Whilst rummaging through a heap of pre-Euro French coins earlier this evening, I came across this beauty:
The only other error coin I have (and I've seen millions of coins in the last few years) has been a 2001 Australian 1 dollar Centenary of Federation coin, Obverse rotated 270 degrees.
To say I'm elated would be like saying the Universe is a pretty big place.
In the crushing darkness of the ocean deeps, the Lurking Squid sits atop his burgeoning hoard of silver coins...
I have found a few clips in my change over the years, but always on low denomination coins. Actually, only the Canadian 1¢ coin, so I haven't found any in a long time...
It looks like the area right across the clip shows signs of the Blakesley Effect but I'm not sure because of the reflection.
Hey Camerinvs, I'd never heard of the Blakesley Effect until you mentioned it. I looked it up, but I reckon what you're seeing is just the reflection of the light (I'm not great at photographing coins). The rim looks spot-on to me.
The Literature I have on Australian coins tends to indicate that clips like the above are "scarce" - about halfway along the spectrum ranging from "Common" to "Unique". It might be different in other countries, however. Interestingly, with regards to denominations with clips, I have read in Australia clips have occurred in every denomination up to the Half-Crown (only minted 1937 and 1938, so very rare, I would imagine) in pre-decimal, and Two Dollars in decimal. I have never personally seen a clipped Australian coin though.
In the crushing darkness of the ocean deeps, the Lurking Squid sits atop his burgeoning hoard of silver coins...
Never heard about the Blakesley effect either. I have a few clips myself, here's one, but I don't see the Blakesley effect (or maybe very lightly between the red arrows?):
But I've also read this effect is often absent in the case of large clips. I don't know if you can classify this one as a large clip.
Yes, it's very light but it is the Blakesley Effect.
Different countries probably have different ratios of error coins. A couple of years back there was a thread on the French side about the Belgian mint in the 20th century which produced a lot of "fautées" (error coins) ─ fun for collectors but not really good for your reputation as a mint master.
The pre-Revolution French coinage was poorly struck and there are many errors of all sorts. I wonder whether it was because coinage was highly decentralized, with mints all over the kingdom instead of one or two central mints as in the UK. Here are two of my own (double strike with 90º rotation and broken [?] collar):
Quote: "Camerinvs"Yes, it's very light but it is the Blakesley Effect.
Thank you very much for this confirmation. And for the information of course, again I've learned something new. Unfortunately I've reached an age I forget more than I learn.
