Walter Breen
12. Multiple die errors: 1794 varieties 41-48, misplaced letters, two knots (all); extra leaves (41-47); omitted leaf, corrected rotational blunder (48).1801 varieties 8, 11, Three Errors. 1802 variety 20, 1803 variety 1, stemless, double fraction bar, final s too low and corrected.
13. Hub doubling: 1794 variety 1 obverse. The following classes of varieties, usually collected by specialists, constitute further gray areas.
14. Broken letters (serifs chipped off): B on several dies of 1796 and 1797, T on 1797 variety 22, N on various 1801 dies, T on various 1802-3 dies; others common in 1798-1812, often (before 1808) partly or wholly corrected by hand. Use of broken punches reflects economy, not oversight.
15. Damaged device punch: 1794 variety 33 reverse; 1798 varieties 19, 23 obverse. The similar effect on 1803 variety 3 is from grinding down the die. The chip from lowest curl on most 1800 obverses also qualifies as a damaged device punch. Use of damaged hubs and punches reflects economy, not error.
16. Overpolished die: incomplete or missing details, usually from an attempt to remove clash marks, rust, or guide lines. Famous ones include 1794 variety 50 (no fraction bar) and 1797 variety 25.
17. Die scratches, die file marks are common; the most frequent locales are fraction bar and stem ends. Examples: Left from fraction bar, 180:2. variety 1.
Right from fraction bat, 1796 varieties 44-5, 1797 varieties 11, 18, 21-2, 30,32,1798 varieties 2, 18-9, 1801 variety 10, 1807 variety 4.
From left stem end: 1798 variety 3, 1801 variety 17= 1802 variety 4, 1802 variety 19 = 1803 variety 2.
From right stem end: 1803 varieties 12, 15.
Less obvious ones occur occasionally from leaf tips or from berry stems extended to impale berries and in other well hidden areas.
For die gouges the most famous examples are 1798 varieties 43-45 (final A to ribbon) and 1811 variety 2 = 1812 variety 1 (field below (N)E). (Not to be confused with chips from die as on 1794 obverse 10). There are many less obvious ones.
18. Guide lines: Arcs of circles between words, are remnants of complete circles inscribed onto a die blank to help position inscriptions. Normally they were lapped off before the die was hardened; in a few instances, arcs remain. Examples: 1797 variety 20 obverse (at TY); 1810 variety 1 reverse (at TED ST).
19. Clash marks are common accidents, not errors. Both single and multiple clash marks are common on large cents; the usual pattern seems to have been that when something interfered with the feeder mechanism, the dies would meet repeatedly without a blank between them. Some dies show evidence of. repeated clashing before and after repolishing. Sometimes over a dozen sets of overlapping clash marks on a die are discernible.
20. Dies damaged by striking through foreign material. The classic example is the 1804 half cent, "spiked chin," from striking through a small screw. Pete Smith has identified the lump under chin and the corresponding lump left of top of O(N) in 1808 variety 1 as having a similar origin. (Penny-Wise, no. 120, 5/15/1987, pp. 113-16.)
21. Worn and / or deformed dies likewise represent wear and tear, not errors, as above. These are represented in cents primarily by centrally or diametrically buckled dies. Instances are numerous; we list only a few of the most famous. Central buckling: both 1793 Liberty Cap reverses, 1793 variety 18 obverse, 1794 varieties 16, 19, 49, etc. Radial (usually diametric) buckling: 1793 variety 7, 1794 varieties 9, 60.
22. Die breakage: Includes chips, single cracks, multiple cracks, split dies, bisecting cracks, rim crumbling, and major rim breaks. Accidents, one and all, not errors, though often collected by mint error specialists. An early complete listing is included in Die States for the individual varieties. Also see the keys to the various dates, which normally list the more bizarre or extreme die breaks.
Modified designs and recut dies, are intentional in 1794.
On the other hand, the reworking of the top curl on 1811-12 obverse may have been necessitated by a chipped hub, even as on obverses of 1798 varieties 19, 23.
Striking Blunders
"Striking errors" properly include anomalies in the choice of dies, positioning and locking them in the press, feeding blanks into press, positioning them in the coining chamber (on the lower, or anvil, die), striking, ejection, or any combination of these. There ate overlaps with preceding classes: axial die misalignment often causes die breakage; clash marks are traceable to failure of the feeder mechanism to position a blank in the coining chamber; overpolished dies in turn are often failed attempts to efface clash marks. Not surprisingly, many cents qualify as multiple errors. The order of presentation below differs from that in my HalfCent Encyclopedia.
Choice of Dies
Here, aside from the large numbers of dies that should not have been used because they were unfit for press (blundered, buckled, broken, or defaced by dashing), we find mules and mismatched dies. The obvious examples are 1795 varieties 6, 9, 1797 varieties 1-3, 1798 varieties 9-10, 26 (the last five familiarly known as "Reverse of1796"). All but one of these have to do with Scot's reverses meant for 1796 Liberty Caps. The exception is 1795 variety 9, with a Type of 1794 reverse later used with six 1796 Draped Bust obverses. Listed here because the problem is not in the dies (which were error free) but in when to send them to press.