The New Presidential Dollars

[murphy]

I went to the bank today to get a bundle of new pennies to check out. They didn't have any but they did have a roll of Presidential Dollars for me. I brought the roll home and busted it open. Upon inspection of the obverse and reverse I found that they were early die state, not bad as far as dings go, very few of them. Just some nice coins with nothing out of the ordinary other than they were probably first strikes. Then I inspected the rims where the date and mottos are. I found the date to be found anywhere on the rim - no particular place in relation to top or bottom of coin and not facing any particular direction. You can look at one coin and the date will face the obverse if you tilt it slightly back. Look at another coin and you'll find it faces the opposite direction! That's probably normal. Another thing I found was raised ghost strikes around the rims. I wonder if that is doubling???? Here's my photos of what all I'm talking about:

Date facing front:

Date facing reverse:

Raised Ghost Image of "B" as in - PLURI"B"US -:

[Dick]

It looks like "nothing, absolutely nothing", is safe from "Murphy's Law"! Nice going, Murph!
Dick

[murphy]

Hehe, thanks Dick. I'm sure it's nothing too, but worth a mention.


EDIT:
BTW, look between the two zeros and you'll see the "P" in PLURIBUS.

[coppercoins]

Given that this is the country's first shot at non-symmetrical edges on coins in over a century (to my knowledge), I would say there are a lot of kinks in the works to figure out. Regarding the obverse/reverse facing date, since the planchets move in a high speed press to striking and aren't placed by hand, I would say the ratio will be 50-50, so neither will be anything special. As for the ghost images...gosh, a lot could cause that, but I highly doubt it would be hub doubling.

BTW, the edge lettering on the early US coins was placed there in the upset process, rolling the planchet in grooves with the design lettered into the edges of the groove. I believe now the lettering is placed in the collar and is pressed into the coin at minting time - completely different process.

[coppercoins]

Oh, and by the way, I believe these are the first coins ever issued by the US without a date on the obverse or reverse of the coin, and the first to have any date in the edge.

Also it's only the second dollar denomination coin not to have reeding in the edge - first was the smooth edged Sacabucks.

[smed]