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'Monster' Doubled Die on Malaysian 10 Sen
 | By Ken Potter, World Coin News
August 04, 2008 |
This month's lead coin is a doubled die Malaysian 2007 10 sen piece, sent in by Harold Kuykendal, based in Hawaii. The doubling is extremely strong on the entire legend about the rim, and the date shows well on some areas on the central devices.
The coin demonstrates that even though some countries have moved toward the new single-squeeze restrained hubbing process (where the spread of hub doubling seems to have been kept down to a minimum), at least some countries are still using the older multiple hubbing process where much larger shifts are possible. The result is that Malaysia and several other countries are still pumping out some rather nice doubled dies, including the monster shown here! I've listed this one in the Variety Coin Register as VCR#1/DDO#1.
Hub doubling results from a phenomenon known as work hardening. This causes the metal of the face of a die to become too hard and too brittle to allow a complete image to be sunk into the die in one operation without causing it to crack or shatter (during the multiple hubbing process). As a result, several impressions or hubbings are required to produce a die when using this process. Between each hubbing, the die is removed from the press and annealed (softened), allowing for another impression without shattering the die.
If for some reason a partially finished die is reinstalled into a press for strengthening and the hub and die are improperly indexed - resulting in a misalignment of images - or if the hub varies in design from the one(s) used for earlier impressions, hub doubling will result. The multiple hubbing process was replaced by a number of countries in recent years by the more modern "single squeeze" restrained hubbing process.
Curtis Miller of California submitted a number of coins with repunched dates and overdates. The first one is a Danish 1904 5 ore that sports a nice repunched date as a 9/9 East. This one (and the balance to follow) was submitted on April 30. It is listed as VCR#1/RPD#1.
Before moving on to the next coin I want to note, as I have before, that I am NOT a world coin specialist. My area of specialization is error and variety coins. When it comes to attributing many foreign coin overdates, especially on lower grade coins, it takes the specialized knowledge of those who have a more intimate knowledge of the series to aid me in making a final call on some overdates (when that is possible). For example, a specialist may know the size and font styles for the era of a digit that is suspected to be lying under another digit. Without this specialized knowledge, I cannot make the call and I must I depend on the specialists to weigh in on what they see on the coin. Our next coin and several more to follow fall into this classification, so specialists, please let me hear from you.
Miller's next coin is an Angolan 1763 2 Macutas piece that displays what he feels is a 3/2 overdate. Due to the low grade, it is impossible for me to positively attribute this coin as such and like many others of similar ilk, I'm listing it as a "Possible Overdate" as VCR#1/POVD#1.
His next coin is a Costa Rican 1889 10 centavos with both "8s" in the date clearly punched over something else. I really can't tell what they are punched over or even if it is a RPD or overdate so I'll just ask for feedback on this coin.
Next is a Colombian 1884/5 or 1884/3 10 centavos overdate. It looks more like a 4/5 since the number under the 4 showing to the west appears perfect for a 5, but what is protruding from the upper right of the 4 just does not seem to match what I'd expect to see if it was a 5. For now I'm going to list it as a 4/5 anyway but ask specialists to weigh in on this coin. It is listed as VCR#1/OVD#1.
Another coin Miller submitted is an Austrian Netherlands 1788/7 2 liards with an 8/7 overdate. This one was listed for Miller as VCR#1/OVD#1.
Miller's next coin is a well-worn but easily identifiable example of an overdate on a French 1727/6-A ECU that I've listed as VCR#1/OVD#1.
Sticking with our French theme for two more coins, we have French 1792/1 and 1793/2 overdates on the 2 sols denomination. Both are listed for their dates as VCR#1/OVD#1.
During the eras in which all the overdates shown here were created, they were most often made as an expedient to get dies into service quickly while new dies were being made with current dates, and/or as an economy move to salvage dies that might have otherwise been deemed unusable for use if public law or policy prohibited striking coins with a previous year's date inscribed on them. In most cases we will never know the real reason that such overdates were created, but what we do know is that they are one of the most popular types of die variety that collectors seek out.
Next time we'll take at look at the balance of Miller's submissions, which will include at least a few modern overdates.
Ken Potter is the official attributer and lister of world doubled dies for the Combined Organizations of Numismatic Error Collectors of America and for the National Collector's Association of Die Doubling. He privately lists U.S. doubled dies and other collectible variety types on both U.S. and world coins in the Variety Coin Register. For more information on either of these clubs, or to learn how to get a variety listed in the Variety Coin Register, send a self-addressed, stamped business size envelope and 58 cents to Ken Potter, P.O. Box 760232, Lathrup Village, MI 48076-0232. Contact him via e-mail at Kpotter256@aol.com, or visit his Educational Image Gallery located at www.koinpro.com.
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