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USPatterns.com - Pattern Mint Errors

Here are some examples of misstruck pattern pieces.


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Doublestruck J81/P88

The following copper half shows a 5 degree rotation between strikes on both sides. The piece was offered in Heritage 8/2010 sale.

Photo courtesy of Heritage.

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J110A/P124

This is the unique 1846 quarter eagle trial struck in copper. This famous trial is also a mint error - one of only 5 or 6 significant pattern mint errors known in the entire pattern series.

After being struck as a quarter eagle, the coin appears to have been placed on top of a half eagle planchet and was then struck by half eagle dies. This is known as a piggy-back rider error. The coin was aligned such that the half eagle obverse was struck over the reverse side of the quarter eagle die trial. Although the quarter eagle obverse was flattened by the half eagle planchet underneath, both dates are clearly visible.

This unique piece is ex 52 ANA lot 4478, 58 ANA lot 469, Bowers and Merena 5/93, Mike Byers as PCGS62BN, Heritage 1/07 as NGC65BN, Simpson-Heritage 9/20 - PCGS65BN.

Photo courtesy of PCGS.

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Doublestruck J112/P126

The following 3 cent pattern shows about a 10-15% rotation between strikings on the reverse.

This example is the former Harry W. Bass Jr. Research Foundation example. It is likely lot 890 from H. Chapman's 7/25/22 sale where it was described as "The reverse twice struck so that the III lies across the other". The coin was purchased by Virgil Brand and entered into his journal as #122061.

Photo courtesy of Heritage.

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Uniface J125/P147

This uniface pattern trime shows just the reverse. It appears that 2 planchets were fed into the press at the same time as opposed to some kind of brockage or die cap error.

Does anyone have the piece showing just the obverse?

It is believed to be unique and is ex H Chapman 6/1908 Taylor Windle sale lot 1308, Brand (journal #44209), Kelly 2/13/41 B.G. Johnson invoice, Bolt, Numismatics Ltd, Bowers and Merena 6/96, Fred Weinberg, Heritage 9/97, Heritage 11/03, Mike Byers, Heritage 5/07.

Photo courtesy of Heritage.

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Off Center J151/P178

The following is a 60% off-center example of J151/P17.

Its earliest recorded appearance was in Bluestone's 6/1940 sale where it was described as follows:

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This piece reappeared in ANR's March 2005 sale and later in Heritage's January 2006 FUN and 2006 ANA sales.

This is probably one of the most spectacular pattern mint errors known today.

Photo courtesy of American Numismatic Rarities.
Snippet from Bluestone's June 1940 sale is from the Newman portal.


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Broadstruck J158/P185

The following broadstruck one cent pattern was offered in Superior's 5/2003 and ANR's 7/05 and 11/06 sales. It also appears to have been struck from misaligned dies as the reverse appears off-center.

Photo courtesy of American Numismatic Rarities.

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Doublestruck J160/P187

The following flying eagle large cent pattern shows a double struck obverse.

The enlargement below shows the doubling especially on Liberty's neck and the left side denticles.

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Photos courtesy of American Numismatic Rarities and Mike Byers.

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Doublestruck J164/P189

The following flying eagle cent pattern, for Heritage's 2010 FUN sale shows double striking on the reverse with about a 10-15% rotation.

According to Rick Kay, several others show very slight doubling on the reverse and there is at least one with doubling on the obverse.

Photo courtesy of Heritage.

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Doublestruck J251/P290

The following Paquet half dollar has a slightly double struck obverse. This is most noticeable on Liberty's head as shown in the image below.

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Photos courtesy of Mike Byers.

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Doublestruck J517/P544

This pattern is believed to have been struck outside the mint from dies sold as scrap that were purchased by Joseph J. Mickley.

2 of the 4 known examples show rotational doublestriking on the reverse.

The illustrated example at the top, ex Crouch-Superior 6/77, Stacks 11/08, shows a 170 degree rotation on the reverse between strikes.

