An amazing “six-cents” coin, with the obverse of the 1859 Indian cent impressed on the obverse of an 1857 half dime with some of the star, date, and Liberty details visible beneath the Indian type; the reverse, though somewhat flattened, is of the host 1857 half dime.

Called Unique by Pollock in his reference on the series, and no other example has been rumored to exist since the publication of that volume in the 1990s.

At the uspatterns.com website, site director Saul Teichman is of a different opinion: “Although listed as an obverse die trial in silver for the 1859 Indian head cent struck over a struck 1857 half dime planchet, it is more likely a mint error in which the struck half dime ended up on top of blank cent planchet resulting in the striking seen above [the present coin is pictured at the website]. The half dime’s date can be seen in the field to the left of the Indian’s face under the STA in STATES.”

Indeed, the PCGS holder states “Mint Error.” A known entity that has been around for some time; perhaps Judd considered this a piece to be a “Mint Error,” and thus did not list it in his seminal work the pattern series.

Anyway you slice it, the present specimen is unique. PCGS Population: 1; no others certified in any grade.

Seavey, Parmelee Collection; Superior’s February 1974, Ruby Collection Lot 1988A; Bowers & Merena, April 1986 Lot 2209.

The Coin is being offered at Auction in Stack’s sale of “The Keusch, Snow & Del Zorro Collections” to be held on November 18-19 in Baltimore, MD.

By Mike Byers - MintErrorNews

Unique 1866 $2½ Struck on 3 Cent Nickel Planchet Certified by NGC

This numismatic discovery was certified in 2007 by NGC. It is one of two known U.S. Liberty gold coins struck on wrong planchets and certified by either NGC or PCGS as a mint error. The other known piece is a unique 1851 $20 Liberty struck on a cent planchet and certified by NGC.

Coincidentally, in 1975 I bought the 1851 $20 Liberty on a Large Cent planchet from Fred Weinberg. It was one of the highlights from the famous Dr. J. Hewitt Judd Collection. Judd listed it with illustration in Appendix B of his pattern book as a mint error. Until the discovery of this 1866 $2½ struck on a 3 Cent Nickel planchet, it was the only known U.S. gold coin struck on a wrong planchet. The $20 struck on the Large Cent planchet now resides in an East Coast collection of mint errors and is valued by many mint error specialists at over $150,000 should it ever become available.

This unique 1866 $2½ is an incredible discovery for many reasons. An 1866 $2½ has an extremely low mintage with only 3,080 struck and is one of the rarest dated $2½ Liberties known. It is a five-figure coin in just mint state 60 and a true gem, if it existed in this grade, would be worth well into six-figures.

This mint error is in gem condition. It was fully struck and has pristine fields and a flawless portrait. I would describe this coin as struck. It weighs 2.04 grams since it was accidentally struck on a 3 Cent Nickel blank planchet. It is incredible that this coin was preserved in this condition.

There are other U.S. gold coins struck as patterns and die trials on different alloys and/or with different designs. These are listed in Judd in the regular section along with the patterns. It is possible that one of these listed may actually be a mint error struck by mistake on a wrong planchet. But until one is authenticated and certified by PCGS or NGC as a mint error, only the $20 on a Large Cent blank and this 1866 $2½ on a 3 Cent Nickel planchet have been verified. I’ve handled patterns, die trials, splashers and other numismatic rarities since 1975 and I’ve never come across a U.S. gold coin which I genuinely believe was struck by mistake (mint error) on a wrong planchet other than the two I mention above. (more…)

by Ken Potter - NLG

The 1980-D&S Lincoln cent variety has bit the dust! Referred to by some as a Dual Mint Mark and by others as an Over Mint Mark (OMM), it had been one of the most hotly debated varieties amongst specialists for over a decade. James Wiles, 20th Century Variety Coin Attributer for CONECA provided an image of a specimen submitted by collector, Gary Darlington. Wiles distributed the image via email and it took a panel of prominent variety coin examiners that he sent to image to less than 24 hours to reach consensus that it debunked what was previously thought to be a D&S.

The image was of an early-mid-die-state, (EMDS), a stage earlier than previously seen. Specialist, Billy Crawford created overlay images of two different stages demonstrating that they were from the same die. The EMDS specimen shows an irregular pattern of probable die damage as being the source of what looks every bit like the lower two-thirds of an S on mid-die-state (MDS) examples. Later stages are less convincing but the presence of the deceptive MDS seemed to legitimize the LDS.

George Allegado first discovered the variation in late-die-state (LDS) and reported it to Alan Herbert in early February of 1981. Herbert later reported upon it in Numismatic News. CONECA member, John Wexler, published a story on another LDS specimen in the May 1981 Error-Variety News, its image splashed on the front cover. This piece became the plate-coin in Wexler and Tom Miller’s, The RPM Book published in 1983 which kept the coin in the limelight for a number of years.

However, not all observers including this writer were sure the coin displayed a D&S. The coin was LDS and the outline of an S was questionable. It was eventually removed from the RPM Book files (then owned by me and later by CONECA after Wexler sold them in the late 1980s) at which point the variation became hotly debated. (more…)

Coins struck accidentally on planchets intended for other issues are known for quite a number of United States coin types, but they are rarely more spectacular than when occurring with dollar coins. This superb gem Eisenhower Dollar was struck at the San Francisco Mint for inclusion in the series of “blue pack” silver-clad dollars offered by the U. S. Mint at $3 apiece from 1971 to 1974.

At first glance it could almost pass for one of these silver-clad pieces, but inspection of its edge (made all the more easy through NGC’s unique EdgeView® holder) reveals the bright orange-red glow of a copper-nickel-clad planchet! This coin has the satiny texture typical of most silver-clad dollars and confirms that it was struck accidentally as part of that series.

The Denver Mint was assigned the role of preparing planchets for San Francisco’s production of the “blue” Ikes, but it was simultaneously making planchets of the copper-nickel-clad composition for its own press run of circulating coins. One of these ordinary planchets evidently found its way into a shipment of silver-clad planchets going to San Francisco and was struck and packaged as a silver-clad issue. While this scenario describes how such an error could have occurred, it did not play out very often. This is the first report of a 1973-S Dollar struck on a copper-nickel planchet.

If that weren’t enough to excite collectors, this coin is also a doubled-die obverse variety! It is DDO-2 as listed and illustrated in the book CONECA Attribution Guide to Eisenhower Dollar Die Varieties by James Wiles, Ph.D. This variety, previously known only in the normal silver-clad composition, is now confirmed on a copper-nickel-clad planchet intended for currency strikes. Collectors should check their “blue packs” for more new discoveries.

View The NGC Website for the fill article