1976 50 Cent Error PCGS MS64

This indent coin error has occurred when the previously struck 50c failed to exit the press cleanly and was jammed against the new blank when it was struck. This has left the impression and incuse (brockage) imprint of the coin that didn’t make it off the press. We’ve seen this before on Australian pre-decimal coins and we’ve come across what is such a superb example that we’d like to share it with our readers. The penny in our previous entry linked to above is the exact same type of error and the same malfunction in the press has occurred. When comparing the 2 examples you can clearly see the factors which make this coin a genuine mint error and not some kind of manufactured in the “back shed” variety. The fact that the reverse design is so well struck and remains undamaged tells us that the coin was pressed against the die when the indent happened. If it were post mint damage then we would certainly see intrusion or flattening of the design on this coin’s reverse -which there is not.

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1952a Penny Indent with Partial Brockage

This 1952a Australian penny was struck in Perth but there was a press malfunction during it’s minting. The coin struck prior to this coin had not exited the press completely before the new blank fell into place and was struck.This resulted in an Indent error in the new coin in the shape of the coin that had not exited the press fully. You can see by the shape and size of the indent that the new penny was only just caught up in the minting of the second coin. We can tell the coin that didn’t escape quickly enough was a struck penny as you can see a partial brockage imprint of it (more clearly) in the close-up below. You can see incuse denticles and the NY of penny in the indent space – this is the partial brockage. Sometimes you can get indent errors that have been indented with unstruck or blank coins and the indent space shows no design.

If this were a manufactured “in the back shed” error or post mint damage then you would see obliteration on the reverse of the penny behind where the indent occured which is not the case in this genuine mint error coin. It’s a lovely choice uncirculated example.

We’ve spoken before about indent errors and they can have many forms. This is probably the more common (but still rare), more so that the one in our first entry Australian Indent Errors that was a $1 indented with a blank 5c (a whole different denomination) when 2 blanks had been fed into the press simultaneously, which is very rare.

Closeup of the Indent Showing Partial Brockage

1944s Shilling on Foreign Planchet

This 1944s Australian shilling was struck in San Francisco USA (note the S mintmark) on an underweight planchet of 4.95g. Some Australian silver during WWII was struck in both San Francisco and Denver in the USA as demand for coinage outran the capabilities of our Mint’s at that time. Because of this shillings undersized planchet it hasn’t completely pressed out in the collar die to receive it’s edge milling and denticles around the top half of the coin. An interesting coin with a different patina to it’s other shilling ram friends.

Represented on eBay as being struck on an underweight planchet the above coin sold for a BIN of $300. An underweight planchet yes, but a more interesting answer fits. This coin was struck in the USA where a war nickel at that time was made from 5 grams of 35% silver, 56% copper, 9% manganese. The Australian 1944s shilling should weigh 5.65 grams made from 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper. It’s most likely this coin was struck on a foreign planchet, that of a USA 5c! The weight fits and the unusual patina is derived from the lower silver and higher copper percentage. What a rare occurance for a misplaced USA nickel blank to find it’s way into the hopper of blanks to be struck as Australian Shillings, for it to be struck by the press and pass quality checking to be shipped back to Australia as circulating currency.

The way to prove this theory beyond doubt is to send this coin off to PCGS or NGS for non-invasive compositional testing and it to be slabbed as an Australian shilling struck on a USA war nickel planchet – spectacular error coin.

A similar coin (in it’s raw state) dated 1943s and accurately identified sold for an $1,100 knock down bid (+ buyers premium) at IAG auction 73 (lot 487 March 2011). Another 1943s sold for $1320 (+ buyers premium) at IAG auction 71 (lot 460 March 2010).

Other interesting foreign planchet error coins are an Australian $2 coin struck on a Euro 10c planchet or the Australian Mob of Roos One Dollar Struck on Venezuelan Bi-metal Planchet.

Australian 1950 Threepence Clam or Hinged Planchet Error

You often see flaws in the metal blanks used to strike coins but rarely do you see coins so obviously wrong as the clamshell error. These planchets contain lamination problems deep inside the metal which splits the 2 sides apart with only a hinge holding the coin together. While not always possible to store these in a 2×2 holder I have seen these stored in flip top coin boxes as they are very much 3 dimensional objects.

The Australian threepence seen above has probably seen some human involvement to prise the 2 sides apart, but never the less an interesting example of this type of planchet defect error. The lamination flaw, weakness or impurity ran through the centre of the coin allowing it to split open. The flaw may have been caused by the alloy not being mixed properly when the blanks were being prepared or a foreign material or gas being trapped inside the blank as the sheet metal was being rolled.

If the weakness ran through the entire body of the coin and each side of the coin became separated it would end up looking like a complete split planchet coin.

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