Got a strange one last night

[Ifyndit]

I found this one last night. When I first saw it I thought someone had taken a hammer to it but I had to look at it with a loupe anyways. Glad I did! It appears to have the reverse of a half stamped onto the front. You can see "RICA" from AMERICA stamped just off of Kennedy's head and the slight circular rim of the stamp. I've tried to see if I can make out any other details that appear to be on Kennedy's head but hey don't look familiar. Anyone else see what this pattern is? It doesn't look like a eagle that is on the reverse of the halves.

 

[Silver_Fox]

I think I am seeing some German Swastikas in the red circled area.

 

[Jack_MIghtyheart]

I think I am seeing some German Swastikas in the red circled area.

That looks more like a boot/shoe print or treadmarks from a car. Magnify it?

 

[Silver_Fox]

I think I am seeing some German Swastikas in the red circled area.

That looks more like a boot/shoe print or treadmarks from a car. Magnify it?

Maybe waffles. Now I'm getting hungry..........LOL

 

[Bjorn_MD]

Oh neat, can you match the lettering to another known coin type?

That's quite bizarre. Super Find!

 

[cyberdan]

Maybe waffles. Now I'm getting hungry..........LOL

This is a waffle coin. Never saw one in the wild though.

I think it is something the mint does but I don't know why.

 

[jrf30]

I think it was done after it left the mint. It was siginficantly pressed with high pressure against some other coin, or something struck it while it was next to the other coin. Or even something heated it (A house fire did it to one I saw once. had the imprint of a nickel on a quarter. It also fused a few other coins, including a lump of silver halves that wer partly smelted!)

ANyway, i think the second coin left it's mark on the first one, somehow. NOt an error coin, but a damaged coin.

But i wouldn't take that as gospel and throw it back into the wild yet. Check with a coind dealer or two. :-)

 

[Bjorn_MD]

I would contend that if it was from another coin the result would be lettering that appears in reverse. It seems more likely the planchet was struck by some die. I am not sure of the die type though.

Maybe waffles. Now I'm getting hungry..........LOL

This is a waffle coin. Never saw one in the wild though.

I think it is something the mint does but I don't know why.

I believe I've read that the mint waffles production coins that are found to have errors to avoid having them become valuable error coins. The idea is to say we made an error and have caught it, rather than made an error and allowed it to get through the quality assurance checks.

 

[GMan00001]

I think it was done after it left the mint. It was siginficantly pressed with high pressure against some other coin, or something struck it while it was next to the other coin. Or even something heated it (A house fire did it to one I saw once. had the imprint of a nickel on a quarter. It also fused a few other coins, including a lump of silver halves that wer partly smelted!)

ANyway, i think the second coin left it's mark on the first one, somehow. NOt an error coin, but a damaged coin.

But i wouldn't take that as gospel and throw it back into the wild yet. Check with a coind dealer or two. :-)

Though I generally agree with that...it looks the "AMERICA" is raised, pressure against another coin would make it indented.

 

[enamel7]

I would have to agree with it not being the result of 2 coins pressed together. Definitely a die clash. It does not, however look like the examples of the waffle coins I have seen on the web. Plus the waffle coin program didn't start until after 2000.

Happy Hunting!

 

[XX]

I believe I replied to another topic somewhere about this very same coin.

It has valid evidence of being struck multiple times. I would send it to ANACs to be slabbed and then decide if it carries enough of a premium to justify sending it to PCGS.

As for the waffle coin mentioned. The mint is required to destroy any scrap that get's shipped out to ensure it cannot be used to make currency. The current method is to Waffle Cancel the coins, scrap, planchets, cutoff's, defects, etc.... They come out looking like the one pictured. I'm not sure why the Secret Service did not move in to confiscate when a bunch of them showed up on the market at once a couple years ago as all cancelled coins are supposed to be used to make new coins. They don't just sell these to the local scrapyard.

 

[Ifyndit]

I was doing a little research last night and found some different types of errors and definitions of errors (I'm pretty new to all the varieties of errors out there). The coin does appear to be a die clash error but the strange pattern on the front has me confused. I did find one possible solution to the strange pattern on the face of Kennedy. I was thinking that not only is the coin a die clash error but perhaps it was also struck through cloth, which might explain the strange pattern. Cloth, wire brushes, etc are common tools of the trade in the minting of coins and are used to clean the dies out occasionally. Sometimes pieces of these items get stuck in the machinery then transposed onto the coins.

 

[coinmojo]

In my unprofessional opinion.

It is mutilated.

Mojo