Belgian coin with 3 errors: 5 cent 1863 FR

[Aernout]

Error coins aren't a surprise for the collector of Belgian coins.
So we look harder after error coins with 2 or more errors on 1 coin.

An example:  5 cent 1863 FR(ench) witch 3 errors
Error 1) Double date and star ("double die" in English ? - or a part of a double die ?)
Error 2) Die break
Error 3) The raster / frame after the head of the lion is gone

Mvg / Gr,
Aernout

[bart]

This coin shows the quality control in the Royal Mint of Belgium was already poor in the 19th century. They also use(d) their dies until they were so worn you couldn't use them anymore.
Die breaks are common on Belgian coins (as you can also see on Belgian eurocoins), but to see a die break together with a doubled die on date and left star and a part of the raster design totally faded (filled die?) is rather extraordinary.

Thanks for sharing.

Bart

[villa66]

The errors on this coin afford me more than a flicker of recognition--the American mint at Philadelphia had a devil of a time with its early efforts to coin this copper-nickel alloy (and the Belgian start with the alloy pre-dates the American one). Looking at the Belgian 5-cent you've posted reminds me so much of the U.S. 3-cent and (especially) the early 5-cent pieces in this metal.

v.

[Figleaf]

You are plotting with Joselito, I guess Congratulations. Great find!

It looks like people were a bit too much in a hurry when cleaning the die. You can forgive them for not seeing the breaks. They are odd, by the way. Breaks usually run from the edge more or less towards the centre. However, they should have spotted the oil, filling the rastered background behind the lion. How do I know it was oil, not cleaning fluid? Well, I don't, but oil would have made the flan slippery while cleaning fluid would have solved fat, making the contact between die and flan stiff. The die doubling may have been helped by the die breaks, but I think the primary cause was slippage because of oil. I wasn't there when it happened, though, so it all remains speculation.

If I remember correctly, the Brussels mint was antiquated after the Napoleonic wars. I seem to remember the Dutch put in more modern, but second hand machinery. Old machines may have contributed also.

Peter

[Aernout]

You can forgive them for not seeing the breaks.

Forgive them... I thank them

They are odd, by the way. Breaks usually run from the edge more or less towards the centre.

There is a small break between the star and the edge. Probable the start of the break.

Well, I don't, but oil

Oil is a sometime I didn't think about. It could by.

You are plotting with Joselito, I guess

Mayby
I use indeed the catalogue: "Numismatica Belgica 2011" with variants, etc
Good book !!

mvg,
Aernout

[Globetrotter]

My documentation of same