Colombia 1970 5c with wildly repunched date

[KurtS]

Here's a fun coin I found at the show.
Apparently for Colombia in the 50s-70s, such wild repunchings were more common than not. Still, it's a very entertaining piece because not only were the digits repunched, but they used several different punch styles! Here's a breakdown of the photo below:

The 1 digit was punched with a large, sans-serif numeral over a shorter, serif numeral--check out the flare on the base of the underlying 1!

The 9 digit was punched at least 3 times! There's evidence of a digit east, then an underlying 9 with a flatter bottom stroke was finished with a 9 where the stroke curls upward. At least 2 digit styles again.

On the 7, there's a straight downstroke underneath a more curved 7 digit. Any ideas why the coin field is depressed around this digit?

The 0 is a bit lower, but at least it's completely on the die!
I've seen a few coins where several digits run off the edge.
There are traces of a second 0 NW of the top digit.

[Dick]

Kurt, I have seen the "depressed digit", on some of our coins, too. I wonder if the "pincher" was "tee-ed-off', and gave it an extra bit of muscle? That is a very interesting coin!
Dick

[KurtS]

Yeah...gotta wonder what raised that surface on the die?
Did they use a small torch to soften an area of the die to do work? Sometimes localized heat will raise an area of metal.

No answers here...I'm just baffled how obvious these are, and in fact there are a few where underlying digits are punched upside down. To be fair, there are a couple of US coins like that...from the 19th C.

Ok, here's another from 1960, but not quite as dramatic:



And one from 1965--I like those intertwined 9s! []

[eagames]

Makes me wish our gov would save some money and re-use old dies. Then we could find these in our change

[Dick]

Ed, please excuse me if I sound a bit cynical, but. If our illustrious leader is to lead us into Socialism, and on top of that join the EU and their Individualuality-in-coinage, then the old dies would just have to either collect dust, or be melted down, and made into Ameros! QUACHA! The more I see of this guy, the more I think we should "recycle" him, before he takes us so far down that there be no recovery, as in the "National recovery Act, of FDR era.
Question of the day:
What does the mint do with the money they make from the sales of the gold, and silver coinage, ie, commorative, and the other bullion type coinage? Does it go into the GIOV'T vaults, or is it sic, private venue?
Dick

[Dick]

Kurt, those "9's" are quite intriguing! I wonder if it could be determined for sure, that one of them was actually up-side-down? You can't see the end of the acr of the "6", to be sure, but the taper on thebase of the "9" makes it possible. Or am I "just seeing things"?
Dick

[Dick]

Kurt, those "9's" are quite intriguing! I wonder if it could be determined for sure, that one of them was actually up-side-down? You can't see the end of the acr of the "6", to be sure, but the taper on the loop of the "9" makes it possible. Or am I "just seeing things"?
Dick

[KurtS]

Dick, and interesting idea...I'll take a closer look!
And here's a slightly different lighting angle on that date:

[coppercoins]

I had one of these that was a 1966 with a third 6 above the other two. I swear the coin looked like it had the mark of the beast, three sixes in a triangle.

I wonder just how many different RPDs there are in just this series??

[KurtS]

That coin may need a numismatic exorcism. I've never seen that one yet, cool.
From now on, I'm going to try to pick up as many as possible...I have no idea how many dies were made per year, but I bet a majority are like these 3. How could a mint be so careless, or should I say--not care at all about quality issues?

[coppercoins]

It could be an issue of the lack of face value onthe coins and the necessity to pump out large amounts of coins for the size of the facility. Lots of things can go into problems like this. All I know is that it provides for some interesting collectibles.

[KurtS]

That sounds plausible--and whatever the scenario, I'm glad it happened.