This is not a multi-strike -- educational post
jonathanb
Posts: 3,722 ✭✭✭✭✭
This is another example from a group of errors I bought, in a folder labeled "1949 TRIPLE STRUCK". It's something, but it ain't a mint error.
First, if anything, it's at least a quintuple strike. In addition to the strike oriented in the direction that I took the picture, there is a second date at the bottom rear of Lincoln's bust, and a third date at his forehead. Plus, there is an image of a wheat ear above the last digit of the date, and some sign of AMERICA in the field in front of Lincoln.
All four of those extra strikes are centered, with rotations of -90, +90, or 180 degrees. A little common sense says that "highly unlikely" doesn't begin to describe the sequence of events that would be needed to get a real error of this type.
With a little more experience, you might realize that true multistrikes simply don't look like this. Due to the high pressures used for striking, the last strike of a multistruck coin will typically eradicate most signs of earlier strikes. The places that tend to preserve evidence of earlier strikes is the raised areas of the later strikes. For example, the date on the back of the bust is reasonable to be preserved from an earlier strike. You'll basically never see large areas preserved in the fields, such as the AMERICA in front of Lincoln. The date at the top of the head, which is half on the head and half in the field but equally perseved in both places, is another impossibility.
As a final confirmation, this specimen is somewhat larger than a normal cent. Not much, but unquestionably larger if you stack it on top of a normal coin and feel their widths together.
This coin was damaged outside the mint. Someone probably created incused images of both obverse and reverse, probably by hammering some other coin into another piece of metal, such as brass. Those transfer images were then applied to this coin repeatedly, transferring weak images each time, and causing the the coin to become slightly squished/expanded in the process.
First, if anything, it's at least a quintuple strike. In addition to the strike oriented in the direction that I took the picture, there is a second date at the bottom rear of Lincoln's bust, and a third date at his forehead. Plus, there is an image of a wheat ear above the last digit of the date, and some sign of AMERICA in the field in front of Lincoln.
All four of those extra strikes are centered, with rotations of -90, +90, or 180 degrees. A little common sense says that "highly unlikely" doesn't begin to describe the sequence of events that would be needed to get a real error of this type.
With a little more experience, you might realize that true multistrikes simply don't look like this. Due to the high pressures used for striking, the last strike of a multistruck coin will typically eradicate most signs of earlier strikes. The places that tend to preserve evidence of earlier strikes is the raised areas of the later strikes. For example, the date on the back of the bust is reasonable to be preserved from an earlier strike. You'll basically never see large areas preserved in the fields, such as the AMERICA in front of Lincoln. The date at the top of the head, which is half on the head and half in the field but equally perseved in both places, is another impossibility.
As a final confirmation, this specimen is somewhat larger than a normal cent. Not much, but unquestionably larger if you stack it on top of a normal coin and feel their widths together.
This coin was damaged outside the mint. Someone probably created incused images of both obverse and reverse, probably by hammering some other coin into another piece of metal, such as brass. Those transfer images were then applied to this coin repeatedly, transferring weak images each time, and causing the the coin to become slightly squished/expanded in the process.
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At first, I couldn't understand how this coin could not be a real mint error, but your logic is sound. Sure seems like a lot of effort for a couterfeit error.
And yes, in response to Shamika's question in the other thread, I did fine by the other errors in the group. I overpaid for the pieces I thought I was bidding on, but found one Darkside piece at the bottom of the lot that I didn't pay any attention to when bidding and will likely recoup nearly all of my expense with just the one piece. I love group lots...
This cent will be saved as a reference piece. The dime will be spent as a dime. The rest may show up on the BST board eventually, but I'm behind on my picture-taking as it is.
jonathan
1969s WCLR-001 counterclash
Remember what I said about how the original strike is supposed to be preserved in the high-relief areas but almost entirely flattened in the fields? The obverse on yours is exactly the way that a real double-strike is supposed to look. The reverse I'm not so happy about, but I'd give it a little leeway based on the 'rightness' of the obverse.
Another hallmark of real double-strikes is a railroad rim. After the first strike, the coin has expanded to fit the collar exactly, and it will rarely fit fully back in for a second strike. So, real in-collar double-strikes will typically have a railroad rim, with the wider part of the rim on the side of the coin with the obverse of the second strike. Yours might still be authentic even without a railroad rim, but if yours does have a railroad rim, I'd be virtually certain that it's real.
Aren't you glad now that you kept it?
Congrats!
jonathan
1969s WCLR-001 counterclash
No?? Why not?
<< <i>Everyone take all pennies, two at a time, and hammer em together. >>
I really doubt this coin was done by hammering 2 coins together, that would cause the second set of details to be reversed. I believe that it was done using a set of fake dies.
1969s WCLR-001 counterclash
Like da war.