Elliptically Clipped 1947 Florin

Above you can see a simply amazing error, an Australian 1947 Florin struck on an ellipse shaped planchet. The shape of the coin is the result of a coin blank that was struck twice by the blanking press, the smaller crescent shaped segment falling off leaving the distinctive elliptical shape. That blank is then struck and we have the error we see before us. We written extensively about how elliptical clipped errors occur previously.

If you take the time to read the article we’ve just linked to you’ll note that we call this error the ‘rarest’ of the clipped planchet errors. We stick by that claim, and suggest that an elliptically clipped florin is scarcer again, and one with such a nice grade as this 1947 example even scarcer! In fact, the authors can recall seeing less than 5 elliptical clipped florins, including this 1962 example we wrote about earlier this year. That 1962 elliptical clip florin is not so nearly as nice as the example we’re looking at here and this just highlights how it is a truly wonderful and hard to get error. One that if seen and not purchased is unlikely to be replaced by another example in a short time frame. This coin was obtained from a Noble Auction where it realised about $1000 including buyer’s premium.

There might be some reading this who look at this coin and wonder how we can tell that the coin blank was elliptical BEFORE the coin was struck rather than a normal coin being cut down AFTER it was struck. We covered that in some detail when we looked at the 1962 example but to summarise, look for two key indicators. The first, is fishtailing of the legends near the missing part of the coin, in this case it could not be more obvious than on the D of D.G. on the obverse of the coin. The second indicator is poorly struck rim beads/denticles and rims near the clipped region that transition into fully struck further away from the clip. This is very clear on the reverse of the coin above the N of FLORIN.

We’ll conclude the same way we did the last time we looked at a florin struck on an underweight elliptical planchet by saying that it’s always fun to be able to take a closer look at such an impressive error.

Australia 5c 1981 Double Clipped Planchet Error

As a follow on to the entries about clipped planchet coin errors we’ve decided to put up a post on the double curved clip coin error. You can see an example of this sort of coin error above. This 1981 5 cent exhibits two distinct curved planchet clips at 90 degrees from each other. These errors are a lot more unusual than the single curved clip coin errors and for some denominations from some countries are almost non existent. We’ve seen less than a couple of dozen double clipped Australian coins in the last 10 years. Given their scarcity we feel they are an undervalued error and we’d recommend picking them up where you can.

How Double Curved Clips Are Made

To give you an idea of how these errors occur please take a look at the diagram above. Typically coin blanks are punched from a metal strip in rows. The rows are usually offset from each other (like the courses of bricks on a house) to more fully utilize the metal in the strip. In the example above the first row of blanks has been punched out correctly. However, for due to some material feeding fault or machine error the metal strip has moved from where it should have been punched so that coin blank 3 is punched out of an area that already had coin blanks 1 and 2 punched from it. This results in 2 curved clips on coin blank 3.

There are many variations on this sort of clip. The picture of the 5 cent coin above probably happened because of something like that show above as the curved clips are 90 degrees apart..

1966 1 Cent with Obverse Cud

The so called coin cud or die chip error coin happens when a part of one of the dies that strikes the coin actually breaks off. When this broken die strikes a coin the result is a new raised feature (usually looking like a blob) on the surface of the struck coin. The blob mirrors the incuse feature on the die where the die broke. Coin cuds or die chip errors are reasonably common, and unless the cud is particularly large usually only worth a small premium. A lot of the US Morgan Dollar VAM’s are defined by cuds or die breaks and these can often carry a larger premium over the non variety coins.

Cuds vs Die Chips

The most common form of coin cud error is the rim cud, where part of the die that forms the rim of the coin breaks away and any struck coins have a raised element that extends around part of the rim. You can see this type of cud on the coin in the image shown at the start of this article. In some cases a coin may have 2 or more rim cuds. Rim cud errors are (relatively) common because the rim of the die is easily damaged in storage and transport. Cud errors can also occur in the main part of the coin design, usually these happen in weaker points of the coin design where part of the die breaks away because of excessive use. These cuds can be smaller and harder to spot, but they still form an interesting variety that some collectors are interested in.

One of the best known cud errors of this type is found on the iconic Australian Mob of Roos dollar coin. Known as the Rabbit Ear Dollar you can see an example of this below.

Large Rabbit Ear Cud

Very Large Cuds

Sometimes when the cud is very large you can actually see the effect of the metal flowing to fill the cud as weakness on the opposite side of the coin. The 1943Y penny shown in the image below is a particularly fine example of this. The impressively large reverse cud has resulted in clearly visible strike weakness on the obverse with almost all of the letter F missing at about 3 o’clock in the legends.

1943Y Penny Large Reverse Cud / Obverse Weakness