Brockages Not All That Common
By Brad Hall
Another term that has some of the newer error coin collectors scratching their heads is brockages. The term is certainly not self defining that much is certain and it points to a very rare occurrence in the minting process. This is one of those errors that is extremely hard to locate and above all else, very valuable.
Brockages occur when two coins are involved in the same retaining collar. First off you need a coin that is already struck and it is stuck in the retaining collar. Then a new coin blank is inserted. Once this occurs the dies come in for the strike and both of the coins are affected by said strike.
What you end up getting is a coin blank with a mirror image of the already struck coins impression incused into the surface. This is basically a coin that was struck backwards and has no raised impression on the brockages side of the coin.
For newer coinage it is a fairly rare occurrence to find this type of error. Because of the new counter measures that the mint has in place the operator is alerted when a coin fails to eject from the retaining collar. When this occurs the operator shuts down the machine and removes the coin and checks for defects in the machine.
The older coins are more common to find brockages. Before a lot of stress was being put on the mint about the errors that were being produced many of this type of coin error were released. However, when it comes to error coins the older the coin the more valuable the coin. So brockages in the older mints do command a much higher price than one would expect.
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Brockages are not unheard of though when it comes to the newer coinage. One of the most significant examples recently sold at auction and it was a nice New Jersey state quarter that had complete reverse brockage of the reverse image.
All in all you will find that most of the brockages that appear these days are not full impressions, but just partly so as the blank attempts to fall away because the retaining collar is full. These examples still have a fair amount of value and can command a hefty price.
About the Author
Brad Hall is the editor of http://us-mint-coins.blogspot.com the number one resource for US mint error coin information anywhere on the web.
