Mint Errors

Die Breaks

Here is one example of a die break error. This is a United States nickel minted in Philadelphia in 1883. The original die used to mint the coin was fractured under stress and you can see the resulting lines between the stars on the top and right side. The lines you see are not scratches dug into the coin, they are extra metal that rises from the surface of the coin. That is the metal that was forced into stress fractures on the original die that pressed the coin. You can see that best with the small glob between the top star and the Liberty tiara. There will be more coins just like this one, and there might be some that are worse, but the mint replaces damaged dies before they get too bad. This die would have been replaced soon after this coin was minted.

Below is another example of a die break from the other side of one of these old nickels. It is the reverse of a 1902 nickel and you can see the extra metal from where the die broke around the M in AMERICA. If you look closely you can see that it goes down through the wreath to come out on the other side to touch the U in UNITED.

Die Cud Breaks

These errors are similar to the above die breaks, but on what collectors call die cuds the break is only on the outer rims. Here is another 1883 nickel and you can see the rim error on the upper right rim.