Mint Faults

[Citizen H]

I guess we all come across these... for me its an interest brought on by the unique individuality of damaged to coins that pass through the mint more so than high grade coins .... show me the carnage!!!

This 1887 Half Crown (mint casualty )looks like its been hit with an axe.....? above the letter C you can see the blob of silver that happened during the mint process,  How ? open to opinions , and Please do show your casualty's  

 

     

[Chris Perkins]

Looks like a (post mint) scratch to me. The blob above the C is displaced metal moved aside from the rim, caused by the scratch.

[Citizen H]

24 minutes ago, Chris Perkins said:

Looks like a (post mint) scratch to me. The blob above the C is displaced metal moved aside from the rim, caused by the scratch.

its to deep to be just a scratch, the additional silver near the edge is bled into the dots surrounding..  I can see about better photos but for now this is the I can manage. 👍 

[Martinminerva]

Definitely just post mint damage as Chris says. I think someone back in the late 1800s actually suspected it might have been a forgery (it's not, but many were at the time) and has cut or chopped the flan to test. The metal displacement can be seen along the entire length of the cut on the top side of it (so chopped at an angle upwards from SW to NE) and subsequent circulation wear has smoothed it out a bit including blending it into the beads, and separating off the bottom serif of the I to make a big blob. Not a mint fault, I'm afraid. You're actually not far wrong when you say hit with an axe! More likely a chisel.

Edited Saturday at 09:17 PM by Martinminerva
Tweak.

[Citizen H]

On 10/3/2026 at 9:26 PM, Martinminerva said:

Definitely just post mint damage as Chris says. I think someone back in the late 1800s actually suspected it might have been a forgery (it's not, but many were at the time) and has cut or chopped the flan to test. The metal displacement can be seen along the entire length of the cut on the top side of it (so chopped at an angle upwards from SW to NE) and subsequent circulation wear has smoothed it out a bit including blending it into the beads, and separating off the bottom serif of the I to make a big blob. Not a mint fault, I'm afraid. You're actually not far wrong when you say hit with an axe! More likely a chisel.

"off with her head..." or so to speak 🤣 its a £25 scrap so not so bad. 👍