• The date is 1872.
• The coin has a doubled die obverse.

• Click the "Special Filters" menu and select "Remove Die Stages".
• Scroll the list of varieties (in the main window) until you see any 1872.
• Click on the box that contains the date "1872".
• Click on the button at left that says "Auto Filter". This eliminates all varieties that are not 1872s.
• In any variety remaining, click on a box that has the DDO attribute checked.
• Click on "Auto Filter" again. Now, only 1872s with DDOs are left.

Perhaps you are able to narrow the field further. Following are some example steps. Don't worry if you are not able to use any of them!

• If you are able to determine that the coin in question has Obverse type C, click on any box in the Obverse column that says "c: Full arrow". Then click "Auto Filter". This removes all varieties that are not Obverse C.

• Now examine the strength and direction of the doubling for the DDO. Perhaps you can tell that this is a widespread DDO, and the doubling is definitely to the southeast. Click on the "Filter" button to the left, and in the Comments field type "SE Major". Click Ok, and all varieties that are not major doubling to the SE are removed from the display. If you are not sure if the coin has southeast doubling (perhaps its difficult to tell the difference between slightly southeast and due south), you can leave out the "SE" and just enter "Major" in the Comments field. If the doubling is obviously to the southeast but you are not sure if it's major doubling or minor doubling, just enter "SE" in the Comments field.

If you are not sure about how to classify a coin according to the example steps just above, it's better not to try to narrow the field - you may inadvertantly remove the variety that matches the coin you are trying to attribute. With a little practice, you can gain more skill.

After performing as many of the above steps as you find feasible, you are left with a list of candidate varieties against which you can try to match your coin. The matching process is best performed as follows:

Starting with SNV version 4.0, you can use the Thumbnail Filtering function to view a single area of all of the remaining candidate coins simultaneously (for example, you can view all of the date positions). If you want to use Thumbnail Filtering to eliminate some candidates, it may save you some time on the next steps.

Double-click on the first candidate variety still remaining in the main list to bring up the photos of that variety. Examine the variety to see if it's a possible match to you coin. In many cases you will be able to immediately eliminate the variety as a candidate. Here are some sample criteria that will help you eliminate a candidate doubled die:

• The date is in the wrong position.
• The engraved leaf looks different (1869 and before only).
• The strength or direction of the DDO is obviously different from your coin.

Let's assume that you have eliminated the first candidate as a possibility. If so, close the window with the pictures of this variety and click the "Filter This One" at the left. This will remove the current row from the candidate list.

If you aren't sure whether you can eliminate a candidate, just leave it in the list. Move on to the next candidate and see if you can eliminate that. By this process, you will be left with at most a very short list of candidates. Most of the time you will be able to narrow down the attribution to a single variety by this process. If it winds up that you have more than one candidate left, then it is time for some detailed analysis using whatever other clues (die markers such as cracks or breaks) available.

Note:

In one of the early steps I recommended clicking on the Special Filters: Remove Die Stages menu selection. This is to avoid cluttering up your candidate list with multiple copies of the same variety. If you find it necessary to use detailed analysis of die markers to complete your attribution then viewing the die stages may become useful. In this case, use the Special Filters: Reinstate Die Stages menu selection to once again make the die stages visible without disturbing any of your other filtering.

Note 2:

If you wish, all of the early filtering steps can be accomplished in one step by clicking on the "Filter" button at left and setting all of the criteria at once, rather than selecting a matching row and using the "Auto Filter" feature. The end result is the same - whichever one you find more convenient. The "Filter" button method has the advantage that it allows you to create the filter and save it to disk for reuse later.