Deliberately produced varieties?

[Guest]

Hi Guys,

Forgive me if there is an existing thread like this already; I searched the forum and didn't turn up anything.

Anyway, a recent thread about a 1989 cent produced on a pre-1982 planchet got me to thinking...have any varieties been discovered that are known or suspected to have been deliberately produced by mint employees? In a former life, I collected toy robots and there were stories of so-called "lunchtime specials" whereby the people producing the toys would mold plastic parts in atypical colors to produce one-off versions. I can't imagine a similar thing not happening at some point at the mint...anything like that ever turn up?

[mustbebob]

There are stories out there of Mint employees taking liberties and making coins. A lot of those charges are taken care of by the secret service or within the walls of the mint, but they are not known for letting everyone else know about what was done. I agree with you completely though. It is hard to believe that it hasn't happen before.

[ericodapro]

There was a story of some mules that an employee made awhile back, but were snuck out and not let into circulation. I couldnt say if this was true or not but I dont think its impossible.

[DCW]

Rick Snow produced some pretty compelling evidence of a mint employee behind the Wisconsin state quarters "extra leaf" varieties.
And it's long been speculated that the 1958 ddo lincoln cent was produced intentionally.
As for error coins, well that is almost a certainty. Look at some of the spectacular multi strike cents from the sixties which happen to have perfect date placement. That kind of stuff doesnt happen by chance

[koinmon]

The clashed dies of seated half nn flying eagles were mint employees at play.
George

[jpl6332]

There is ample proof of this type of activity from the early 1800's until about 1913, when the Mint started to crack down because of the famous Liberty Nickels, check out Die Patterns in the Red Book, but it is definitely frowned upon now and has been very difficult for Mint employees to get away with this type of activity for the past 50 years or so.

[jcuve]

I don't buy Rick's argument that the quarter dies were purposely manipulated. Not at all.

I'm sure there are cases, more so planchet related as opposed to die related, that were intentional. I have a heard a variety of stories. Many are off-metal planchets such as objects thrown in and struck. The mule clashes as George points out were most likely intentional. The tilted clashes in 1960 from Denver seem odd as do the MAD clashes from the 1990s.

Thinking of trying to get a job at the Mint?

[coinbot]

I don't buy Rick's argument that the quarter dies were purposely manipulated. Not at all.

I'm sure there are cases, more so planchet related as opposed to die related, that were intentional. I have a heard a variety of stories. Many are off-metal planchets such as objects thrown in and struck. The mule clashes as George points out were most likely intentional. The tilted clashes in 1960 from Denver seem odd as do the MAD clashes from the 1990s.

Thinking of trying to get a job at the Mint?

Lol...maybe...I don't think I'd last long, though I would imagine...or hope...that the mints take some pretty extensive precautions to prevent and dissuade dishonest activities. It's just surprising to me that dies like those used to produce the 1955P-1DO-001 or 1995D-1DO-003 even got past the die inspection stage (assuming such a thing exists) much less actually get put to use to produce coinage. With human error ever present, I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised...just smells a little fishy is all. Thanks for your insights, folks!

[coincollectingenterprises]

In a society driven by money, if there is a way to make money legally or illegally, morally or immorally, there will be people of varying degrees of ethics attempting all methods. It's just a historical fact. So you are 100% correct that there were and are people who have and are attempting to create value intentionally for profit.

[DCW]

"It's just surprising to me that dies like those used to produce the 1955P-1DO-001 or 1995D-1DO-003 even got past the die inspection stage (assuming such a thing exists) much less actually get put to use to produce coinage. "

Funny thing about the '55 ddo is that it WAS discovered by the shift manager, and he made the decision amidst a shortage of cents to go ahead and release the batch containing this legendary doubled die rather than melt them. If I recall correctly, there was a hurricane or another storm that threatened to halt production at the same time. Anyway, they were released without fanfare, and curious folks started getting these "weird pennies" taped to their lucky strikes cigarette packs as change from vending machines.
I always thought the story added to the appeal of these. I actually owned one once with toning that shadowed the form of scotch tape across the obverse.

[trails]

One correction concerning the mule dies of 1857. There are now not attributed to the night watchman. See this link;

http://maddieclashes.com/The_Mule_Die_Clashes_of_1857.html

As to varieties being intentionally created. I am unsure. Error coins are more of a candidate to be assisted (though still rare in the U. S. Mint), especially in other countries.

http://error-ref.com/Intentional_and_Assisted_Mint_Made_Errors_.html

BJ Neff

[coinbot]

"It's just surprising to me that dies like those used to produce the 1955P-1DO-001 or 1995D-1DO-003 even got past the die inspection stage (assuming such a thing exists) much less actually get put to use to produce coinage. "

Funny thing about the '55 ddo is that it WAS discovered by the shift manager, and he made the decision amidst a shortage of cents to go ahead and release the batch containing this legendary doubled die rather than melt them. If I recall correctly, there was a hurricane or another storm that threatened to halt production at the same time. Anyway, they were released without fanfare, and curious folks started getting these "weird pennies" taped to their lucky strikes cigarette packs as change from vending machines.
I always thought the story added to the appeal of these. I actually owned one once with toning that shadowed the form of scotch tape across the obverse.

That's interesting; I'd never heard the story before.

[coincollectingenterprises]

It's amazing what people will do to sacrifice their own morality for a few bucks. However, with real stories like that of legit things just make the oddities so much more intriguing.