LostDutchman

An important part of collecting coins of any type is being able to spot fakes, post mint damaged or intentionally altered coins.

Unfortunately, there are less than moral people in the world who will attempt to pass off a worthless coin as a rare find. The best way to keep from being a victim, is to be an informed collector.

1. If purchasing coins from a dealer, always ensure that the dealer has a good reputation. Many dealers do not handle error coins on a regular basis or not at all. Always work with dealers who specialize in error coins. Not only will you get a better deal, you will avoid being scammed.

2. If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is. Some error coins have extreme value, and these are the ones that are faked most often. If you are offered an error coin that you know is highly valuable for a sum far less than others would charge, be wary. 9 times out of 10 it will be a fake. Talk to a dealer, or contact the authorities to find out if the person you are dealing with is known. Look for tool or other marks that might give away how it was faked.

3. Ask questions. The only dumb question is the one that is never asked.

There are several places one can find answers. Talk to a dealer, or jump on the Internet. The web is full of discussion forums dedicated to coin collecting. These forums allow pictures to be posted and most have readily available, knowledgeable members to answer questions.

4. Something to keep in mind is this. There are coins, some that are true errors, that are illegal to own. Certain coins that were never meant to be released to the public, were smuggled out by U.S. Mint employees, which means they are not legal tender and therefore illegal to own. If you believe that you have found something that falls into this category, contact the U.S. Secret Service. It is their job to inspect and either release the coins as legal tender or confiscate and destroy the coins.

5. Beware that there are several different methods that can be used to alter a coin. Electroplating is often found, especially when it comes to the famous 1943 copper cent. Sulfur treating is also known as a way to tone coins. As well as soldering.

6. Lastly, never purchase a two headed or two tailed coin as an error. There are less than - known examples of this error known, because the mint strikes both the obverse and the reverse at the same time. Most two headed or two tailed coins are intentionally altered magic or novelty coins and carry no value.

Named Errors – Occasionally, an error coin receives a name by either the person that discovered it, or because of its error. Examples include "3 Legged Buffalo", "Spitting Horse", and "Speared Bison". These are easily explainable errors that were given names sometimes to increase their value.

Shattered Die – A die that is used to strike to many coins or is not properly made can shatter during the striking process causing what appear to be massive die cracks.

Mules – an error coin struck from two dies that were not intended to be used together

Proof Errors – Errors occuring on proof coins are highly rare as they are held to much higher standards than circulating coinage. In the 60's and 70's major proof errors (double strikes and so on) were smuggled out of the mint and offered on the market.

Fold Over Strikes – These errors occur when a coin blank is fed into the striking chamber and it is struck while the coin rest vertical and is folded over during the striking process. There errors usually shoot out of the machine at high speed and are hard to find.

Reverse Die Cap -Reverse die caps are more common the obverse caps. They resemble saucers and usually have either stretched obverse details or brockages on the obverse side. They are also called saucer cents.

Obverse Die Caps – A capped die is caused when a struck coin sticks to the upper hammer die. Once the coin is stuck to the die face, the reverse of the struck coin becomes the new die face. When the next blank is fed into the collar and the strike occurs, the reverse design of the adhered struck coin impresses itself into the new blank. This struck coin is a brockage strike. The coin adhered to the upper die is known as a die cap. This process repeats itself as more coins are struck by the cap. The greater the number of strikes, the higher the cap metal will be pushed around the upper die shaft. Eventually, the cap brakes away from the die in the shape of a thimble. Coins struck by a capped die are more readily available than the die cap itself.

Over date – Another cost saving variety by the mint. Instead of creating new dies when the year had expired, the mint would simply repunch one number of the date or the entire date.

Doubled Die – Dies are made in a very similar process to coins. They are stamped, or hubbed by a master die called a hub. They are hubbed 2 or more times to make sure all the design elements are present and will stand up to the pressing of hundreds of thousands of coins. Between each hubbing they are annealed. There are 6 classes of double dies. All 6 will be explained here.

Class I Doubled Dies (Rotated Hub Doubling) - This type of doubled die happens when there is a rotation between the first and subsequent hubbings. This causes a clockwise or counter clockwise rotation in the design on the die and al the coins stamped with this die will show a rotated doubling.

