If I could trouble the F E Cent experts with a question...

ChangeInHistory

A friend of mine showed me this coin that he had bought back in 1983, bought it as a 63. He was very curious as to some of the the weakly struck areas, any tell tale signs of a variety or anything exciting? The images are the best I could do with my phone. He normally collects early copper and is pretty knowledgable about those series. I hope to get him to join these forums soon. Thanks for any insight into this coin.

Sonorandesertrat

Looks like the dies used to make this coin were not properly set (i.e., the die faces aren't parallel).

stealer

FE cents were notoriously weakly struck due to the hard alloy used for the coin. That being said it looks like what would have been a fantastic strike (obverse) and a weak strike (reverse) messed up by grease.

seanq

<< <i>Looks like the dies used to make this coin were not properly set (i.e., the die faces aren't parallel). >>




This is a possibility though the denticles adjacent to the weakly struck area are full, which you would not expect if the dies were out of vertical alignment. It is possible the planchet is slightly tapered, in which case the rim would still be struck fully because of the upsetting process. If the planchet were thin or tapered I would expect the coin to be slightly underweight, if the coin is still raw I'd suggest weighing it.


Sean Reynolds

Sonorandesertrat

"This is a possibility though the denticles adjacent to the weakly struck area are full, which you would not expect if the dies were out of vertical alignment."

I wondered about that too. I hope EagleEye responds---I am curious to see what his opinion is.

CaptHenway

<< <i>

<< <i>Looks like the dies used to make this coin were not properly set (i.e., the die faces aren't parallel). >>




This is a possibility though the denticles adjacent to the weakly struck area are full, which you would not expect if the dies were out of vertical alignment. It is possible the planchet is slightly tapered, in which case the rim would still be struck fully because of the upsetting process. If the planchet were thin or tapered I would expect the coin to be slightly underweight, if the coin is still raw I'd suggest weighing it.


Sean Reynolds >>



I suspect that the upset rim on the planchet could form denticles on either a tapered-thin planchet or a strike from dies out of vertical alignment. Though the causes are different, the results are very similar.

I'd like to see the edge adjacent to the weak area.

TD

EagleEye

The possibilities, in no particular order:

Tapered Planchet

Skewed (out of parallel) dies

Debris-filled dies.

Just going by the picture, I think it is debris-filled dies on both sides. You usually don't see any missing detail on the rim with debris-filled dies because the debris has an exit point, whereas on the face of the die it doesn't.

A tapered planchet might show weakness more evenly. Skewed dies would too. The edge would be different - thicker by the weak area for skewed dies and thinner on the weak area for tapered planchet. No difference for debris-filled dies.

It would certainly be debris-filled dies if only one side showed lack of detail. It could also be a combination of debris-filled dies and skewed dies (or tapered planchet)

renomedphys

Neat

PrincipallyCoinsCom

Is that the top of a "7" peeking out of the dentils, to the SE?