By Ken Potter

Several Numismatic News readers have alerted us of Presidential dollars that are afflicted by what I call gnarled rims. I’ve had reports on these ever since the George Washington dollar was released on through to the latest Thomas Jefferson dollars. The ones we show here are two of the Philadelphia Mint John Adams dollars sent in by a reader. In each case we see that the gnarled rims are on one side or the other but not on both. We also see that the high points of the gnarling goes hand in hand with edge characters that are heavily punched into the rim of the coin shifted to one side or the other. In effect the letters are shifted so close to one side of the rim that they are causing metal displacement to be evidenced on the rim they are bordering. The information on the submitter of this coin has been misplaced and I’d like for that person to contact me so that credits can be extended.

Back in April we reported on Butch Parrish of Virginia finding a planchet in a roll of Philadelphia George Washington Presidential dollars. Now another Numismatic News reader, Thomas P. Van Zeyl of Illinois reports finding a planchet in a roll of 2007 Washington dollars from Denver.

Van Zeyl supplied an image of the planchet, seen to have the raised upset rim diagnostic to a planchet, which is the proper term for a blank after it has been run through the upset mill or rimmer.

Collectors are continuing to find variations on the 2007 John Adams Presidential dollars. Aside from the obvious activity on the double edge inscription and plain edge errors, one of the more frequent variations I am getting questions about is what appears to be two different font sizes being used for the edge inscriptions. Some of the coins appear to have smaller inscriptions than others. The smaller inscriptions are crisp with their lowest points tapering to a “V” while the larger inscriptions are wider and shallower with flat bottoms where a texture can often be seen.

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Dallas, TX: During World War II, copper was in short supply. Vital to the war effort for everything from ammunition to military equipment, the US Mint researched alternative metals from which one-cent coins could be made, thus increasing the supply of copper for military purposes. Various metals were explored, as well as plastics, but eventually zinc-coated steel was decided upon. All three mints - Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco - produced these coins in 1943, but problems with the new metal were soon discovered, including a tendency to rust and their confusion with dimes, and the zinc-coated steel production was abandoned the following year in favor of salvaged brass shell casings augmented with pure copper. (more…)