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Haney's Blog

26 Oct 2022

FREAK SHOW 1968 – XXV

Coins | Haney

Despite being rather homely in comparison to my other performers this FREAK is truly the star of my band of misfits.  So to borrow a quote from many a ring master I did save the best for last.  So you may want to ask what gives as this appears to be a merely a weakly struck Roosevelt dime.  I mean you can barely read the all-important date, which is probably why it appears in parentheses on the label.  In addition to the date and motto IN GOD WE TRUST being blurred on obverse most of the United States of America on reverse is radiating off of the planchet reminiscent of Roman Denarii.   I find it is the reverse with the rim below the word DIME that is totally absent above the word STATES, actually half of the characters making up that word are absent too that give the best clue being the planchet not the correct size.  That is the first clue as to how truly unique my FIEND is, which I will endeavor to explain below.  The second which would be better appreciate in one of the newer NGC holders is that there is no copper core to be seen along the edge of this FREAK.  It is not a case of it being missing as this planchet was never intended for a US denomination. This planchet was meant for Philippine one sentimo that was being produced during the same time period by the Philadelphia mint.  So not only is it a dime struck on the wrong planchet, a rarity in its own right, but it is struck in aluminum which has never been used for US coinage with the exception of pattern or trial pieces.  Jumping the tracks a bit one of the most spectacular of these patterns I have personally seen is the 1868 aluminum pieces owned by one of the former members in my former coin club. There is more recent and equally infamous 1974 aluminum cent struck in 1973 with samples given to congress that were not all returned, which I have not seen in person.

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18 Oct 2022

FREAK SHOW 1968 – XXIV

| Haney

This time I have something that would have once been labelled in the error community as sintered, no not sinister despite it being a highly appropriate movie for the season, planchet it is now classified as annealed.  Yes it does look like another FIEND I presented earlier this season but the reverse does not get its copper tone, not the tanning oil, due to missing a layer of cladding but due to a chemical process.  This little guy gets his copper sheen in the annealing process where all the little planchets go to get cooked, you know Daunte's inferno, as part of the preparation process prior to striking.  Now you probably want to know how, well originally when I had it explained to me the process was known as sintered, it was copper dust held somehow is suspension then adhered to the copper nickel planchet, which can even happen to a nickel which is strangely named being mostly copper.  To explained how this occurred on a nickel planchet it was thought that either it proceeded a batch of cent planchets or were stuck with them.  The new theory and term Improperly Annealed Planchet states that the planchet possibly stayed longer than it should have in the furnace allowing the copper atoms migrate to the surface, this theory seems to make it appearance on a nickel planchet a lot easier don't you think?  It would seem this could move from theory to fact using weight, but in both cases we are probably talking the difference that would be undetectable by any scale the average numismatist would have access to.  It would be along the lines of weighing the amount of material lost on a coins surface due to toning, think I am crazy read Coin Chemistry as the author describes how to calculate that very thing.

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11 Oct 2022

FREAK SHOW 1968 – XXIII

Coins | Haney

Today I present a FREAK that fooled me, not that I am expert in the field of Freaks Irregulars, Defects, and Oddities, still I thought I knew a thing or two.  Failure is said to be a great teacher so why not pass along my new found knowledge to you.  I still am confident of his inclusion into my series as he is a FREAK, just not exactly the one I was looking for.  The particular oddity I thought I had so cleverly acquired via worldwide swap meet looked for all intentional purposes to be a die adjustment strike at least so I thought.  So what are the telltale signs of a die adjustment strike, generally it is weak in appearance on both sides, oops my bad coins have three sides but more on that later, as the dies stop just short of bringing up a full strike.  So with this error there is nothing wrong with either the dies nor with the planchet, this is just a case of the spacing between the two dies being too wide to exert enough force to cause the metal of the planchet to flow into all the recesses elements of the dies to impart the obverse and reverse images as intended.  BTW, text speak, this is not to be confused with a die alignment strike, which is a case where the spacing may be correct but hammer die is out of alignment with the anvil die resulting in one side of the coin being off center while the flip side is spot on.  Sorry that is not a leader for the next show as I do not have an example of that type either, so where were we?  So not to long after I received my RAW fiend in the mail I decided he could stand a trip to Florida to get hammered, I mean SLABBED.  

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03 Oct 2022

FREAK SHOW 1968 – XXII

Coins | Haney

I decided today to let my Washington team take a break to allow you the chance to gaze upon a FIEND that will have you seeing double.  Yes this does not just have one 1968, but two and likewise it has double D’s indicating its branch mint origin.  This little fellow somehow after receiving the first strike shifted to the right in addition to turning a little more than ninety degrees all while another planchet slipped into the coining chamber below it. Then, WHAM!  The dies came down leaving a clear impression for the year of issue and the mint it was issued from along with some whiskers and clothing in place of the base of the bust as the designer had intended.  Now due to a planchet being in the chamber below the obverse parts of the motto E PLURBUS UNUM and all of STATES are distorted on my FIEND.  It reminiscent of the images I could create with silly putty, the latest Sunday Funnies, and a little free time.  All of that said I would like to think somewhere out there, beneath the pale moonlight, is a dateless Lincoln cent with a partial brockage STATES.  Granted having no date this oddity, as I imagine it, would never show up in my searches. Though who knows this imagined piece may have also shifted to the right turning a little more than ninety degrees to be hammered once again this time being date stamped to be something truly exceptional. This being said it would have not been a double date despite being double struck.  Of course that takes more supposition than I can infer from the evidence my little doubled dated Lincoln can offer us.

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