1994 Cent Reverse Error?

whats going with the reverse side of this 1994 cent?
its a lot going but what interested me was the ST in
state seems like its partially on the rim but a bit off.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Looks quite odd...maybe a mix of plating issues, die gouges, and die cracks?

 

Is that part of the S and T from STATES?

 

Personally I don't think so.

 

that looks like part of S and the top of T to me. If that is part of the S that would be a DD right?

 

The anomaly you are referring to and a doubled die have vastly different appearances, plus a doubled die that strong would not show only 1 or 2 letters. I cannot tell you exactly what it IS, but I can mostly confidently say that it isn't a doubled die.

 

Maybe a coin stuck twice? Hard to say - I'd think lamination, but it's offset.

 

Isnt a coin that is struck twice a DD?

 

No...a coin struck twice is called a "double strike".
A doubled die occurs during the hubbing process during which a working die receives 2 sets of the design from a working hub.
Go to doubleddie.com and check out the "how dies are made" for more info.
I also have a thread I posted a while back titled "let's talk doubling" that gives great examples of what to look for (and the differences between) a doubled die, die deterioration doubling, and mechanical doubling.

It wouldn't be a lamination...those occur on the pre-1982 cents. Whatever it is, it sure is interesting...

 

Thanks!

 

but im still wondering whats up with coin?

 

A coupla things. Please post an image of the entire reverse. Looking at the pieces is interesting but a view of the whole reverse might help me a little bit.

Also, a coin struck twice is just that...a coin struck twice.

A doubled die is what we call a coin that is struck by a die that has doubled details impressed into it during the hubbing process. So the die itself has the duplicated details that are then transferred to each coin struck by that die. In fact, the die that struck the coin is the real doubled die since the details are already doubled on the die itself.

A coin struck by a doubled die is struck once but the details would be doubled (tripled, quadrupled, etc.) depending on the details that were impressed multiple times into the die itself.

 

here are a few more pics just in case

 

I also want to add that there is a post above referencing doubled dies being created during the process of making working dies from working hubs. That is true, but doubled dies can happen earlier in the process when master hubs are making master dies. We have several instances where that is the case. Almost 50 percent of all Cents from 1972 have master die doubling (not the bigger doubled dies) , halves of the 1940s and War nickels are also known to exhibit doubling that was created during the master hub, master die operations.

 

I have a theory, and Simon, let me get your thoughts on this - the die that struck the coin had a section of the copper cladding of a second coin stuck to it - this would explain the muddled area around "UNITE" and could possibly explain the phantom letters - transfer from the other clad section. Thoughts? Whatever it is, it's certainly interesting - I'd get an air-tite at least for it.

 

The coin seems to show the effects of having been struck by a later stage die that had a few gouges and some damage. There may have been some "grease"(debris) on the surface of the die as well. It's a keeper at least until someone can look at it more closely. It doesn't look too major though even though it has some points of interest.

 

jester, if your scenario were correct then the lettering wouldn't be so unaffected. If something were covering the die, it would distort the lettering a little bit.

 

That's why I wonder about the copper jacket cladding. It's fairly thin and malleable to start with, and under the pressure of the mint press, I could see it distorting around the letters and only transferring a small portion of the defect.

But let's face it, I'm just kind of grasping as straws. "Aliens minted it" is just as likely.

 

The cent had a funny sound when I dropped it. it almost looks copper
in appearance but it weighed 2.63