I haven't yet encountered a retained interior die break in the field. All those I've seen appear within the design.
Both the 1964-D and 1961-D nickels appear genuine, pending verification through microscopic examination. Joe Cronin's 1964 nickel is a grossly...
The reasons for sudden reductions in striking pressure are numerous and complex. The most likely proximate cause is a sudden increase in minimum...
Yes, sometime subsurface plastic deformation can take strange forms. For example, you sometimes get a section of design sitting on a sunken...
As far as the flattened spots on the rim that Fred Weinberg pointed out as indicators of fakery, these are simply the impressions of the field...
The raised imperfections could be die dents, but I'd need to see much larger and clearer photos to be sure.
The lead-off nickel appears to show a somewhat weak first strike, and a very weak, off-center second strike. Such errors and error combinations...
"Circular die crack" is simply a descriptive term. It can be used for the die crack that preceded the formation of a circular die chip on the...
These pieces of chopped webbing are all over eBay. The Mint sends them out to be melted and recycled and there's no security involved the...
Chris, beginning in 1992 (first at Denver), the US Mint began a slow transition from the conventional die setup (obverse die as hammer die) to the...
On the 2004 cent, the extra letters on on the reverse rim. That makes perfect sense, as all but a few 2004-D cents and all 2004 (P) cents were...
Any example of peripheral die damage is worth keeping. They are not particularly abundant. At the same time, their value is minimal unless severe.
It's peripheral die damage of an indeterminate sort. It doesn't really look like a die attrition error, but I can't rule it out.
The first 1976 half dollar is more properly referred to as an uncentered broadstrike.
This coin was damaged after the strike. It's not an error at all.
It's an unusual form of die deterioration called "peripheral die expansion and erosion". It seems restricted to 1982 cents. Many die pairs are...
You'll notice that the surface of the coin (#76) is warped below OF AMERICA. This is another clear sign of alteration.
My article on this coin and others like it will appear tomorrow in the online edition of Coin World (5/11).
The 1955-D cent was altered outside the Mint. It was clearly struck in-collar and yet is out-of-round. The effect on the obverse cannot be the...
The fang-like, struck-in pieces of metal are classic rim burrs -- a form of pre-strike planchet damage. They have nothing to do with blanking...
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