PART X. Wastebasket / Composite Categories:

Ghost Images:

Split Plating Afterimage

Definition: This uncommon effect is restricted to double-struck copper-plated zinc cents.  It is most often associated with off-center uniface strikes and generally is found on the die-struck face.  During a second strike, tensile stresses are magnified along the sharp sides and corners of first-strike design elements.  If the plating is somewhat thinner than normal, it can stretch to the breaking point, exposing the underlying zinc.  The exposed zinc will record the presence of first-strike design elements that have otherwise been obliterated.

This copper-plated zinc cent, struck sometime in the 1980-s, takes the form of a flipover double strike.  The second strike is off-center and uniface (struck against an underlying planchet).  The die-struck obverse face of the second strike displays a split plating afterimage of the reverse design.  The afterimage consists of the letters ERICA and the right side of the Lincoln Memorial