Here is a pair of CD 116 1871's with a very different set of wire ridges. We suspect the mold on the left was machined to produce the mold on the right. I have the same exact mold, where I can match the embossing, and one of them is the one on the left, and the other the one on the right.

If you look closely at the embossing in the photo here, you can see the left and right embossings are the same! But clearly the mode is a very different shape.

My guess is that the wire grooves (more like "bumps") on the one at the left perhaps proved unsatisfactory in holding the tie wire, so they were machined deeper, increasing the diameter of the wire ridges.

I also have another pair w/o the 1871 embossing. Same thing. Embossing matches exactly, molds are these different shapes.