Off-center Die Clash

There has been a long standing mystery of how an off-center die clash can occur. It is hard to fathom how a die could be so misaligned in the press to produce clashing seen on the 1880 OCC-0011883 OCC-0011889 OCC-001, or 1890 OCC-001 specimens. To the right is the remnants of a clash on the reverse of an 1880 Indian Head Cent. This reverse die is not paired with the Indian Head Cent obverse die that made the clash. In fact, all known off-center clashes appear on only one side of the coin.

However, a recent discovery by Russell Doughty has shed some light on the subject. A die marriage has been found that exhibits an off-center clash on both the obverse and reverse. In fact, it contains a very prominent on-center clash and an off-center clash distinctly south. The obverse is 1863 OCC-001 and the reverse is 1863 OCC-002.

This discovery led Russell to ask the question, “If there can be off-center clashes, than shouldn’t there be coins that exhibit an off-center strike on one side of the coin?” Extraordinarily rare, Russell has also found such a specimen. An in-depth article is on the works in light of this discovery. Stay tuned!

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