Sweden: 5 öre 1964 with "50" in crown

[FosseWay]

Acquired this the other day. Look carefully at the crown on the non-denomination side and you will see incuse figures beneath - i.e. they were there on the blank before the main design was struck onto the planchet.

Although most books that mention this error (including both KM and Myntboken) describe the figures as "50", it seems they should actually be read as "5Ö", i.e. 5 öre. I'm far from clear how this error arose, but one suggestion is that an "identifier" punch (to distinguish the 5 öre from any other denomination) was wrongly left in the machine when it produced the planchets for the coins, which were then struck in the normal way before anyone noticed. But if that was the case, wouldn't the 5Ö be back to front?

[Globetrotter]

HI,

did you try to ask the mint? In Denmark they are nice enough to give you an answer to a good question.

Try this beautiful lady and see, what she'll tell you?

Ann-Leena Mikiver
Informationschef
E-post: ann-leena.mikiver@riksbank.se

Ole
 

[Figleaf]

I like the "identifier punch" theory, where I see that punch as being used to mark the non-operational side of a die for easy identification. I can see how the punching could be done on a coin press. What I am struggling with is a scenario where a working die gets damaged as the punch is left in the press in stead of a die. You'd have to think of a single cycle, minters notice the error immediately, but don't notice the damage. Or maybe an attempt to mark a die on the wrong end? But why didn't anybody notice the error? Puzzling...

Peter