In selecting for appearance this week my next member of the troop that I chose is a recent addition.

I have had this particular member on my watch list for some time, but had always hesitated signing him up.  See I actually had his brother for quite a few years but his appearance was a little brown whereas this one is very flashy RED.  Now I know I should not judge my members by their color in spite of slab convention but his color is what truly make him attractive which I guess is an odd adjective to use for describing a member of the FREAK SHOW.  Still I leave that for you to judge and maybe you might have a better superlative in line with the theme of this series.

Both of my friends are described as being struck through a late state capped die.  Your first question may be what is a capped die?  Well I like to think of it as bottle cap, some prefer thimble I do not, wrapped around in this case the obverse hammer die. The bottle cap is actually a planchet that has somehow become attached to the obverse die and has gone unnoticed as machinery continues to strike out new coins.  With each hammering blow the planchet gets thinner and thinner to the point where it becomes imbedded into the obverse die allowing a ghostly image to be impressed on every planchet that continue to be fed through the coin press. Each coin too will be slightly different becoming an error in lieu of a variety.  Now eventually this cap is discover or possibly falls off to be discovered with the remaining coins like those prior to the cap being ordinary cents.  These caps too are collectable but alas I look out over my troop inside the big top and do see any representative of this type of deformity.

This type of error has a unique hallmark for as washed out as the obverse is the reverse is well struck.  This was due to the additional metal on the obverse die that allow the metal to flow or better yet squeezed into every recess of the reverse die.  So if happen to come up leisurely from behind there would be nothing seeming wrong and you might feel like you were about to gaze upon an equally well struck profile of Lincoln.   This is where the horror begins as you are struck with the ghoulishly distorted profile Lincoln, the mottos, the date, and a blob of the Denver mint mark.

As for stats this latest member is encapsulated by ANACS appearing in one of their early slabs.  I have never owned such an early ANACS piece and I have to say I really like the size of the holder.  Granted I still prefer the newer NGC and PCGS holders where you can see that third side, but still it feels right in your hand.  The slab label describe the coin as a MS 64 RD, 1968-D 1C, STRK THRU LATE CAP DIE.

I hope you enjoyed this new member of the group as much as I enjoyed sharing him.  Until next time stay safe as I pick another cast member to shine the spotlight on ………………..