From the Graders Desk As the work with Wheat Cents continues, I decided to take a second look through some Wheats that I had stahsed away in my own collection. In this case, it was rolls of uncirculated cents that had laid unbothered for over a decade other than being moved from one state to another. Within the rolls, I found a couple of clipped coins both of which will likely grade MS-66RD making them nice additions to my main collection. To be accurate, calling a coin a clipped coin is the wrong terminology. They are more correctly called incomplete planchets, however clipped planchet is a bit easier to pronounce and more descriptive. The planchets are punched out of sheets of coin metal that has been fabricated to the thickness and composition specified for the particular coin. These sheets are originally in the form of giant rolls. The sheets are then fed into a machine that punches the planchets out in a slightly offset pattern to maximize the metal used. After the sheet has been fed through the punching machine, the web-like remains are then usually returned to be resmelted for further use. If the sheet being fed through the punching machine gets off track, later punches can overlap previous punches creating an incomplete planchet. Because the vast majority of these planchets will occur by overlapping previous planchets, the result is what is called a curved clip. The size of the clipped portion will be dependent on just haow far the overlap occurs. If the sheet being fed through gets punched on the side or ends of the sheet due to getting off track, it will result in a straight clip if the edge of the sheet metal is smooth or a ragged clip if the edge is rough. Finally, if the sheet is backed or refed through after being punched and the punch strikes the webbing between two holes, you have have what becomes known as a bowtie planchet due to the shape of the metal being thicker at the ends and thin in the center. Smaller clips when struck will create a weakness on the rim on the opposite side of the clip. This will become one of the important methods of determining an authentic clip versus one done after the coin has left the mint. However, it is also important to know that as the clip gets larger, this weakness goes away. The second issue to look for is any form of post mint damage on the edge of the clipped are of the coin. The clipped area should be smooth and vertical. Any signs of metal being pushed into a point near the center or edges as well as scrape marks will show the signs of likely post-mint alteration. The value of a clipped coin will depend on the grade of the coin, the likelyhood of the coin type being known with clips, the date/mintmark, and the size of the clip itself.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 18:33:56 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015