What is a Clipped Planchet Coin?

 

Clipped Planchet Error Coins – What Are They and How Do They Happen?

Mint-made error coins are a popular category of rare coin. A mint-made error can happen during virtually any point during the coin minting process. One of the most noticeable mint-made errors is known as a “clipped planchet.” Clipped planchet error coins are coins accidentally struck on malformed blanks, circular pieces of metal used to create circulation United States coins. 

To mint a coin for circulation, the U.S. Mint begins by cutting planchets out of a sheet or strip of metal. Typically, the blank-making machine cuts a series of blanks that are perfectly circular. Because the mint makes so many planchets every day, these blanks are sometimes cut unevenly.

A malfunctioning blank-making machine might cut two circles that overlap with one another. As a result, finished coins made with these malformed planchets will be irregularly shaped. These coins are known as clipped planchet error coins – and they can be highly sought-after by collectors and numismatists. 

Clipped planchet error coins can be very valuable, so it is important that new numismatists learn how to identify, verify, and appraise these rare U.S. Mint-made error coins. 

Identifying a Clipped Planchet Coin

Clipped planchet error coins are relatively easy to spot because they tend to appear misshapen. A clipped planchet coin will usually be an imperfect circle and may be missing part of its design. Not all coins that look misshapen are genuine clipped planchet coins, though. Some shady coin collectors make counterfeit clipped planchet coins by cutting off part of the coin themselves.

Luckily, the process for verifying a genuine clipped planchet coin is simple. There are two main tests used to prove that a clipped planchet error coin is a genuine error and not a crude forgery: 

1. Blakesley Effect. On a true clipped planchet error coin, the edge or rim opposite to the clipping should be irregular. Usually, the opposite edge to the clipped part of a clipped planchet coin will seem unusually faint, wide, or absent entirely. This is known as the Blakesley Effect. While some especially large clips may not include this feature, numismatists should be skeptical of a clipped planchet coin lacks the characteristic Blakesley Effect on its rim. 
2. Stretched Designs. When a clipped planchet error coin is struck, the malformed clip often causes a phenomenon called “metal flow.” The metal used to make a coin squeezes out underneath a die during striking, and an incorrectly made planchet will sometimes force this metal to stretch out its designs as the metal is squeezed by the die. 

Either of these two effects can be used to verify that a clipped planchet coin is an actual mint-made error. Some clipped planchet mint-made error coins may not include these tell-tale identifiers, but the vast majority do. Be sure to look at a clipped planchet coin closely under a magnifying glass to look for stretched designs or the Blakesley Effect, as these effects can sometimes be too small to see with the naked eye. 

Types of Clipped Planchet Errors

Collectors describe the degree of clipped planchet coins using percentages. A clipped planchet can be anywhere from 10-99% clipped. The percentage used to explain a clipped planchet’s error refers to how much of the coin has been ‘cut off’ by the malfunctioning blank-making machine that caused its error. A coin with a 90% clip is missing almost all of its design, while a clip of 5% or less may be so subtle that it’s difficult to spot without magnification. 

As most readers may have already guessed, high percentage clipped planchet coins are usually worth more than coins with a subtle clipping effect. 

Clipped coins are also divided into categories based on the appearance of their clipping effects.

Curved clips are the most common among clipped planchet error coins. On a curved clipped planchet error coin, the part of the coin that has been clipped will look like a semicircle.

Straight clips can also happen to clipped planchet error coins. On a straight clipped planchet error coin, the portion of the coin that has been cut off will look like a straight line. Straight clipped planchet errors are rarer than curved clipped planchet coins, and their strange malformation makes them popular among collectors. 

Are Clipped Planchet Error Coins Valuable? 

Certain clipped planchet error coins can be worth thousands of dollars. The value of a clipped planchet coin depends on the coin’s condition, its rarity, and the obviousness of the clipping effect. Collectors will usually pay more for an extremely obvious clipped planchet error coin than for a subtle one with minimal clipping. 

Like with all other numismatic coins, condition plays a major role in the value appraisal of clipped planchet error coins. While there is a market for low-grade circulation coins, the most valuable clipped planchet coins are those kept in near-uncirculated condition. Most clipped planchet coins are worth only a few hundred dollars or less – even when they’re graded in fantastic condition. 

Collecting Clipped Planchet Error Coins

Because most clipped planchet mint-made error coins are not particularly valuable, they are a good place to start for investors who want to collect U.S. error coins. Many coin shops and local dealers sell clipped planchet coins, and most online shops also feature this popular error variety. 

Clipped planchets can happen on any U.S. circulation coin, which gives coin collectors quite a few options when shopping for their next mint-made error coin. We recommend that new collectors take a look at one of the many coin value guides online before paying for a clipped planchet error coin. 

Error coins have long been a fascination for coin collectors all over the world. Because of how unique they look, clipped planchet error coins are an extremely popular variety of error coins. Their ease of identification, collectability, and strange appearance make clipped planchets one of the most interesting mint-made error coins to collect. 

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• What Are Mint-Made Error Coins?
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