1943 Merc dime on a previously struck cent on a silver planchet - Real or not Real?

EagleEye

I'm sorry if this was posted already...If it was I missed it.


Link to ebay auction from Belgium (edited - Auction pulled)

I can't tell if it is a 1943 silver cent:





Notice how the letters are stronger on the high points. This is as expected.

Any thoughts?

MYTWOCENTS

Seller seems legit to me cool error I must say...
Dave

jonathanb

Wow. I don't know that I'd be happy buying that raw, but if it's a fake, at least it's a good one.

Broadstruck

Something doesn't sit right in my stomach on this one to even toss in a bid, as it looks like a 2 stage manufactured sandwich error.

If you look at the 43 Lincoln which was struck over a 43 Merc formally of the Ohio Error collection which sold at H.A. in August 2006 in a NGC 62 holder for $27-29K (Can't find anything in Heritage's Archives right now!) you'll see why this one looks like it was made in a Belgium Basement?

Maybe Fred will join in and give his 11 cents worth?

CaptHenway

I'd say false die overstrike.
Had the dime planchet been hit with cent dies first, it would have expanded outwards and not fit into the dime collar for the second strike. However, it is reeded.
Tom DeLorey

LALASD4

To me, it looks like it was struck by fake cent dies. Can't be 100% sure from just the pictures.

Rampage

Appears fake to me.

Broadstruck

To me, it looks like it was struck by fake cent dies.

That's what I meant by 2 stage sandwich error... first a Lincoln cent was pressed into a metal, then this false die was used to squeeze onto the Merc.

EagleEye

Had the dime planchet been hit with cent dies first, it would have expanded outwards and not fit into the dime collar for the second strike. However, it is reeded.

I think Tom gave the ultimate clue - I can't happen!, Unless it was a dime planchet struck on a cent press, THEN, cut down to dime planchet size and struck on the dime press. Whew, and there was a war on to boot!

jonathanb

We can't tell how much was reeded. I see from the picture that half of the circumference is reeded. I've seen broadstruck pieces where the collar was at an angle (technically, very-tilted partial collar strikes) that have reeding on half of the coin but no reeding on the other half. Also cent-on-dime strikes often don't expand to full cent diameter.

I think that this could well be fake based on the reasons given by all of the other posters, but I wouldn't say anything definite without examining it inhand.

I remember watching a 1859 IHC full obverse die cap appear on eBay a few years ago. Something like that is so absurdly rare that it couldn't possibly have been legit, especially since it was being sold by someone with no coin experience. In the end, I decided that I couldn't stand not knowing, and I prepared a $1,000 snipe. Mike Byers won it at upwards of $10,000, and featured it prominently on his web site for a while afterwards. Even improbable things can happen sometimes.

jonathan

Broadstruck

jonathan, thanks for the post.... I didn't know the 59 IHC Die Cap came on the market via Ebay.

AskRaq

The only plausible way that I can see this actually happening at the Mint is if a '43 mercury dime was already struck, then got mixed in with steel cent planchets and was struck again as a cent... being that the dime is a thinner planchet, the cent may have only struck the highest points (?).... but not possible as a cent struck on a silver planchet first & then re-struck as a dime.