Owner Comments:
1862 1C Indian Cent -- Obverse Die Cap -- MS67 PCGS. Ex: Simpson. This is one of the most stunning and spectacular errors that I have seen, a remarkable illustration of what can go wrong during coining operations. Although coinage presses in 1862 did not operate with nearly the same speed as modern-day presses, they could still strike quite a large number of coins every minute.
A die cap is created when a blank planchet literally sticks to the die through multiple press cycles. The successive cycle of the press, over a short period, probably seconds rather than minutes, caused the planchet to expand slightly, and the obverse detail to become just a little sharper in definition. As the metal expanded, it also became more brittle and eventually split into a fan shape with eight individual tabs. Clearly, the copper-nickel (in this case 12% nickel and 88% copper) was quite hard and contributed to the appearance that is now so coveted.
The obverse is exceptionally sharp, especially at the center, with every feather tip and every diamond fully and completely defined. The legend and date are drawn to the border, with the border design extensively drawn out onto the individual tabs. This Superb Gem is highly lustrous with wonderful tan color accented by light blue color in the fields. This is a uniface example with no design visible on the reverse, possibly the result of two planchets fed into the press at the same time, but more likely the repeated blows of the die cap that caused the reverse design to expand and eventually disappear entirely. For the connoisseur who appreciates the combination of impressive quality and outrageous character. This amazing piece is recorded as number three in the 100 Greatest U.S. Error Coins reference by Nicholas P. Brown, David J. Camire, and Fred Weinberg.
Ex: Harrison Phillips Collection (Bowers and Merena, 7/2003), lot 3153; Denver ANA Signature (Heritage, 8/2006), lot 5055.