Found this wheat penny. Is this what would be called a spit planchet? Reverse is normal. Obverse is smooth with imprints of CENT and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA showing thru. Photo does not show it but when obverse is held at the correct angle in light there is a faint almost ghost image of Lincoln's portrait. Any comments or observations? Would it be worth anything? Thanks John
Nice find! It appears to be struck with a capped die. Not very common for wheat cents. Check it with a scale - should be full weight (3.11 gms). A split cent would weigh about half of that.
According to this you don't have a split planchet... http://www.error-ref.com/split_plan_after/ I could be completely off on this, but the lack of obverse detail with the incused design of the reverse on the obverse side seems to indicate that the previous coin which was struck, stuck to the hammer die creating a capped die. When your planchet entered the coining chamber, it was struck with the previous coin still stuck to the hammer die and created a capped die ereror. Just a guess...
Guys.. this is A Full Brockage. You can tell when the image is struck in reverse. A normal capped die would show the obverse image through the cap. Again - http://www.error-ref.com/brockage-full/
Thanks @paddyman98 For some reason I keep forgetting about brockage errors. The actual planchet which sticks to the die is the die cap error...right? The product created by a die cap error can be a brockage? I have to get better at identifying these, best way I know how is to try to answer and learn when I get it wrong.
Yes it could be a little difficult to explain. That's why it's good to go to the http://www.error-ref.com/ website and just go through and absorb all the information they give. Here are visual differences - First picture are Die Caps and Second picture are Brockages
Die caps and brockages are related. When a coin is struck and sticks to the die it becomes a "brockage maker" and the next few coins struck by the press will be full brockages. But as the "brockage maker" continues to strike coins it begins to spread out, distort, and become thinner. Eventually the "brockage maker" starts cupping around the neck of the die becoming a die cap. Eventually the brockage maker/die cap becomes so thin and distorted the brockage design fades and the design from the other side begins to show through. Finally the coins struck may look almost like a normal coin but with some distortion from being struck through just the thin "foil" left remaining over the surface of the die. (In some cases the "foil" will even develop holes in it.) So it is a continuous process from new Brockage maker though very late stage capped die. Exactly were the coins struck stop becoming brockages and start becoming struck through capped dies I can't say. Possibly when the last traces of the enlarged distorted reversed design disappears.
as usual Conder101 you've made it very simple to unserstand...I appreciate that. I do have anot her question. Do most brockage makers happen on the hammer die or the anvil die? Or is it a random event?
