Can't tell for sure if it's a bonafide error from the pics, but it's an interesting piece of food for thought. :eat: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230702495726
It looks like a medio Balboa struck on a 1982 Washington half. Could be legit, since the US made Panamanian coins that year. The Washington halves were struck at Denver and San Francisco, but where were the Panamanian coins struck? It would also be interesting to know what the metal composition of the medio Balboa is. The seller said it was silver, which means that it could have been struck at San Francisco or Denver, but not Philadelphia. Probably not San Francisco either for that matter, since that Mint struck only proof coins. So the question is, did the Denver Mint strike medio Balboas in 1982?
Looks like it was struck over one of these. I am not saying it isn't fake, but they did get the years right, they are both 1982 issued coins.
Apparently Panamanian medio Balboas have been struck on Kennedy half dollar planchets that were from different years than the Panamanian coins, including 1982 medio Balboas that were struck on 1971, 1972, and 1976 Kennedy half dollars! It sounds like someone at one of the Mints was doing a little "creative coinage" in 1982! http://minterrornews.com/news-5-13-03-foreigners_in_the_mint.html
Well, that would make it an off-metal strike as well, as the 1982 Panama 1/2 balboa coins were all copper-nickel clad. I totally agree that it seems like an assisted error, made for profit by a mint insider. Usually with striking US coins there are ultra strict methods, but perhaps for foreign coins these methods became loose enough for an opportunist to take advantage. On a side note, earlier today I also saw a 2001 Malaysian 1 sen coin that was quadruple struck, and each strike separate on one of four sides. With that kind of perfect symmetry it's pretty obviously such an assisted error. That one sold for $200 and someone got ripped off. this one, regardless of the context I think someone got a great deal. Assisted errors from US mints are probably just as hard to find, if not more so, than bonafide accidental errors.
Almost certainly an "assisted" error. According to my records the US mint did NOT strike Panamanian coins in 1982. The last year they struck coins for Panama was 1980. So this coin was struck outside the US mint. Makes it a definite assist.
According to this web site, the last US Mint-produced Panamanian coins were made in 1983 http://www.pdxcoinclub.org/articles/Foreign Coins Struck at US Mints CWNA article with table.pdf
