Has anyone seen this

After further study and some experimentation, I've come to agree with Ken Potter that this is a dropped letter. I tried to achieve the same sort of contact mark with one of my own Polk dollars. While I was able to generate a clear incuse T, I couldn't get the same depth, couldn't do it without generating a surrounding contact facet, and couldn't do it without catching one of the adjacent letters. While I still don't understand why there are apparent pressure ridges, this observation doesn't negate my other observations. The preponderance of the evidence now favors a dropped letter, in my opinion.

 

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This has been very informative, but I am a bit confused and if you could explain, I would really appreciate it.

Is a "dropped letter" actually metal from a coin that has become attached to the machine that applies the edge lettering ? Then, does that imprint the image on to perhaps several coins before it falls off or is removed during service ?

Lastly, if that is the case, does that make the coins inquestion legitimate "errors" or are they just considered damaged like die chips ?

Thanks,
gary

 

A dropped letter, or any dropped filling, is a plug of compacted "gunk" that falls out a recess in the die face and is struck into a planchet.

 

Excellent informative thread!

Congrats Tuffjump! That's a great start to your error collecting education.

 

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Has it really been almost a year? Wow. Well this thread certainly has been interesting and it is a good point that judging certain situations by photos alone can be complex, but by that same token, in most cases those with experience can see enough to give adequate opinion.

Nice find and results - now let's see some new finds...

 

Whew, what a long strange trip it's been!

I can't wait to get the coin in hand again and inspect it with much more knowledge than I had a year ago. This coin will become part of my granddaughters collection somewhere down the road. She is the one that got me into errors and hopefully she'll have a decent collection in the future.

I can't wait to get my cent back from Wexler..........but thats another thread.