Is This Ike A Legit Clipped Planchet?

Alright, I put together a comparison between two pictures of your Ike and a 1972 Type 1 that I have.



To me, the shape of those olive leaves seems very strongly distorted. The right (your right, the bird's left) talon is very misshapen also. None of my Ikes look like that, and I can't recall seeing one that looks like that before. They're the shape I'd expect to see if the metal was flowing out into the void during striking. The metal on that part of the coin would be moving southward more than during a normal strike, so you'd expect metal to pile up at the southern side of the devices and pull away from the northern side. That's exactly what we see here.

That's a smoking gun to me, along with a fairly subtle B-effect. Maybe the distortion I'm seeing isn't present in-hand and is just an illusion from the pictures. But if I'm not seeing things, I can't imagine how that could happen post-strike.

I don't disagree with PCGS on the Sacagawea either. The B effect is significant and some of the letters and stars near the clip are slightly distorted.

I have no idea on grading Ikes.

jasper62 - I think you are looking at the Sacagawea, I have the IKE in question here on my desk.

Both clips are genuine. As others have pointed out, there is significant metal flow in the design elements bordering the larger clip.

There are four diagnostics you can use to identify a genuine curved clip. If none are present, it's probably a fake. If just one is present, then you can be pretty confident it's genuine. None of the four diagnostics is invariably present in all genuine specimens.

I was curious what a large clip like this on a large coin like an Ike might go for. This is the most similar one I was able to find on eBay. Yours is a bigger, more impressive clip. The dullness detracts some, but I think small differences in grade are pretty unimportant here - the dramaticness of the error is what counts.

Captain that is a very good reference listing to see what mine may fetch. That one too is a double clip, I kind of think the one listed is a trade off having the better small clip but the smaller large clip and therefore, I think it is probably about the same in value as mine. I would probably value mine around $85.00 as well.
I consider Mike Diamonds opinion the final say but all the comments were great and very helpful.
Mike is sorta like that old E.F. Hutton commercial.
When E. F. Hutton talks, people listen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MXqb1a3Apg