Lincoln Partial Brockage Question
The images above were taken of the coin with side lighting which creates many harsh shadows but brings out some details lost with the brighter scanner shots below. Notice the ghosting of the Lincoln cent bust showing through on the obverse which helps us orientate the obv/rev die alignment.
Images Courtesy Of Ken Potter
Q: I have a neat partial brockage strike with some unusual characteristics. I wonder if any of the CONECA error specialists have an explanation for how all these effect occurred? -Al Blyth
The images were presented to several CONECA error coin specialists for their opinions. They are presented below.
A #1: ARegarding the backwards thinner impression side, this was created when this planchet went into coining chamber and rested onto an already struck coin that had itself flipped over but stayed in coining chamber, thus this coin received the impression from the first coin resting on the reverse. As to why the first obv. didn’t show could have been because the obv was also capped by a blank which stayed there, then this coin flipped over and received additional strikes by the obv. blank cap and the now cleared rev die. The obv. blank cap may have become so thin that, that area, left space for another blank to enter into and above this now one sided struck coin and block out the obv dies yet again so that no impressions of the obv dies would be visible. -Neil Osina
A #2: Regarding the backwards thinner impression side which I call it’s obv, this was created when this planchet went into coining chamber and resting on the bottom die was hit several times by a previously struck slightly off center coin that stuck to the top die and had capped that die. I do see what appears to be a ghost impression of Lincoln showing on this coin’s “obv.” thus my first explanation of a flip over was inaccurate and too complicated. -Neil Osina
A #3: Such a depression is rather common on errors of this sort. I don’t think it requires any exotic scenario. There’s an outside chance that both cents remained stuck together (and stuck to one or the other die) for a second strike. That could create, or accentuate, a shallow central depression. But, again, since a shallow recess is rather common on full and nearly full brockage/broadstrike errors, I think it’s simply an effect of the (single) strike. I HAVE seen one or two brockage/broadstrikes that were indented by a second planchet, and they look quite different from this specimen. The central part of the incuse design is largely obliterated and the circular depression is much more sharply defined. -Mike Diamond
A #4: Let’s start with the fact that the split is through the N of ONE on the “mooshed” side, but opposite it on the “normal” side. A normal coin in a dual or quad press, one die of which is already capped, fails to eject properly. It bounces and spins around in the press and ends up under the cap. The next stroke bonds the coin to the cap, and begins the mooshing. Eventually it hits this coin, and the extra thickness of the cap causes excess spreading of this coin. -Tom DeLorey
What do you think?