1954 S Jefferson.......extra "steps" raised in field

[sumorada]

I found a couple of these in an OBW roll today, it has what appears to be a small section of raised steps in the field to the right of the "N" in MONTICELLO,

Any opinions would be appreciated.







Edited to add another pic.....

[diamond]

That is extremely interesting. Since you say the steps are raised, then it's most likely a Type II counterclash error. Such errors are quite rare and quite desirable. I also can't rule out a wild doubled die. This definitely deserves to be looked at by James Wiles or BJ.

[mustbebob]

That is quite interesting. I personally don't know what it is from, but whatever it is, it is very nice indeed.

[diamond]

A Type II counterclash occurs when a die strikes a stray piece of metal, transferring the design to that metal. The metal fragment shifts position and is struck again, transferring the design back to the die face (usually the field). Every coin struck after that has an extra set of raised elements in an unexpected location.

In this case, a combination of a lightly impressed, rotated, offset, and tilted hubbing could also conceivably produce this extra set of steps. A fascinating and noteworthy discovery.

[sumorada]

Mike,
Thank you, If you would like to examine one of these I would be happy to send it to you.

[wavysteps]

That is very interesting anomaly and I am not sure what to make of it. My gut feeling is that it may no be a counterclash or a doubled die. I would think that if it was a doubled die, it should have been caught by this time, but then again, one never knows. Another thing that strikes me is that there are no steps on this reverse die, so that could effectively rule out the counterclash coming from this die; if it is a counterclash, the piece had to come from somewhere else.

The only positive way of finding out what this maybe is an in hand examination. I would think that an overlay of the Monticello steps on top of the anomaly would show one way or the other if it was or was not that design element.

BJ Neff

[sumorada]

BJ,
Thank you, I did this a couple minutes ago...........

[diamond]

It appears to me that, in your specimen, the vertical bar next to the steps is incuse. In the overlay, the vertical bar appears to be raised. If that's the case, then the steps on your specimens might be incuse and the raised horizontal bars are the intervals between the steps. What do you think?

[sumorada]

In hand mine looks identical to the sample..........

[diamond]

Okay, that's a relief (pun). If it had been incuse, I really would have been stretched for an explanation.

[sumorada]

I have to say I was very surprised when I found these, instantly you could tell they were steps, then I thought it could not be a clash, must be a DDR

because I was not familar with the term "Counterclash" but that seems to make sense to me.......

with the naked eye this "whatever" is clean and crisp in appearance...

[diamond]

Another thing that strikes me is that there are no steps on this reverse die, so that could effectively rule out the counterclash coming from this die; if it is a counterclash, the piece had to come from somewhere else.

BJ Neff

The absence of steps on the regular design and the presence of steps on the counterclash (or whatever it is) is not unexpected. The die itself undoubtedly had steps. The (presumed) small piece of metal would have been subjected to extremely high effective striking pressure because the entire tonnage would have been concentrated in a tiny area. The metal would easily have flowed up into the recess corresponding to the steps.

[wavysteps]

The more that I look at it, the more I am inclined to believe the possibilities of a doubled die. I am going to contact Billy Crawford and see what he thinks.

BJ Neff

[wavysteps]

Mike - I am looking at the difference of the no step appearance on the primary design element and the sharp appearance of the steps on the secondary image. Granted the PSI would be higher, however, I would think that the difference would not be so remarkable between the two images if struck by the same die.

One option and not out of the realm of possibilities, is that the stray piece (with the step impression) of metal may have come from an adjacent striking chamber with earlier die state dies.

I just sent an e-mail off to Billy Crawford and I will also send one off to James Wiles and see what he thinks.

BJ Neff

[JamesWiles]

I have actually seen an example. It came by way of ANACS for verification. I have listed it as DDR-002, 2-R-VIII, stage A, EDS. I considered a counterclash, but the doubling is raised, sharp and distinct. I would love to be able to give credit to the person who reported it through ANACS. Was that you? I would also love to add a copy to my reference collection. I will be placing it on www.varietyvista.com as soon as I can.