Last week I picked up a decent 1915 Recessed ear penny [ show on the next post] . That got me thinking about the life of this die, from its start to its destruction, and so I hunted around and managed to find an 1916 example with a die crack running right across the coin from the A in GRA to the D in DEF on the other side of the coin. The crack is so bad that it must have meant the end of the die, and the production of this type. Pic. On the left starting at the top is an early 1915 strike without the crack , but note the tooth in question seems smaller than the others ?. Next down is also a 1915 and appears to have a small curved bite out of the bottom of the tooth . Third down is a 1916, it has now developed, and a large section is missing from the tooth. Finally the bottom insert also 1916 shows the final extent of the tooth loss, as this is the example with the die crack, also shown in full on the right side.