New Discovery: HK-402 "1963 restrikes" are from new dies!

The 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) Alabama Fund Dollar by Whitehead & Hoag (HK-402) is one of the rarer So-Called Dollars with the interesting note that restrikes were struck in 1963 and are often classified as original strikes. These are mentioned in the April-June 1964 TAMS Journal which stated that the restrikes were struck from the original dies, but now 60 years after issue in 2023, the reverse die has been identified as a newly fabricated die. The obverse for the restrikes look like they were struck by original die or one created from the original die.

The discovery of the new die for the reverse was made by Daniel Carr on May 22, 2023, posting in a Collectors Universe Message Board thread on the Alabama Fund Dollar started by John Wang, who subsequently found additional diagnostics to identify the different dies. Major differences in the dies are shown below:

1. Center of scroll device is aligned with “9” in “1915” in the original and between the “9” and “1” in “1915” in the replica.
2. Letters “RNA” in “INTERNATIONAL” do not line up with “POS” in “EXPOSITION”. Other letters also do not line up but the centering of “RNA” over “POS” in the 1963 issue vs. the left shift in the originals is especially prominent.

In the comparision photographs below, the specimen on the left is an original strike (the Howard Edward specimen) while the specimen on the right is a 1963 issue (the Tim and Marlee Gabriele specimen).

Photos courtesy of Stack's Bowers.

Of note, Jeff Shevlin notes that the originals have a darker patina which can be seen in these specimens, but may be hard to differentiate when viewing individual specimens.

The 2023 Discovery of Different Reverse Dies

On May 22, 2023, John Wang updated the 2016 message board thread containing Bill’s comparison photo, to which Daniel Carr responded indicating that the two dies are in fact different dies, instead of the same die with different states of die polish. Daniel provided the following text and image image with the addition of the red lines to showcase the different positioning of the date and scroll. The rest of the image is from a comparison college provided by Bill Hyder discussed more below.

The re-strike is not from the original dies. You can polish old dies, but you can’t move the date on them.

Note the position of the date in relation to the center of the scroll:

After this post, John immediately located higher-resolution reference images to look for additional diagnostics, settling on the position of the “RNA” and “POS” letters as being an easy way to identify the different dies. The photos used are from Stack’s Bowers for the Howard Edward and Tim & Marlee Garbriele specimens.

The 2014 Die Markers Identification

The discovery of the different dies by Daniel Carr was made using the Bill Hyder’s photo college from a 2014 research project performed by Jeff Shevlin and Bill Hyder. While the existence of the 1963 issue was published in 1964, it wasn’t until 2014 that physical diagostics were known to differentiate the 1915 and 1963 issues. The diagnostics include a die chip and die polishing lines that were used to differentiate the two which was published in the March/April 2014 TAMS Journal Vol 54. No 2 issue on page 63. From this reserach, Bill Hyder published the following collage, which was discussed in a Collectors Universe Message Board thread started by John Wang in 2016.

Of note, while this collage includes the full die faces, the discussion is focused on the die chip and die polish marks, still assuming the dies were the same on the 1915 and 1963 strikes as noted in the 1964 TAMS Journal article detailed further below.

Photos and composite image courtesy of Bill Hyder.

The following is an image of the article published in the TAMS Journal.

This is the TAMS Journal cover showing this article:

The 1964 Warning Notice

The existence of the restrikes was first published in the 1964 TAMS Journal Vol. 4 No. 2 issue on page 80 with the following text, which indicates that original dies were used, however photos were not present.

WARNING !

Recently there have been appearing in various parts of the country recent restrikes from the original dies of the Alabama Fund Dollar for the Panama Pacific International Exposition of 1915 in San Francisco. This so-called dollar is listed in the new Hibler-Kappen book as #402 and priced @$137.50. These recent restrikes have been offered to collectors as low as $10 each and as high as $75. each.

Please beware if you are contemplating a purchase of this item. The recent restrikes are naturally in BU condition, but they do not “feel” right nor do they look right. Know your dealer and have him authenicate your purchase.

Here is an image of the original article:

Conclusion

After almost 60 years, the reverse of the HK-402 “1693 restrikes” have been shown to have been constructed from new dies thanks to the sharp eyes and reasoning of Daniel Carr, and the research by Jeff Shevlin and Bill Hyder.

From this information, it may become easier to differentiate the restrikes and they may be noted as such more often going forward.

References

1. Gabriele, Tim and Marlee. “1915 Alabama State Fund Dollar. HK-402. Bronze. Rarity-5. MS-63 RB (NGC)”. Stack’s Bowers Galleries. January 26, 2010. https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-B48OG/1915-alabama-state-fund-dollar-hk-402-bronze-rarity-5-ms-63-rb-ngc. Accessed May 22, 2023.

2. Edward, Henry. “Lot of (5) 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. 38 mm. (NGC).” Stack’s Bowers Galleries. November 13, 2017. https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-8PE6S/lot-of-5-1915-panama-pacific-international-exposition-38-mm-ngc. Accessed May 22, 2023.

3. Wang, John, Daniel Carr et. al. “HK-402: Panama-Pacific Alabama So-Called Dollar restrike with original dies”. Collectors Universe Message Boards. January 17, 2016. https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/957647/hk-402-panama-pacific-alabama-so-called-dollar-restrike-with-original-dies#latest. Accessed May 22, 2023.

4. Hyder, Bill. “Update-grades/Trueviews-Are HK-402 Alabama Pan Pac 1915 So-Called supposed to have a lacquer finish?”. Collectors Universe Message Boards. February 5, 2023. https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/13433378/#Comment_13433378. Accessed on May 22, 2023.

5. Shevlin, Jeff. “Deceptive Restrikes Still Deceive Hobby.” TAMS Journal Volume 54 Number 2 Page 63. March 2014. https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/523796. Accessed May 22, 2023.

6. “WARNING!”. TAMS Journal Volume 4 Number 2 Page 80. April 1964. https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/523681. Accessed May 22, 2023.