Ok, after some study, I think I have figured this one out. First of all, it is quite a thin planchet (split planchet?), only weighing 1.17 grams. Secondly, it is an elliptical clip. Thirdly, the obverse image exhibits a typical orange peel texture of brockages, but this is a counterbrockage, the Queen is not in mirror image. You can see some of the ghost images of the reverse maple leaf tips above the Queen, probably from being such a thin planchet and metal being formed into the reverse die. Lastly, the rim, or edge looks like it was sheared off during the counterbrockage strike at one point, and cupped like it was struck over another coin along the bottom obverse leading edge. So that begs the question, was the elliptical clip formed on a split planchet prior to the strike? Or was this clip part of a series of indent strikes, and getting sheared off in the last step of that process?? Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated. This is a really cool error, in beautiful mint state condition.
to me this looks like a large lamination/ partial split planchet that seperated after the strike. I think you might be reading too much into this.
Looks nothing like any of the lamination peels that I have in this series, including some clamshell examples. I could see this piece fitting nicely into an indent strike, that would have had a brockage inside the indent. This is a lamination peel in that series, you don't get the orange peel texture, like you do with brockage coins.
This is a double-struck cent. The first strike was die-struck on both sides, the second uniface. This could have started out as an elliptical clip planchet that settled against the collar through both strikes. Or it could have started as a normal planchet that received an initial off-center strike that was die-struck on both faces. During the second strike, the struck tongue of metal detached from the rest of the coin. In other words, this could be an elliptical strike clip. There is no counterbrockage.
I doubt it started out as a normal planchet, being so darn thin. Even if it started out as a split planchet prior to the strike(s), how do you explain such a thin planchet receiving a full strike by the reverse (hammer) die, including getting part of the 12-sided collar??
