2017-03-01 Wed

A 1959-D Lincoln cent mistakenly struck on a silver Roosevelt dime planchet is offered in Heritage’s U.S. Coins Signature Auction from 4th to 6th April.

This “wrong planchet error” coin is made of a blank disk of metal with raised proto-rim on both sides.

Planchets and struck coins were transported in large metal hoppers from one stage to the next stage in the minting process. These hoppers were not dedicated to any single denomination, resulting in this particular error coin.

When the planchets are fed into the coining press, some might have got trapped in a hopper after it was emptied. This coin would have been minted along with the next lot of planchets.

Such a kind of errors in cents on dime planchets is not rare as they were struck in large numbers in most years.

Graded Mint State 64, this pearl-white off-metal error is lustrous and well preserved. The coin features broad rims near a particular area and very narrow rims on the opposite side. The IN GOD WE legend is stretched toward the rims. The portrait and Memorial are sharply struck. Due to the difference in size and metal content, these coins were relatively softly struck.