After nearly four months of readers searching, a second example of a major 1982 doubled die reverse cent has finally been uncovered. Numismatic News reader Jim Proctor of Vermont reported it. It bears the small date obverse and is struck on a pure copper-plated zinc core planchet - as was the original find.

Author Charles D. Daughtrey first revealed the existence of the variety to NN readers in a front-page story in the Oct. 2, 2007, issue, crediting Richard J. Ziegler of Massachussettes for the discovery. It represents the second strongest doubled die reverse known on the Lincoln Memorial cent, second only to the major 1983 doubled die cent.

Proctor said that he first became aware of the variety when he saw the NN story in late September 2007. A few weeks later, in late October, he decided to locate some rolls of 1982 small date zinc cents that he had put away back in the early 1980s. They represented coins grading anywhere from almost uncirculated to brilliant uncirculated that he had pulled from circulation on a daily basis and saved in rolls. Read Full Story

The 2000-P “Extra Beard” Lincoln Cent doubled die variety shows hub doubling on Lincoln’s neck, along the left side of the beard. According to variety coin expert Ken Potter, who first reported the Extra Beard variety in Numismatic News, the doubling was probably the result of a misalignment of the die during the hubbing process at the Mint.

The doubling appears near the center of the coin, consistent with other doubled die varieties that have been found since the Mint began using the single-step hubbing process. What makes this coin different is that the doubling is offset, or turned to the side, which means that the Mint worker who did the hubbing may have first placed the die into the machine rotated a little bit.

When the kiss of the metal occurred, an impression of the small “extra beard” area was made before the die seated to true. Since the Mint releases very little information about its processes, a fair bit of this is educated speculation, but the explanation seems to make sense. Read Full Story

Coin World is reporting that the U.S. Mint has accidentally struck between 70,000 and 140,000 Monroe Presidential Dollars on planchets (coin blanks) intended for Statehood Quarters! The error coins were detected and intercepted by the contractor (CoinWrap Inc.,) that wraps the Presidential Dollars for the U.S. Mint. During the coin-wrapping process, CoinWrap workers discovered some “irregular” dollars among Monroe coins struck at the Philadelphia Mint facility. Of course, the contractor immediately Did The Right Thing and gathered all of the misstruck coins and returned them to the U.S. Mint, which will (presumably) destroy them.

The Monroe Presidential Dollar isn’t due to hit circulation until February 14, but banks have been able to order the coins from the Fed since the beginning of February. It will be interesting to see how many of these amazing “wrong planchet errors” actually surface, and in what parts of the country they are found. Read Full Article

By Ken Potter - I reported upon a Spiked Head die crack on a proof 2007-S Thomas Jefferson Presidential dollar in the Nov. 13, 2007, issue of Numismatic News. What I did not say was that it was actually just one of several Spiked Heads found on proof coins submitted to me in the past year and a half.

New to the list of significant die cracks on proof coins are 12 examples dated 1998-S, 1999-S, 2000-S, 2005-S and 2006-S, spanning all denominations from nickels through a single Sacagawea dollar. The “list” was originally started with a Spiked Head 2002-S silver Kennedy half dollar that headlined the April 15, 2003, issue of NN. This coin prompted a long string of finds that followed as folks began to check other denominations and dates closer.

The 10-part series of reports ran intermittently with the last appearing in the June 14, 2005, issue up until my recent Jefferson dollar story. Read Full Article

After 47 years of ownership, Edgar Murphy of South Carolina decided finally to find out exactly what kind of error he’d purchased as a youth back in 1960. He contacted me by e-mail and made arrangements to send his error coin in for examination.

It turned out to be a rather neat 1954-S Roosevelt dime that was double struck in-collar with the second strike flipped over, what is referred to simply as a “Double Struck Flip Over” in error collector parlance.

Portions of the reverse show through the obverse design and the portions obverse show through the reverse design. The effect is a composite of both designs with the second strike dominating.

An interesting diagnostic of in-collar double strikes is that more than 99 percent of them fail to be forced all the way back down into the collar for the second strike. This is due to very slight expansion of the coin after it is ejected from the collar; after ejection it is too large to fit back in to the collar and needs to be forced in by the strike. Read Full Story