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Like Rob says, this is a random error but because of the poor quality control these aren't as infrequent as you might think. This also isn't confined to the 20p, all denominations would have errors such as this. The 1897 o'ne penny flaw is different to a blob of metal attached to the coin, this is where the die itself has become damaged and when coins were struck the metal raised up into the damaged part of the die to create the dot. It's interesting to know, as you can find examples of it (and the 1946 one' flaw) with a fairly small dot, and then others which are so obviously pronounced and have clearly been struck well after the die was damaged. Matt The alternative point of view is that the 1897 dot was a deliberate die identifier, and the so-called 'progression' of it is in fact the reverse - the dot gradually filling in on the die as happened so often with colons in the copper series.