Part III. Die Installation Errors:

Use of Flat, Featureless Dies

Definition:  Flat dies are most often used during the testing phase of new designs, where they provide the resistance to an obverse or reverse pattern die.  The output of such tests are variously referred to as uniface pattern strikes, uniface test strikes, and uniface trial strike.

Flat dies are sometimes used to create intentional errors for the marketplace.

This is a uniface test strike of an unfinished obverse design that eventually appears on Egyptian bimetallic 1 pound coins (2007 – present).  The unfinished pattern design only features the funerary mask of King Tutankhamen.  It lacks the circlet of lotus flowers present on the complete design.  The planchet used for this test strike is composed of solid steel.  It weighs 5.96 grams while a normal 1 pound coin weighs 8.5 grams.  This coin was later canceled between a cancellation die on the reverse face and a presumably normal 1 pound coin on the obverse face.

This bimetallic Egyptian 1 pound planchet was struck on both faces by flat-faced dies.  Each die had a rim gutter, which generated a design rim on the otherwise featureless coin.  Later on, crude ersatz reeding was applied to the edge, presumably outside the mint.  This may indicate that a normal collar was unavaliable when this intentional error was struck