The best I could come up with is an off center broadstrike or a partial collar. Can someone tell me if I'm even close?
None if those.. It's just a Misaligned Die Strike Normal occurrence. There are threads about them here on CoinTalk.
with the MAD remember that the moving Hammer Die is not striking perfectly centered, which thus affects the edges/rim of the coin because the planchet is perfectly centered in the Collar with the fixed Anvil Die behind it.
Thanks for the explanation @Clawcoins . Is the hammer die always the obverse of the coin? I'm guessing so since all of the MADs I have found have been on the obverse.
A misaligned die strike will not cause a doubled die. The doubling on the WE looks to be from where the die bounced or slid slightly causing the appearance of doubling. Good eye though.
@dchjr Yes I thought it was odd to have only "doubled" the 2 letters. I agree with a chatter or slide strike. Do you think the MAD is a common occurrence and repeatable? By @Clawcoins explanation it seems like perhaps an every so often thing....
From what I've read, I'd say "yes" for US coins for "modern" manufacturing techniques. But I don't know the definitive answer to that, or if someone screwed up once or more with which die where.
Not always, but I believe usually. It is also possible for the anvil die to be misaligned, but not by much because it is constrained within the collar. MAD's cause collar clashes not the other way around. The die can't clash against the collar unless it is misaligned.
It is very common for the slight MAD. It's not really a 'repeatable' occurrence in the coining process, but more like slop on the tolerance between the die and holder. Look at enough coins and you can see it a lot, especially on the obverse. The larger variations and having both the rev and obv MAD, start toward the rarer ones.
I believe they are repeatable. Once the die is misaligned you will get those finned rims until the die is recentered properly.
You are correct. I guess I was thinking more along the lines like a true doubled die is repeatable in that every coin struck from that die would be the same DD coin, so the variety (error) repeats on every coin. A MAD can happen, strike a few coins (yes, repeatable MAD) and then the holder could move again changing the MAD percentage or the operator corrects it removing the misalignment all together.
Is this also the cause of a wire rim either partial or fully around?I had so many "wire rim" wheats in a 5000 bag a few years back that I thought I had bought a bag of die or process TEST coins stolen from the mint!(vivid imag.) Or else some other searchers bag'o'culls....lol thanks and join in on the answer if you would like @Conder101
Thanks for the example Rick. Where is the indication of the collar? Obv or rev? or is it like a broken collar mark on the rim. I see similar occurrences but not as radical as very little change or tilt on the rev, but slammed tilted and moved as your obv. looks. Interesting so that's a MAD that caused all the havoc....
There are three things that can result in a wire rim, Excessive striking pressure that forces the metal up between the collar and the neck of the die, misaligned dies either axially misalignend or offset misaligned, or a excessively worn collar that provides more space for the metal to be extruded between the collar and the neck. Exactly how the edge of the planchet is upset can also have an effect.