003-migration]

Just to add a bit more to what Murph has put so well.

 

For the last three years I have tackled the job of cataloguing the doubled die called "wavy steps" and have managed to find 256 different dies from the dates of 1987 to 2005. Currently, I am working on the addemdum 2006 for the WAVY STEP FILES and have an added 30 or so new dies including two from 2006.

 

Yes, there are some that are minor and as a matter of fact most are. However, there are those that are very strong as Murph pictured, the 1999WSDDR-015 (this is my own filing number). This die was featured in CW, article by John Wexler. And they are not (the monsters) confined to be made in just one mint, Denver has some very strong examples as well.

 

As of yet, there are no confirmed examples from the San Fransisco Mint and I would be very interested in attributing a "wavy step" from that mint. I do suspect that they are/were made from all three mints producing Lincoln cents.

 

Also, I half expect a "wavy step" to be found on the nickel now that Monticello has come back in play. A similar design (steps with columns) are on both coins, so why not.

 

You all kep on searching.

 

Robert (BJ) Neff

 

Authored " A GUIDE TO WAVY STEPS; 1987 to 2005"

[Murphy-migration]

I want to thank all those who have taken time to offer their opinions here for the benefit of others to read.

 

BJ would you consider this 2006P Jefferson a wavy step variety?

[Murphy-migration]

What about this one?

[vumc409]

WAVYSTEPS2003,

 

Authored " A GUIDE TO WAVY STEPS; 1987 to 2005"

 

Document for sale? download? How can we obtain a copy of this document?

[WAVYSTEPS2003-migration]

For information regarding "A Guide to WAVY STEPS; 1987 to 2005" please contact me at the following Email address; wavysteps2003@aol.com. Thank you for your inquire.

 

WAVYSTEPS2003

[Die Varieties]

I would also like to add that we are starting to see DDR's that are similar to some we have listed in the past. This one photographed below came in recently from variety collector Ray Davis now assigned in my Crawford "C" files as 2005 1c CDDR-013 and is also assigned in John Wexler's files as 2005 1c WDDR-028. Though the spread is overall minor, it has some similar appearances in doubling when compared to the 2004 1c CDDR-002 (CDDO-002) and the 2004 1c CDDR-004/WDDR-005 (though these two varieties are obviously much stronger in doubling). The key point on recognizing this DDR is the elongated dots and extra thickness on the letters of EPU. Faint notching can be seen on some of the tops of the letters such as we can barely see on the "M" of UNUM. We can also just barely see notching on the lower serif of the letter "S" of PLURIBUS. The columns, statue and some of the inner design elements of the building also exhibit extra thickness.

 

 

 

 

Another interesting correlation that we keep seeing happen is what I call the "doubled statue" varieties. Though most are minor -- some can be rather interesting and fun to collect. Below I have pictured two different dates, a 2004 and 2005 with both being very similar to each other in doubling appearance. This tells us the tilting and snapping during the single-squeeze hubbing process is continuing and in a lot of cases -- the same directions.

 

Below is the 2004 1c CDDR-016:

 

 

2004 1c CDDR-016 with an overlay:

 

 

Now here's the 2005 1c CDDR-015 recently sent in to me from variety specialist and author Brian Allen. Compare the similiarities of doubling on the statue with the above 2004 1c CDDR-016.

 

 

2005 1c CDDR-015 with an overlay:

 

 

These DDR's let us know that the tilting and snapping continues and hopefully -- more are to come. Have fun in your searches ...

[Die Varieties]

"I'd probably give them to Billy.

 

Chris"

 

Thanks Chris --