Moen1305

This is the obverse of the coin. You see the Lincoln memorial upside down printed over dear old Abe. What type of error is this?

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lawdogct

Its hard to tell from the picture, but one type of error it may be is a "die-clash". This occurs when the two minting dies, strike each other (clash) without a planchet being between them. The result is that the design from each die (reverse and obverse) is imparted onto both dies. There are other ways a coin can have both the reverse and obverse design on the same side, but I'll leave it to the resident experts to explain as I'm not well verse with them (yet).

Moen1305

Is this a better size?? I know it's blurred but There isn't a heck of a lot of detail that isn't bumps.

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mikediamond

It's definitely not a die clash. The photo is blurry, but this may be a type of brockage known as a "clashed cap strike". A late-stage die cap, or a uniface die cap struck the reverse die directly and picked up an impression the reverse design. It then transferred the design back to the coin. The result is an incuse version of the Memorial overlying a raised "ghost" of Lincoln. Since the ghost is very faint, this was coin was probably struck by a uniface die cap, i.e., one that never had a reverse design.

A clearer photo would tell me whether my diagnosis is correct.

Moen1305

Alright, best picture I can create. There is a crack running through the bottom that might be a clue.

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mikediamond

Yes, it's definitely a clashed cap strike. It's also got a thin strike-through error. The ghost of Lincoln is stronger than I thought, so it could have been struck by a late-stage die cap that clashed with the reverse die. Judging from the amount of expansion seen in the incuse Memorial, I would estimate that this is the third or fourth coin that was struck after the clash.

Moen1305

Wow, you're good and I appreciate the info. I don't really know much about out of the ordinary error types. Do you think that there are there many examples of this type of error out there? And who collects this stuff?

mikediamond

They're not all that rare. Die caps often clash with the reverse die. Clashed cap strikes are one of the more common brockage subtypes. They're more valuable when the cap has some of the original reverse design (leaving a double brockage on the first few coins struck after the clash), or when there is an incuse obverse design on the cap's reverse face (leaving a brockage/counterbrockage combo on the first few coins struck after the clash). Other, rarer combinations are known.

Moen1305

Thank you, you've been a lot of help. Is the fact that you can't make out the date make a coin like this less valuable?

mikediamond

I doubt the absence of a date would have much effect on its value. Many capped die strikes and clashed cap strikes do not show a date because the floor of the cap is still too thick to let the date bleed through from the obverse die.

lawdogct

hmmmm.....I'm curious, its it possible this is post mint damage. I only ask b/c last night I was experimenting with ways of rapidly toning nickels/pennies using heat (someone had mentioned something about placing them on a lightbulb, I used my kitchen stove) and I literally cooked a post-1982 penny. The zinc inside liquified and the copper plating held, but softened. The end result when it cooled is a coin that looks alot like one in the clear picture.

Moen1305

According to Fred Weinberg, it is...

"Hello,

Your coin appears to be a late stage brockage strike.

If you want to sell it, I suggest you put it up on Ebay.

It might bring between $35-$55, or thereabouts......"

I assume that they see this stuff all the time and would know.
My late father-in-law, who used to own this coin was a pretty sharp collector. He wouldn't have kept it unless he thought it was the real deal. He attended coin auctions regularly(much to my wife's distain) and kept up his collection until his death. His father was equally as involved in coin collecting as he was and I still have boxes of unused 50-sheet stamps that they had jointly collected. He kept a couple clipped plachets and one coin with a strange star shape pressed into it with what looks like a lower-case "n" in the center. I have yet to go through the whole collection and I've had it 15 years.

mikediamond

Fred's not quite accurate here. While the die cap was late-stage, the brockage itself is a fairly early one. That's what you get with a clashed cap strike.