Class II Doubled Dies (Distorted Hub Doubling) - This type of doubled die happens when the dies are heated between hubbings. The metal expands when heated and supposed to contract when cooled. Sometimes this does not happen and the next hubbing is smaller in diameter then the last. This causes a doubling towards the center of the coin or the edge of the coin from the center.

Class III Doubled Dies (Design Hub Doubling) - This type of doubled die happens when a die receives hubbings from 2 different hubs that contain different design elements. The best example of this is the 1960 large/small date coins. This form of doubling is also responsible for overdates including 1918/7-D Buffalo nickel, 1942/1 and 1942/1-D Mercury dimes, and the 1943/2 Jefferson nickel.

Class IV Doubled Dies (Offset Hub Doubling) - This type of doubled die happens when the dies are returned to the hubbing press after being annealed. They are returned to the press and the center of the die and the hub are not lined up. This doubled die looks very similar to a coin that is double struck and the second strike is just slightly off center.

Class V Doubled Dies (Pivoted Hub Doubling) - This type of doubled die happens when a die pivots along the rim. This will show stronger doubling adjacent to the area the dies pivoted on.

Class VI Doubled Dies (Distended Hub Doubling) - This type of double die is very different from the ones discussed earlier. This type of doubled die happens when the die is annealed before the initial hubbing and is made too soft. Causing the hub to go deeper into the metal and making some design elements larger and adding extra thickness to the letters.

Over Mint Mark – This variety occurred from money saving attempts by the mint. Occasionally, dies from one mint factory were sent to another to be used instead of new dies being created. If the mint mark was already punched, the mint would simply punch the proper mark over the existing one. Example D over S.

Repunched Mint Mark or RPM – Prior to 1990, mint marks were added to the die by hand. A mint worker would punch the mint mark in the proper place. RPM’s occurred when the mint mark was repunched because the original punch was either to light or positioned incorrectly.

Strike Through (Foreign Matter) – This error occurs when a piece of foreign matter comes between the die and the planchet being struck. Examples include staples, wire,string, fabric and pieces of previously struck coins.

Strike Through (Grease) – Also referred to as a filled die strike, this error occurs when part of the incused area of the die becomes clogged with grease, causing that area to not be struck clearly or not at all. These are the most common of the strike throughs. The grease that falls onto coins is usually full of small metal flakes causing unique markings in the filled areas. They will look off color from the rest of the polished fields.

Die Scratch – Similar to a die gouge. Die scratches are caused when debris are cleaned from the working dies. The raised lines have a uniformed direction usually.

Die Gouge - A nick or cut in the surface of the die - appears as a raised straight line, dot, or bump on the coin. Die gouges can be caused by mint employees cleaning the working die from clogs with tools and making contact with the die surface hard enough to leave a mark. Die gouges are most commonly seen in the fields.

Doubling – Not to be confused with a DOUBLED DIE variety coin, die fatigue doubling is very common. Also referred to as machine or strike doubling.

Die Breaks (cuds) – A Cud is when a part of the die cracks off allowing the metal of the planchet to fill this area making a raised blank area.

Die Cracks – A crack in the surface of the die that appears on the coin as a raised jagged line of metal. These happen when the working die develops a crack because of wear. If the die is not replaced shortly after cracks develop cuds can form.

Die Fatigue - Errors in this category occur from the dies being over used. When a die is used beyond what it should be, several blemishes appear on coin surfaces. They can vary from letters becoming thin or distended to what look like wrinkles in the fields.

Double Denomination – This error occurs when a coin of a different denomination is struck over an already struck coin. For example an already struck dime falls into the cent hopper and is run through the cent press.

Multiple Strikes – Coins which fail to eject after the strike and are struck more than once creating multiple impressions. They can happen on center, off center, and in collar.

Indents – An indent error occurs when two blanks are fed inadvertently into the same collar, with one blank partly overlaying on top of the other. When the hammer die strikes this combination, the upper blank will be forced into the lower blank, creating a depression which is shaped similar to the upper blank. A scarce type of indent occurs when a blank intended for one denomination lands on top of a blank from a different denomination.

Brockage – A brockage error can only occur when there are two coins involved. One of the coins involved will always be a struck coin which has not ejected properly. That struck coin will find its way back between the dies and will be struck next to a blank planchet which was fed into the collar. The image of that first struck coin will be impressed into that side of the blank planchet. The result will be a second coin which has images of the first coin impressed into it. Those images will be pressed into the coin and the image will be in reverse. This incuse sunken image is known as a brockage.