The illustrated example below, ex Bowers and Merena 6/96, Heritage 11/03, ANR/Stacks 11/06 as NGC63BN, Simpson collection shows a 40 degree rotation on the reverse between strikes. This is currently in an PCGS64BN holder.

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Photos courtesy of PCGS and ANR/Stacks.

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Doublestruck J645/P717

This pattern shows a 5 degree rotation on the reverse die between strikes. This is most noticeable in the image by the "shadow" around the "O" in "One" as illustrated here.

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It is ex 73 FUN, Harry W. Bass Jr. Research Foundation, B/M 5/99, Cassel-Heritage 8/15 ANA, StacksBowers 5/19 - NGC67BN.

Full image of coin courtesy of Dave Cassel.
Detail photo courtesy of Heritage.


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Flipover Doublestruck J648/P721

This is probably the most fantastic pattern mint error known. It is a flipover double strike ex Stacks 1941 Opezzo sale, Bolt, Numismatics Ltd, Bowers and Merena's 6/96, Bowers and Merena 1/2002 where it is graded ANACS63BN.

Photo courtesy of Bowers and Merena.

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Doublestruck J669/P745

The following off-metal indian cent is doublestruck with the second strike 95% off-center. It has been analyzed and found to be 81% copper, 18% nickel, and 1% iron. The finding of this piece, makes it likely that all examples of J669/P745 are actually mint errors struck on leftover copper-nickel stock. The coin is in graded PCGSMS60 but, regrettably, the weight is not given.

Apparently, the piece is ex Numismatics LTD Spring 1983 FPL, it has more recently been offered in Heritage January 2010 FUN, and Bowers & Merena's 3/2010 sales. There is a strong possibility that this coin was earlier in the Col Green collection as one described as "Unc, but misstruck. The only pattern misstruck we have ever seen" appears in the Newman-Johnson inventory of their Col Green purchases as well as in a June 24, 1943 invoice to F.C.C. Boyd. Another from Morgenthau's 5/35 sale is listed as struck without collar, ie a broadstruck mint error.

Photo courtesy of Rick Snow.

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Doublestruck J682/P761

This aluminum die trial shows a very pronounced rotation between strikes on the obverse. It was later offered in Stacks-Bowers 1/13, 3/13 and 6/13 sales.

Photo courtesy of Mike Byers.

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Doublestruck J693/P772

The following aluminum half dime die trial, ex Col Green, Eric Newman-EPNNES, Heritage 4/13, shows a 10% rotation between strikings. This is especially obvious under "TES" of "STATES" on the obverse where the first impression of Liberty's head shows and on the reverse around the value "Half Dime".

Photo courtesy of Heritage.

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Doublestruck J698/P777

This example of the 1869 Standard Silver dime shows a 5 degree rotation between strikes on the obverse. See the illustration below for a closer look. It was last offered in Goldberg's August 2014 sale.

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Photos courtesy of Ira & Larry Goldberg's Coins & Collectibles.

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Doublestruck J735/P816

This example of the 1869 Standard Silver Quarter shows a 30 degree rotation between strikes. This is most noticeable on the obverse behind Liberty's head, between the "D and S" of "United States" and at the top of the "2" in "25" on the reverse as shown in the image here.

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It was originally part of the famous Lenox Lohr collection and was later offered in Bowers and Merena's 6/91 Polis sale, a 2006 Heritage sale, Heritage 2007 FUN sale and Stacks 8/07.

Photos courtesy of Heritage.

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J837/P928 on a Small Nickel Planchet

This is an example of one of the Standard Silver dime patterns struck on misrolled nickel three cent planchet stock or 1969 pattern one cent stock for J666/P741. Notice that the planchet diameter was too small to fill out the entire die face. This is most noticeable at 6:00 on the obverse.

