Struck on 1 cent stock - not a cent-sized planchet - but the right size planchet for a dime, just cut from zinc cent stock. That is, if the label is corect
Wow.. Now that's interesting. So a sheet was fed intended for Cents but cut out as Dime sized planchets and struck as a Dime. The mint most likely caught on to the mistake during the striking proccess and eliminated them but one or a few got away from them.
I thought zinc cent blanks were plated after being punched, and that both steps were done before delivery to the Mint? I'm not seeing how this could have happened by accident.
I was thinking the same thing as Jeff. It was my understanding that a vendor blanks, then plates the cent planchets. Then they are delivered to the mint How can it be blanked to dime specs? It's a shame that PCGS didn't put the weight on the slab. Was this from the time period when somebody at the Philly mint was caught sneaking out errors inside the crankcase of a forktruck? Maybe it had a little "help".
I have some mint errors on wrong stock. There were a few Quarters on Dime stock in 1969 and 1970.. So I have an understanding how they occur.
These are not "cent stock". Such an error would be impossible as cent stock is raw zinc, and any blank punched from it will lack copper plating. Copper plating is applied after the blanks pass through the upset mill. Furthermore, the US Mint acquires its cent planchets from an outside contractor while it punches its own dime blanks out on site. There is therefore no opportunity for zinc cent strip to pass through a dime blanking press. Finally, the zinc core is exposed along the edge of these coins. The edge of a copper-plated, dime-sized cent blank would be plated-over with copper. All the evidence points to these dimes being struck on cent planchets that were intentionally cut-down (re-sized).
No. PCGS as well as the other grading services label coins that are known or suspected to be intentional errors as errors. Whether it's a wise policy or not is up to the individual to decide.
