Straits Settlement - Full Brockage?

A coin is stamped in the press but is not ejected. Another blank then appears on the top of the unejected coin, by a fluke, in alignment. New coin stamp stamped. This would produce a 'negative" obverse on the reverse.
Possible?
That's all I could think of in which case it's a very unusual and interesting coin.
And welcome to the CCF!

I agree with gxseries.

The very first thing that needs to be checked is the weight of this piece against an eqivalently worn standard coin, before the following discussion is entered into.

One thing that puzzles me, is how such an unusual piece could remain in circulation for such time to sustain this much wear, albeit on one side only. The fields on the brokage side seem to be relatively unscathed.

Having made this point, it otherwise looks like a perfectly good brokage.

OK, firstly... does look to be the 1845/1862 Straits Sett. 1 cent-sized obverse.

As mentioned, weight is the first thing necessary to verify it (a $10 0.1 gram dig. scale is accurate enough)... Assuming that's OK, the questions of A) why does it look more worn on one side, and B) how could such an oddity survive in circulation so long have been raised.

A) is easy... you have a INVERTED image on the other side, NOT raised - it's protected (see below an NGC40 Indian 1/4 rupee brockage showing this same effect - from the Apr. 2013 Ponterio Hong Kong auct, brought $810). As for the error side being free of marks, it's maybe a bit smoother than the face side, but not perfect - some discoloration, a few rim ticks, and a clear old cut by the neck area. Mind you, the other side isn't beaten up either (minus the more pronounced staining).

I also think there's a little optical illusion w/this piece just b/c the face-side is so simple in terms of design elements that its inversion looks atypical.

B) How did it last in the wild long enough to get that worn? A bit unusual, but remember, this isn't a piece from England or another developed country... this is mid-1800's Malaysia. I wouldn't find it too shocking that people (especially away from the city) might look, say "Heh" for a second, then continue on with their business. Also, keep in mind this WAS a type that circulated for a fairly long time (later design was the same size)... there wouldn't be any issue recognizing what it was supposed to be, I don't think.

Of course, there are ways of fabricating such things (and clearly the motivation to do so b/c they bring a good price) so you have to scrutinize it, and this is not my area at all... but the piece strikes me as honest.

Good news: I took out another Straits Settlement 1 cent coin for comparison. It's a different year, as the Victorian bust is slightly larger and perhaps older (as in - the coin is younger and features an older effigy of the Queen). Anyway, they're the same diameter, and on my little scale, the 'complete' coin wavers between 9 and 9.1g, and the possible brockage coin comes in at 9g.

I also noticed a bit of a lip along one arc of the coin. I think it may come from an off-center strike...? You can probably see evidence of that from the pictures I posted.

So now the question is, where do we (my FIL and I) go from here? I saw where a TPG service will attempt to verify mint errors on world coins. I have no idea if it's worth going through that. Also, I have no idea what kind of value it may hold, so I'm not sure what tier of service we'd want to request. Any ideas?

Thanks for your help and hospitality, btw.

Here's mine, though it appears to be a different Victoria type. (My Krause and the coin are not at hand).








Bill

I took it by a coin shop in town. In the guy's opinion, it's likely genuine and not like anything he'd seen before. He couldn't place a value on it, but I think I'm gonna send it off to have it graded, verified as a mint error, and slabbed. Then it's up to my father-in-law. It'd be a cool piece to pass down, so it'll be good to have it preserved anyway.

I also took by some Order of Malta coins, including a 1738 Scudo that's probably close to VG. Book value is $300. May get that graded and slabbed as well.

Thanks once more for all your input.

If it has been slabbed as genuine, then I reckon a value of around $100 to $150 on the retail market.