so... can anyone explain what happened?

[generic username]

i took this coin to a dealer, and immediately he said "ha, someone obviously smacked it with a hammer and put a dent in it and filled the back in on the rear" but then he flipped it over really examined it and said this is a true manufacturing error, a planchet error i think he said? he mentioned it may be worth some real big money and to send it off to be graded, but for how different this coin is I'd be concerned to lose it in transit or it to be stolen. so from what i can guess, the coin piece before it was struck had a air bubble in it and somehow ended up passing all inspections or had been snuck out somehow. any ideas on how much its worth? or anyone have anything similar?

 

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[aa battery]

hmm i think it was in a fire but an error would be nice

 

[bradyboy]

agree with the exposed to heat, pinpointed torch
But, what confusing is I don't see any discolorization
suppose it could have been brushed / polished out
doubt it has anything to do with the mint process

 

[Nick A]

Been in a fire, or had heat applied. I have seen a number of halves that have "heat damage" and this looks just like one of them.

 

[VERMONTPACKRAT]

The coin seems to have some color also. Throw a clad coin on top of a wood stove and watch it change colors as it gets hotter.

I agree with the heat idea.


VPR

 

[springcypress]

I'm going to disagree with previous posters and agree with the dealer.

I think this is a planchet error. Specifically it's called bubbled plating. This happens when there a gas bubble is trapped between the core and the plating.

This explains why there is no evidence on the reverse.

Heating with a blow torch to such a point as to achieve this will have adverse affects on the opposite side of the coin. There is none on this one.

As to the dark color. This is a fairly common color for toning... I don't see anything about it that suggests excessive heating.

All that said... As to the value. It's going to be a combination of grade and error. You've got a circulated example so grade value isn't going to be much more than face. Error value for something like this depends on denomination. But although a fairly uncommon error, they don't carry as much value as I think they should.

I'd put the value of this somewhere in the $20-$50 range, but if you found the right buyer it could be considerably more.

Here's a picture of the same sort of thing going on with a Roosevelt. IMHO not as nice as yours, but it's the best example I could find.

 

[Emperor Findus Cladius]

I have dealt quite a bit with errors and from looking at the dark coloring of the coin and the way the bubble looks in the pics would have to agree with the heat theory. Coin has been in a fire causing gas to form in a pocket and cause a bubble, pushing the clad layer out. You can attempt to have it certified (ANACS would be the only one to go with, PCGS and NGC do not slab errors), but I think they would body bag it as post mint damage.

 

[Cannonman17]

I agree with heat/fire, I seen many coins from one house fire, while some melted together in clumps a good number just got bubbles like these and it was perfectly normal to have no other tell tale damage than just a single bubble on one side of the coin, how close they were to the heat had to have been the major factor.

 

[Emperor Findus Cladius]

Another reason to go with the post mint damage, look at the detail of the head above and below the bubble. If it had been a true error, you would not see the detail you have there.

 

[Mackaydon]

Here's another thread on the 'bubble' idea:
http://www.cointalk.org/showthread.php?t=2090&highlight=bubble