Hello everyone! Found this at a bargain bin, it will be a little hard to see i think, but it looks almost like a doubled image on the obverse of this coin. Let me know what y’all think!
Some better pics out of the flip are needed for determination. I definitely see doubling of the profile, but can't tell what kind. Break that puppy out and give us fronts & backs.
It looks like a shifted double strike. It's not a doubled die, if that's what you were thinking. A lot of older coins can be found with multiple strikes.
It actually decreases the value of most coins. Coins of this time period, and older, were not mass produced items like today, so the premium is on nice examples.
As already pointed out, with older coins double strikes are extremely common. And there are triple strikes and quadruple strikes and over-strikes and all kinds of varieties. This happens because of the way the coins were made, the manufacturing methods of the time period. But usually, as Beef said, it decreases the value of the coin.
Overstrikes do not decrease the value of British coins as most of them display doubling in one form or another, But where there is a clear separation these coins will have a small premium attached. If however A coin has a letter or a digit overstruck with a different letter or digit these coins carry massive premiums. The only coin I can think of off the top of my head where the rule of thumb is at odds with the norm is the 1888/7 jubilee head shilling nearly all the entire mintage were overstruck and the normal 1888 date is as rare as hens teeth
What time period is this coin from? Was it hammer struck? Screw press? My guess is probably it's milled coinage without a collar