Holy Cow!!! I think i have a dropped letter, on a Morgan!!!!

I don't disagree with you. I just find that based on the picture, the appearance of the vertical part of the D beneath the peeled part looks perfectly normal, which seems pretty odd. I assume we aren't seeing the surface of the "under-D" accurately.

 

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I don't know much about errors. But what a cool find! Ironic the person was hiding something that ended up being super cool and I would imagine rather rare.


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Well no doubt Heavy for the money spent you got a winner.
It's not many times you drop a few bucks on a coin only a hour later that you doubled your money as well found an unusual variety or error. Every collector should know this feeling . The same feelings like when one of the 49 'ers place a shovel in the ground and saw sparkles of gold!
This also is a good lesson for all YN'S never give up the hunt. As one never knows when you're going to hit pay dirt.


You know this would make a good theme for a thread.
Sharing your story when you got lucky and found a coin or collect able that paid off . Good Karma always pays off.... right Heavy

 

The OP's photos are excellent. However, much of the confusion here is due to the glare and the dark shadow under the raised metal. Florescent light would reduce both and make the error much easier to see. That is why it it the only type of light the authenticators at the U.S. Mint used with their microscopes. Same goes for watchmakers and their loupes...

 

I'm not sure it is a lamination. It could be, but it looks like it could be a retained strikethrough (flake of metal) that is coming loose

 

You know what? You're likely right. I originally thought it a delamination which the act of striking forced loose - that's not hard to envision - but your post made me realize the center of the "delaminated" D is metal, not a void. I would expect a strike-induced delamination to leave an outlined letter rather than a complete strip of metal - the edges of the center - a positive on the die - should have cut the lamination in that area. The only way for it to appear like that is if it were a complete, independent piece of metal before the strike.

So it may still be a delamination, but methinks if so it was originally part of another planchet.

 

Even without the neat, collectible, and valuable error, that is an incredibly nice Morgan - even if it is 1921 - for $22. Usually the junk boxes I see are filled with 'meh' Morgans in the VG-VF range.

 

@mikediamond

Care to put this thread to rest?

 

I'm still curious, I know it's probably a partially attached lamination. Is it possibly from another coin though???
@mikediamond Care to weigh in on this??

 

NO.

 

This is what I have been saying also!

 

While this could be ruled out if there is an obvious planchet impurity showing under the flake, it cannot be confirmed by the absence of such an impurity.

 

Not in this case.

 

My feelings exactly.

Dropped letter, in reality, are simply debris that has filled the letter in a die (remember, the die has incused lettering) which has come loose and fallen onto the planchet prior to striking. The end result is an incused letter on the final coin provied the debris is hard enough to withstand the force of the strike.

 

I think it's a lamination from the same coin as well. However, in my opinion the separation happened prior to the strike and it created it's own strike through. The release of the die pulled it back apart and it shifted to the left and is still attached to the host coin. I think if the lamination pulled up after the strike the surface under the lamination would be rough looking and not smooth as it looks in the photos. The smooth surface under the lamination is due to the strike through effect of the thin metal being forced together.

 

@heavycam.monstervam

Here is one from the Dilhole that may help:

This Peace dollar has a lamination also. Note that it continues into the rim. In this case there is no diagonal movement to the raised section peeling up from the coin. There is a small piece missing from the tip (away from the rim) that has become "detached." Look closely and you will see the dull gray interior of the coin that was under the peeled up section. This area is a similar color to the surface under the "D" of your coin. It looks different (easier to see due to lack of glare) due to the florescent light I used to take the shot.

The raised lines are radials.