Hello and Happy Fourth ! If any one could please help identifying if this is a true US mint error and how this could even be possible that would be great . It appears that it was done in between the legend being added and other devices being added ? The motto doesn't appear to be damaged but the "U" in united does, along with the eagle wing and ever so slightly on the breast but mostly in the field is where most of it is .
Looks like the planchet had a scratch in it that was mostly struck out by the devices. The letters aren’t damaged, which means that the coin wasn’t scratched after it was struck.
Ahhh HaaaHaaa!!! It's not even the correct coin. We were looking at the wrong coin. That's too funny!
I believe it's damage. Something pressed or scratched the surface. Don't forget that the highest relief on those coins is the field, not the letters or eagle You can see evidence of raised metal under the O in GOD and the left side of the coin. You can also see where a Small lip sticks out beyond the rim at 10:00. These don't occur during striking, only from damage
@ toughcoins , I wonder if they struck them in stages. IE: Eagle and legend first then Motto last ? It's interesting anyhow because at least it shows the strike process if that's the case here .
That is not how they were struck. All design elements on the same side of the coin were in the same dies, and coins meant for circulation were struck just once. That the arc of the scratch coincides with the bottom of one row of feathers negates the impact of the scratch rather nicely on the one hand, yet makes it less obvious what the cause was on the other. Here's a very obvious example of an Indian gold coin struck on a scratched planchet.
I thought about that possibility immediately, and quickly ruled it out for two reasons: There is no trace of a corresponding cut on the opposite side of the coin, and The radius of the curved scratch is all wrong for that planchet size
