Bringing the latest mint error news to the collector. Also featuring Die Trials, Patterns, Test Pieces, Numismatic Rarities, Currency Errors and Discoveries from the U.S. Mint.
Martha Washington Test Piece Struck on Nickel Size Planchet
There is one set of a Dime, Quarter and Half struck by Martha Washington dies that are permanently housed in the Smithsonian Institute, embedded in blocks of lucite. According to United States Pattern and Related Issues, by Andrew W. Pollock III, “the only trial pieces purported to have survived metallurgical testing in 1965 were the Dime, Quarter Dollar, and Half Dollar equivalent strikes in copper-nickel clad over copper.”
My discovery of the Martha Washington Test Piece on a copper-zinc Cent planchet struck 10% off-center with a uniface reverse was a front page Coin World article on August 7th, 2000. In a response to the Martha Washington Test Piece that I discovered, the Mint announced that “the dies are available to the Mint’s metal and blank vendors for testing.”
This is a Martha Washington Nickel. It is only the second piece offered. It is listed on uspatterns.com and will be in the next edition of the Judd book. This piece was also certified by NGC as a nickel-sized test piece with a weight of 5.0 grams and graded MS 63.