Cool Clipped Planchet Error (Pics)

CHAINCHOMP · May 25, 2011

Today as i was searching a box of halves, i came across a coin in a roll, that i could tell from the rim was a clipped planchet...nothing new, ive gotten them before, but when i pulled this one out i almost fainted! sorry for the bad phone pics, it looks like a ragged clip(s), but really just a normal clip(s), but the pic distorts it.....it's my 1st ever triple clipped planchet! it's a 1973-D kennedy half dollar!!! and it is in fact real...not fake, or post mint damage!

the devices/design do in fact weaken toward the clipped areas, and it's a really nice coin!!! I'm super excited about it!!! keep it up and hh! [R.I.P. Rich Hartford]

captainfwiffo · May 25, 2011

Triple is really unusual! Cool!

StevoCBR · May 25, 2011

Did you find any silver?

rfishoutofwater · May 25, 2011

Nice and interesting find. HH

CHAINCHOMP · May 25, 2011

StevoCBR said:
Did you find any silver?

thank you for asking...and yes i did in fact find a little. totals for the box:
1 x 40%er (1965 ENDER)
1 x impaired proof (1972s)
1 x NIFC (2002p)
and the clipped planchet.

keep it up and hh! [R.I.P. Rich Hartford]

rfishoutofwater said:
Nice and interesting find. HH

captainfwiffo said:
Triple is really unusual! Cool!

thank you all for your kind words! keep it up and hh! [R.I.P. Rich Hartford]

CHAINCHOMP · May 30, 2011

was no one else impressed by such a rare error find? has everyone else found these before, so it's really no big deal? cuz this was my 1st, but maybe its not a big deal and common...is this true?

papa1956e9 · May 30, 2011

How do you tell if it is a mint error or if some idiot didn't take some sheers to the coin? If i found it I would think it was cool, but wouldn't know if it was an error or someone screwing around.

jlr1076 · May 30, 2011

Not big into the whole "error" thing - looks like someone just clipped it post-mint. sorry, can't say i'm impressed.

captainfwiffo · May 31, 2011

You can tell genuine clipped planchets from post-mint damage in a couple ways:

1) Curved clips should have roughly the same radius as the coin. So you should be able to fit another coin of the same denomination in the clipped area. Striking distorts it some, so it won't be an exact fit, but it should be close. (Looks good based on the pictures).

2) The edge of the coin inside the clip will have a distinctive appearance (sheared, from the cutting of the planchet, then squashed, from the strike). It will look much different if somebody took a Dremel or something to it. (Can't see from these pictures).

3) With multiple clips, the position and size of the clips should make sense. (Looks good to me.)

4) The features on the coin near the clips will be weaker and "flow" toward the clips because the metal pushes out into the gap. Hard to tell from these pictures, but Chainchomp says it has this. See the dime in my avatar for an example on this.

5) The rim opposite the clip should appear weaker or flattened out due to the "Blakesley effect". The gap creates an imbalance of forces during the strike, so the metal is not squished as hard on the side opposite the gap, and the rim doesn't get pushed up as much. This is harder to see with small clips or multiple clips, but I can see it clearly even in the blurry picture.

This error is almost certainly worth more than a silver half.

papa1956e9 · May 31, 2011

captainfwiffo said:
You can tell genuine clipped planchets from post-mint damage in a couple ways:

1) Curved clips should have roughly the same radius as the coin. So you should be able to fit another coin of the same denomination in the clipped area. Striking distorts it some, so it won't be an exact fit, but it should be close. (Looks good based on the pictures).

2) The edge of the coin inside the clip will have a distinctive appearance (sheared, from the cutting of the planchet, then squashed, from the strike). It will look much different if somebody took a Dremel or something to it. (Can't see from these pictures).

3) With multiple clips, the position and size of the clips should make sense. (Looks good to me.)

4) The features on the coin near the clips will be weaker and "flow" toward the clips because the metal pushes out into the gap. Hard to tell from these pictures, but Chainchomp says it has this. See the dime in my avatar for an example on this.

5) The rim opposite the clip should appear weaker or flattened out due to the "Blakesley effect". The gap creates an imbalance of forces during the strike, so the metal is not squished as hard on the side opposite the gap, and the rim doesn't get pushed up as much. This is harder to see with small clips or multiple clips, but I can see it clearly even in the blurry picture.

This error is almost certainly worth more than a silver half.

Thanks for breaking it down, makes sense when you think about it like that. I guess i should have saved a few over the years that just looked beat up and torn up, probably could have been errors.