Weird 1882-H C2 I Of Dei

take 2 toothpicks of equal length, stand one in the hole and one on the field, put a horizontal pencil mark across the two with a very pointed pencil and see if the heights are different. Unless you have a set of calipers that can measure the 2 areas. If they are the same then drilling is out of the question as no metal was displaced to create the circle. Cool lookin coin btw.

Somebody had a girlfriend named Deb.

Assuming it was punched into the working die, The punch would have been an "I" with the canker/circle off to the side. Punches are precise instruments, takes much engineering, similar to making a die, they go through their own tempering process, serious business. So an "I" punch with a canker off to the side is virtually impossible.

Also, we must remember, everything raised on a coin is incused in the die. Therefore the middle of that canker was raised on the die. It could not have been a separate punch otherwise, there would be no gap in the letter "I" level with the coin field. Again, envision the die, the "I" though incused on the die would have a raised area inside, this means it had to be one punch that included the letter "i" and the canker.

It is a heck of a riddle, but I really don't think it's made through the minting process. Mints are not into making weird punches everyonce in awhile to make for head scratchers. This was struck at the heaton mint, commissioned by the crown, they carried out the coining process, messing around wasn't an option, especially to create a weird punch of no functional merit. Jmho.

Here are a few small drill bits or a center punch that could possibly do that job well.

..and then add a bit of time into the mix ..and Voila..!! ..
This one is not rocket science to me ...but still a cool effect for us to ponder here..

The smallest drill here is still much too small for that start of a hole in that cent.

A dull drill would also be very good and cause a mushroom effect. ..my 2c..

Absolutely PMD - the "hole" is deeper than the fields. Bear in mind that the fields are the highest points on the dies, so there would have to be raised device on the die itself (which is not possible).

Bear in mind that the metal (bronze) is quite malleable, and this is no different than deformed letters "moved" around by coin rolling machines.

I'm sticking with my theory that someone tried to turn the I into a crude "b". Look at how much metal was moved and the tool marks. I bet it could be done with the tip of a sharp knife and maybe a magnifying glass. Girlfriend named Deb. Perhaps the final version looked better.

Seriously though this has been a truly interesting thread and I'm sure there is more to come if not here then in the other private thread Okiecoiner mentioned. Thanks for posting it here too Graval.

Kbbpll


How poor ole Victorba no one ever dances with her..lol