1999 (P) Lincoln Memorial Cent - Mule Die Clash MUDC-1C-1999-01

Description

MUDC-1c-1999-01 is a mule die clash on the reverse of a 1999 Lincoln Memorial cent, cataloged by Mad Die Clashes. A mule clash is a collision between dies that were never meant to be a pair. Mule clashes were thought to belong to the 19th century until Amy Antone found this one in 2018, in a group of cents pulled from pocket change; Mike Diamond, whose text and images MDC uses, calls it the first of the modern era. At some point this coin's reverse die met another cent reverse die at an angle, in a tilted (vertically misaligned) clash. That left the letters OF AMERIC on the left of the reverse, just within the design rim. The dies met twice with slight movement between, so every incuse letter is doubled. The die that made the marks was slightly misaligned to the left, cutting off the tops of the letters, and the marks are rotated about 40° counterclockwise from medal alignment, for reasons that are unclear. There is no way to know whether both reverse dies were mounted in a press when it happened. The coin dates from 1990-2000, the period of the Lincoln cent radical MAD clashes, which are all tilted clashes and mostly involve a badly misaligned die, presumably the hammer (obverse) die. Tom DeLorey proposes instead a floating die clash, from a fragment that bounced in from a neighboring chamber of a dual or quad press. Diamond does not rule that out but finds that most of the evidence favors a mule clash.

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