PART VI. Striking Errors:

Broadstrike:

Cupped

Definition: A broadstrike is a coin that is struck out-of-collar and in which the design is complete on both faces. Most broadstrikes expand in the horizontal plane, but some will show cupping. Cupping can affect the entire perimeter of the coin or only part of the perimeter. Cupping is almost always toward the hammer die.

The cause of cupping is not entirely clear. Sometimes it’s guided by a stiff collar that is just barely deployed above the level of the anvil die. But in many cases there is no
source of physical guidance. That is the case for the two 1999 cents shown below.

The 1999 cent shown above developed an almost vertical wall as it curled toward the obverse (hammer) die. A corona of exposed zinc formed at the perimeter of the design on both faces.

The image above shows a side view of the same 1999(P) Lincoln cent

In this 1999 cent, the featureless perimeter is cupped at about a 45 degree angle. A small indent can be seen in the northwest quadrant of the obverse face. Here a second planchet intruded slightly into the striking chamber. Tensile stresses caused the thin copper plating to split on the obverse, producing a second profile of Lincoln defined by the exposed zinc. This would fall into the category of split plating doubling.

he image above shows a side view of the 1999(P) Lincoln cent featured above.

The 1903 (?) Morgan dollar shown above is a cupped broadstrike with a centered, full brockage.

The images are courtesy of Fred Weinberg.