NGC AU-50 1840 Goa Rupia

There is one other item I would like to point about this coin that is actually a serious anomaly.

It is one of the dots which was shown previously circled in blue to the left of the letter G. See picture below from the World Coin EU Forum.



The same dot appears on my earlier photo that shows the crack. Here it is circled in yellow. It looks like a simple die ding that fills with metal.



But here is that same area (rotated 30 degrees counterclockwise and viewed at 500X.



If you notice there is now a very curious thing visible. The dot is clearly raised above the average level of the field of the coin (the die surface) but there is an INCUSE square area around the base of the dot. This incuse area is depressed BELOW the field level and would have to be a raised square on the actual die.

That is a very ODD FEATURE.

Another proof of forgery.

TwoKopeiki Ghosting is definitely present as well as some doubling from the original strike or strikes. Both features were copied onto the counterfeit dies used to strike this coin. When thinking about this coin we must clearly think in terms of two dies and two strikes. What happened to make the original coin look like it did and what happened in the counterfeit strike.

The ghosting in my opinion is a feature of the host coin which the forgers copied when making this die. There may also be some added erosion of the counterfeit die making it a bit more confusing. But which ever die is involved GHOSTING is present.

Ghosting occurs as a result of the way a die wears. It happens around sharply defined features that were cut or punched into the original die. Many of these early dies were made with small punch tools that gouged lines into the die face or which actual punches that exerted significant impact force to a small area of the metal. This impact force can harden the metal just slightly more that the surrounding metal.

In addition, the method used for hardening of the die after it is finished can be effected by any sharp features, so that the die just a slight bit harder right at the die feature than a fraction of a mm away. The theory of ghosting presumes that the result is a differential in the rate of wear right near any sharp die feature. This creates erosion in the die surface next to the feature more quickly than in the adjacent field. This depression in the die translates to a ghost image on the die.

I hope that is clearer than mud.

This is a much discussed topic and you can find experts with different explanations for the mechanism that causes ghosting. BUt it is most often seen on well used dies near the end of their useful life.

It is confusing but die wear rates are clearly involved.

Sure, that's totally clear and logical--once explained. It's akin to hearing Sherlock Holmes' explaining his train of logic--it seems simple in retrospect.