Rare Modern Error Coin Leaves Experts Amazed

One never knows what they will find when they go through circulation.

She set aside an Eisenhower dollar that seemed to have two obverses as a curiosity since she didn’t really know what it was when she came over it. Her daughter brought the item to the notice of Sarah Miller, the Director of Numismatics at the New York office of Heritage Auctions, some time later. Sarah Miller thought the coin was unusual and intriguing right away.

(as shown below) Designed to mark the bicentennial of the United States of America, this specific coin is a clad Eisenhower dollar struck in 1976 But instead of showing the Bicentennial Liberty Bell and moon reverse design, it shows two obverses: one in relief as is traditional and the other an incuse mirror reflection of the first obverse.
This sort of mint error is called a brockage. Usually, a coin is struck between two dies to produce the relief design of both the obverse and the reverse of the coin. But another recently graduated Eisenhower dollar failed to eject from the coining press immediately before this piece was created. Consequently, when the planchet for this piece was fed in, it was trapped between the obverse die and the obverse of the coin that was jammed. This let the coin strike. The outcome was that the obverse of this coin was struck normally by that die, but the reverse rather than getting an impression from the reverse die was imprinted by the obverse of the coin that had been jammed. The reverse of the coin thus had an incuse mirror reflection of the design found on the obverse.

Senior numismatist Mark Borckardt of Heritage said, upon first seeing this coin, “amazingly cool”. Every professional numismatist who later on saw it repeated this point of view. On any coin, Brockage flaws are quite rare; whole brockages like this one are far less prevalent than other forms. Mark Van Winkle, the Chief Cataloger for Heritage, said that this specific item is the only one the auction house has ever seen and that the Eisenhower dollar is a type that is quite unusual to locate with a brockage.

The Numismatic Guaranty Corporation has confirmed that the coin has an MS-62 grade; it is expected to be shown at Heritage’s February 2020 February Long Beach Coin Expo Premier Session. Unquestionably, many experts in coinage will have the chance to bid on this apparently small but really unique modern mint mistake.