Part VI. Striking Errors:

“Struck-Through” Errors:

Field-Restricted Struck-Through Errors

Definition: Foreign matter that is exclusively or largely restricted to the field portion of the die face.  The foreign matter is a gritty paste that is spread onto the die face by a feeder that is coated with the substance.  The resulting pits and channels that appear on the face of the coin show a consistent directionality mirroring the movement of the feeder.  The pits and channels may be surrounded by a shallower, more diffuse area (the smooth portion of the chunky peanut butter-like substance).  The pits and channels may co-occur with die scrapes traveling in the same direction.  These are also caused by the feeder.

 As one would expect, field restricted struck-through errors are more common on the face struck by the anvil die.  But they can occur on the face struck by the hammer die or on both faces simultaneously.

This 2007 cent shows a field-restricted struck-through error on the obverse face, which was struck by the anvil die.  The northwest to southeast orientation of the pits and channels is typical and consistent from die to die.

This 2008 cent has a virtually identical field-restricted struck-through error.