2017-05-24 Wed

The process of making a coin has a certain rhythm. First, a planchet is dropped onto the anvil die and struck while it rests inside the collar by hammer and anvil dies. After the coin is ejected, a new planchet is dropped and the cycle is repeated again.

One such time, it so happened that while minting the 1952-D Lincoln cent, the rhythm was interrupted by an overlapping error but many collectors found it to be appealing.

The cent was double struck within the collar, with the coin rotating about 30 degrees between strikes. The conclusion is two sets of overlapping designs with the classic and distinctive look of a genuine double-struck coin.

The auction of the double-struck 1952-D Lincoln cent came into picture after the coin was not ejected after it was struck for the first time. Instead, the coin rotated slightly and fell back inside the surrounding collar with a new planchet overlapping the coin by about 3 percent.

Three scenarios can occur when a coin is struck more than once, some part of the original design maybe destroyed or flattened slightly or the whole coin can survive without much damage.

The effect on the coin may vary, depending on whether the coin shifted position between strikes, and where the dies’ incused design devices or flat fields impact the struck coin.

However, the original portrait of Lincoln has been flattened. But the first three numerals of the date and the D Mint mark of the Denver Mint are safe. However, even after the second strike, the date and Mint mark are visible. Even the word LIBERTY from the second strike, only the last four letters were struck up, stamped over Lincoln’s shoulder from the first strike.No remnants of LIBERTY from the first strike are visible. Also, the motto “IN GOD WE TRUST” is incomplete, with “GOD” from both strikes visible.

Moving to the reverse, the designs are overlapping as the remnants of the original strike are visible but after the second strike, the designs become weak and indistinct. Also, the E in CENT appears twice on the coin, as do other letters in the denominational inscription and the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM.From the three stalks of wheat, two strong stalks are apparently visible but the third one displays only a portion of it.