I have a few of the gold dollars that have small letter and symbol impressions on the edge that doesn't go with the rest of the lettering. Has anyone else found any of these? Here's a couple, in the first there's an E right to the left of the impressed E, the second there's a 0 in the middle of nowhere. I had another 0 pic on a different one but they didn't come out very well, so I didn't include it. I also had one with a star on it, not sure where it is atm though. I mentioned these in another thread so I figured I would post them. What do you think?
According to the US Mint, the Presidential 1 dollar coins are suppose to have letting on the edge or rim. Here is the link http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/$1coin/index.cfm?action=EdgeIncused.
I seem to recall someone else discussing the oddball isolated letters on the edge. I'll try to locate that info for you.
Either in NN or here I read the details of this occurence. What happens is letter get filled with gunk and the gunk drops off the dies. These "letters" are metal filings held together with grease. As such, if they fall into a new coin they will leave impressions when the next coin is struck. I believe they are being called "dropped letters". I hear they are fairly common on the dollar coins, as many people are publishing about them. Chris
I see random marks and damage. I definitely don't see dropped letters. (Dropped letters on the edge are also HIGHLY unlikely because a dropped letter would either fall on the anvil die and a planchet is placed on top of it, or it would land on top of a planchet and be struck into the coin by the hammer die. On the horizonatal striking presses a dropped letter could conceivable land on the edge in the vertical collar, but then it would somehow have to stay there as the collar moved around and then it would most likely be pushed out when the collar was reloaded with a planchet. Even if it did manage to get struck into the edge, most of it would probably then be wiped out as the edge gets squeezed in the edge lettering machine. As far as I know only one confirmed dropped letter struck into an edge has been confirmed. Oh and the dropped letter has to be form the obverse of reverse. It isn't possible to have a dropped letter from the edge. (Well almost impossible. I guess a letter could break off an edge die and get pressed into the edge.)
Thanks for the info everyone, I'd like to read the thread where the people are talking about it. @Condor101: They're hard to get a good picture of, for me anyway. If you download the picture and make it bigger you'll likely see what I'm talking about. The second one is right in the center and shaped like a 0, it's easy to see. You can see the first one too if you look. I could try and get better pics if you want. I've been wondering what they were for awhile.
Good information Conder. I just remember seeing, I believe in NN, multiple examples of dropped letters on these in an article there. They have them all over the place, including examples of them on the edge. I could be wrong, but the pics are just crystal clear in my mind right now. I toss NN after I read it, so unfortunately cannot go home tonight looking for the article. For same reason I remember it and the pics clearly though. Is NN online? Chris
I can't quite tell which items you're referring to. Coin World has some interesting articles about "Dropped Letters" or "Dropped Fillings". As Medoraman says, grease and other debris gets impacted into a cavity (device) in the die and become rock hard. At some point, it drops out of the die and is pressed into a coin creating an "incused" (recessed) image. However, that might not be what's going on with your coin. The golden (vs. gold) dollars display unique contact marks. Edge contact marks can press the incuse lettering against another coin creating a raised (extra) letter on the target coin (Coin World, 10Dec2007 Page #106). So, the question is whether or not the extra letters you're seeing are raised or recessed.
The "0" he points out on his second edge picture appears to be raised which would most likely indicate a hard contact with the 0 from the date of another coin.
Yeah, the ones I had out do appear to be raised, I'm not sure about the other 1 or 2 I have misplaced. The top one is to the left of the recessed E almost touching it, like 2 Es beside each other. They must have smacked together pretty hard at some point is what it is then?
If they are raised then Conder is right they are not dropped letters. A dropped letter would be concave. I still say I know I have seen lots of dropped letters in an article about these coins Conder.
The majority of the senses for the word "golden" can be interchangeable with the grand majority of the senses, as adjectives, for the word "gold"; though, they are particularly interchangeable with the sense "having the color of gold". There's validity when applying the anterior sense to presidential dollars, primarily because a state of the "gold" isn't specified. Conder101 is correct when he says that chances for a "dropped letter" on the edge aren't very high.
Dropped letters on the face of the coin or on the edge? I seen several examples of dropped letters on the obv or rev, but only the one case of a true dropped letter on the edge.