It is unique and is ex B/M 6/96 where described as struck on a three cent silver planchet, Simpson collection, Legend 1/17, Mike Byers and was grade PCGS65. The holder notes the coin as being 76% copper, 24% nickel.

Photo courtesy of Legend Numismatics.

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J839/P930 Struck Over a J845/P944

The following dime pattern was recently submitted to NGC. It is an example of J839/P930 struck over J845/P944. It is likely the only known pattern struck over another pattern.

The images here show the positioning of the 2 obverses relative to each other.

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Photos courtesy of NGC.

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Doublestruck J957/P1108

The following is an example of the standard silver half dollar pattern J957/P1108 having a slight rotational double striking error on the obverse. This is most noticeable in the letters on the left side as shown in the image here.

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Photos courtesy of Mike Byers.

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Doublestruck J1010/P1143

This example of Longacre's seated liberty design shows a 5 degree rotation on the reverse as shown in the image below.

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Recent offerings include Heritage 2011 FUN and StacksBowers 3/15 sales.

Photos courtesy of American Numismatic Rarities.

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Doublestruck J1108/P1244

The following 1871 Longacre pattern, the former Harry Bass example, shows a 5 degree rotation on the reverse. This is most notable at the A and M of United States of America as shown below.

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Photos courtesy of PCGS.

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Doublestruck J1133/P1270

The following example of Longacre's seated liberty design has very slight doubling on the obverse most noticeable in the denticles under the date. It was last offered in Heritage's June 2006 sale.

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Photos courtesy of Mike Byers.

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Doublestruck J1344/P1488

The following double eagle copper die trial, from Bowers and Merena March 2006 sale, shows a rotation of about 5 degrees between strikings on the obverse.

This is most noticeable on the right side as shown in the image here.

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Photos courtesy of Mike Byers.

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Broadstruck on J1378/P1523

This is an example of the Bickford eagle broadstruck in nickel. It is ex Woodin-1914 ANS exhibit, Newcomer, Col Green, Kreisberg-Schulman 2/60, Empire Review #15 and is now in the Harry W. Bass Jr. Research Foundation.

As it was broadstruck, we do not really know if this piece was meant to be a J1377/P1522 or a J1378/P1523.

Image is a scan from the Bass Sylloge.

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Doublestruck J1521/P1685

This example of one of Morgan's 1877 half dollars shows a 5 degree rotation between strikes on the obverse. It is most noticeable where a shadow "E" appears under star 6 and a shadow "U" surrounds the second period between the "S" in "Pluribus" and the first "U" in "Unum".

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This piece is ex Judd, Krouner, Coronet Coin Fixed Price List, Champa-B/R 5/72, Harry W. Bass Jr. Research Foundation-B/M 5/99, M. Hagen, Simpson-Heritage 8/21 - PCGS66RB.

Photos courtesy of Mark Hagen and Paul Houck.

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J2132/P2083 Struck on a Quarter Planchet

An example of the 1965 Martha Washington half dollar, J2132/P2083 has been discovered struck on a copper-nickel clad quarter planchet.

The only other examples of this rare pattern are the two on a full cupro-nickel clad half dollar planchet and 6 pieces struck in silver-clad J2134/P2083 embedded in 2 blocks of lucite which reside in the Smithsonian.

These dies serve as the Mint's all-purpose dies and are given out to outside companies by the mint for testing. It is, therefore, not known whether or not this mint error was made inside or outside the Mint.

The illustrated piece, struck from heavily clashed dies, sold in Heritage 3/2003 sale for $29,900 and resold for $21,850 in Heritage 2004 ANA sale.

Photo courtesy of Heritage.

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J2180 Struck on a Dime Planchet

The illustrated piece is one of 2 which appeared in Heritage's January 2010 FUN sale. These Martha Washington pieces were struck on dime planchets from cent dies - notice that the full detail is missing on the left side due to the smaller planchet. The illustrated piece is the nicer of the 2. The other was cleaned and was in an NCS holder.

Photo courtesy of Heritage.



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