1999 P Delaware 25c Counter Clash

[russellhome]

I was not sure whether this one belonged in the "Mint Errors" category or the "Die Varieties". Hopefully, this spot is appropriate.

This is not my coin -- but I am most interested in finding one. It was discovered and diagnosed by Mike Diamond. You can read more about it in the September 29, 2008 Issue of Coin World.

This coin is not a doubled die. It is a Counter Clash. Note the lightly repeated word 'RODNEY' just below the normal CAESAR RODNEY name, with remnants of ‘CAESAR’ between the normal name.



If I understand the process correctly, a very hard fragment of metal was struck - having an image of "CAESAR RODNEY" smacked into it. This hard fragment shifted south and was struck again - imprinting the field on the reverse die with the inverted image of the name. That piece of metal was then ejected and subsequent coins were struck having a light but legible repeat of the letters in the field.



So far, this is the only known example. Mike was kind enough to share his photos with me. This was a pretty amazing find. Now you know why I want to find this one.

Photos courtasy of Mike Diamond. Used with permission.

[f6tornado]

NICE FIND!! In a way, it is partial "doubled die", just not from a hub. That is amazing how the piece happened to align just below! Are there any other know "counter clashes" on state quarters?

[wavysteps]

Calling it a "doubled die" may confuse some folks since the duplication was not made from a die but a wayward piece of hard metal. I can see your point for the process, up to a certain degree, is the same; however, for simplicity sake, we should not mix nomenclatures.

Counter die clashes are a very rare "animal" since it takes a unique set of circumstances to produce the doubling. The two that are most well know are the ones that happened in 1983 to the Lincoln cent, both on the obverse die.

BJ Neff