PART II. Die Varieties:
Misspelling on working dies
Definition: A word or words that were misspelled when placed into the working die. Spelling errors are primarily restricted to early 19th century coins, where much of the peripheral design was punched-in or engraved into each working die. These are errors in translating the intended design to the working die.
1801 United States Large Cent:
This spelling error is found on the 1801 large cent with “three errors”. The engraver used the letter-I punch to create an ersatz U for the word UNITED on the reverse die. This produced the word “IINITED”. There are two other errors on this reverse die as well; the fraction that reads 1/000, which should be 1/100 and a missing stem on the left side above the U of UNITED.
The image to the left shows the working die with the incorrect spelling of the word UNITED. The image to the right shows the correct spelling.
Images are courtesy of Heritage Auctions.
1863 Patriotic Token “Flag of Our Union”:
This 1863 patriotic token known as “The Flag of Our Union” or the DIX token (named after the Secretary of the Treasury at that time) is found with two versions. The reverse of the token reads “IF ANYBODY ATTEMPTS TO TEAR IT DOWN SHOOT HIM ON THE SPOT”. The more common variant, has the word SPOT correctly spelled (image to the left), while the other variation has that word misspelled or SPOOT (see image to the below right).
This coin is in the collection of Jeanie Neff.
