PART VI. Striking Errors:

Multiple Strikes:

Second Strike Misalignment (Vertical)

Definition: After a centered first strike, the hammer dies tilts down at one pole and strikes the coin a second time at an angle.  The result is that one pole is extremely well-struck on both faces while the opposite pole shows little or no trace of the second strike.

The illustrated 1976 Israel Greeting medal was minted by the Israel Government Coins and Medals Corporation, a quasi-public entity that produces all of Israel’s coins and medals.  The first strike was quite weak, but was centered.  The second strike was delivered at an angle of approximately 45 degrees.

This medal shows both a vertical misalignment (tilted die error) and a 50% horizontal misalignment of the hammer die.  The hammer die started shifting position immediately after reaching the lowest point of its downstroke during the first strike.  As a result, newly-struck letters in the northwest quadrant were badly scraped.

Vertical misalignments of greater than 15 degrees are almost always accompanied by a horizontal misalignment.  This is because when a die tilts down at one pole, it also swings in, unless there is compensatory lateral movement of the die or die assembly in the opposite direction.