Quote: "glykan"OK, at least there is someone who claims to have them all. You see, I am trying to wrap my head around it and something looks rather improbable to me.
To start with - there must be 2 variants of the obverse dies and "Far Beads" is, probably, a deviation from the original design (since it's more rare than "Near Beads" and all pennies before and after 1983 are "Near Beads"). This deviation for sure existed in business strike dies and you can relatively easily find both variants in regular circulated or uncirculated pennies. PL (according to the regular practice of RCM) are the coins taken out of business production (made with brand new dies and with no "bin storage") and therefore - in my opinion - both variants should exist in PL, as long as by "PL" we mean the coins from the mint sets sealed in cellophane (actually, plyofilm) and sold in paper envelopes.
As for "speciment" (in 1983 it was a double strike using the high polish dies) and "proof" (frosted image on the mirror background) varieties, the dies for both of them have been made separately from business production dies and with some additional steps (and probably higher precision of the device). It is rather difficult to assume that the same "Far Beads" deviation would occur in SP and PF dies which are supposed to be made with a much higher level of quality control than regular dies.
Take my explanations and assumption with a pinch of salt though - I am not an expert in dies manufacturing...
Yes, for PL, I mean those coming from the sets where they are sealed in soft plastic and placed in an envelope. For Specimen, I mean those that come from the Hard Plastic Specimen Sets, not Proof sets. For Proof, I mean just that from Proof sets. For Business Strike, I mean those coming from bank rolls or mint bags.
Far and Near Beads are sold in pairs on eBay in business strike BU/MS. That is how I got mine. However, they are not sold that way in PL, SP, or PR. Also, no Far Beads version has been identified in slab holders for any of the coins being sold on eBay other than in MS grades. There are no PL, SP, or PR graded Far Beads listed.
I live in the USA, where it is difficult to get Canada pennies. Most of my purchases have come from eBay or online dealers. I have asked dealers for both varieties in PL, SP, or PR, but none of them have been able to help. The excuse it either they only have one type and they do not know which one they have or they cannot tell the difference. A couple of dealers sent me PL sets, but both coins turned out to be Near Beads. I have both varieties in Gem BU Red, so it is easy to tell what they send me because I just have to put them between those two pennies to see the difference.
However, as you can see from other postings that even dealers say both varieties exist in MS, PL, SP, and PR. But, why do they not sell them that way? One reason could be the price. Far Beads is listed for $1 in PL-64 and Near Beads is listed for $2. I guess it is not worth the time it takes to identify them if they have no difference in value. In MS-64 they are listed for $1 in Far Beads and $24 in Near Beads. In SP-66 they are listed for $5 in Far Beads and $10 in Near Beads. I purchased a huge lot of Specimen strikes to get mine for less than $1 each. The lot contained every year from 1973 to 2011, plus double of some years. For 1983, I got five coins, and all five where Near Beads.
Since PL coins are made from the same dies as business strike coins, then it stands to reason that Far Beads and Near Beads must exist in PL. I agree with you. Since they are listed in the price guide, it stands to reason they must also exist in SP, but maybe they look slightly different or are not as noticeable. Without photos of both varieties in MS, PL, SP, and PR, there is not way to know if they exist or not or to know how to tell them apart. If someone has photos they can post with each variety side by side in PL, SP, and/or PR, then that would help. It would help us identify them correctly, and prove they exist.
If I am able to buy these, I will let everyone know where I got them.