Broadstrike (BRD)

A broadstrike is a striking error that occurs when a coin is struck out of collar: the collar die fails to deploy, and its top sits level with or below the face of the lower die. The collar normally encircles the planchet during striking, confining the metal and forming the coin's edge — reeding on reeded-edge coins and a smooth, defined edge on plain-edge coins. Without the collar's constraint, the planchet metal flows outward under the immense force of the dies, producing a coin that is larger in diameter than normal and lacks its normal edge.

Why this is filed under collar errors here. Most references, Error-Ref included, group broadstrikes with the striking errors, naming the collar only as the cause. This catalog groups by the part that failed, and in a broadstrike the part that failed is the collar: it is the same failure as a partial collar, carried all the way. Filing it beside the partial collar, the tilted collar and the collar break puts the whole family where a collector comparing them will find it. The error itself is unchanged, and so is its name.

Broadstrikes are distinct from off-center strikes in one critical way: both faces carry the complete design. Most broadstrikes are centered, and the metal spreads beyond the normal rim boundary evenly in all directions because nothing contained it during the strike. Error-Ref also recognizes an uncentered broadstrike, struck from a poorly centered planchet but still showing the full design on both faces; once some of the design is lost off the edge, the coin is an off-center strike instead.

How Does It Happen?

The collar die is the third die in the coining process, a ring that surrounds the lower (anvil) die. During a normal strike, the planchet rests inside the collar, and when the dies close — the U.S. Mint gives 35 to 100 metric tons of force for circulating coins, depending on denomination — the collar contains the expanding metal and forms the edge.

Broadstrikes result from a collar that is not in position when the dies close. Error-Ref notes that the exact cause can vary with the press brand and model:

• Collar fails to deploy: In presses where the collar moves to surround the planchet before each strike, a collar that does not rise in time leaves the strike without containment.
• Collar rides with the die: In the Bliss press, the collar sits on springs and stays put while the anvil die moves up and down inside it. Error-Ref suggests that debris trapped between the collar and the die shank could make the collar travel with the anvil die instead, out of its striking position; it calls this plausible but unproven.
• Collar only partly raised: If the collar is only partly deployed, the coin gets a normal edge on part of its thickness and spreads above it. That error is a partial collar strike rather than a full broadstrike.
• Collar forced down: If the expanding planchet presses hard against a collar that can still move, it can push the collar all the way down. Error-Ref calls the result a forced broadstrike, often with smeared reeding, a beveled edge and cupping.

When the dies close on an uncontained planchet, the metal has no lateral restraint. It flows radially outward from the center. How far it spreads depends on the striking pressure: Error-Ref illustrates a 1998 cent, struck with abnormally high pressure and no collar, that spread wider than a quarter. Some broadstrikes also cup, usually toward the hammer die.

How to Identify a Broadstrike

Broadstrikes have several diagnostic features that distinguish them from other striking errors:

• Expanded diameter: The coin is measurably larger than normal. A broadstruck Lincoln cent, for example, exceeds its standard 19.05 mm diameter by an amount that depends on the striking pressure.
• Complete design: Both obverse and reverse show the full design, usually centered. This is the key distinction from an off-center strike, which shows partial design with a blank crescent.
• Missing or distorted rim: The normal raised rim is absent or dramatically flattened. Without the collar to form the rim, the metal flows freely past where the rim would normally be.
• No reeding: Reeded-edge coins (dimes, quarters, half dollars and reeded-edge dollars) struck as broadstrikes show a smooth, rounded edge instead of their normal vertical grooves, unless the collar made brief contact, as on a forced broadstrike.
• Slightly thinner profile: Because the metal spread laterally rather than being confined, broadstruck coins are often marginally thinner than their standard-thickness counterparts.
• Smooth, rounded edge: The edge of a broadstrike has a characteristic smooth, slightly rounded profile — the natural result of unrestricted metal flow.

Broadstrike vs. Dryer Coin

A common point of confusion is between a genuine broadstrike and a "dryer coin" — a normal coin that was tumbled in a clothes dryer or rock tumbler. Dryer coins show post-strike damage: scratches, dings, and wear from tumbling. They may have a flattened rim, but they do not have the even, all-round expansion of a broadstrike. A genuine broadstrike has an expanded diameter, smooth original surfaces, and no evidence of post-strike mechanical damage.

Notable Examples

Broadstruck Sacagawea and Presidential Dollars

Broadstrikes on dollar coins are large because the coin itself is large. Sacagawea dollars (2000-present) and Presidential dollars (2007-2016) normally have a plain, collar-formed edge (the Presidential dollar's edge lettering is part of its specification), so on a broadstrike the expanded, featureless perimeter stands out.

Broadstruck Silver Coins

Pre-1965 broadstrikes on silver dimes, quarters, and half dollars show the error plainly: the absence of reeding is immediately obvious, and the expanded diameter gives them a visually distinct appearance.

Modern Cent and Nickel Broadstrikes

Broadstruck Lincoln cents and Jefferson nickels from recent decades are the broadstrikes most often encountered, and they show the error type's characteristics clearly. Error-Ref's illustrations include 1999 cents, nickels and dimes, among them cupped broadstrikes on zinc cents where the spreading exposed a ring of zinc around the design.

Collecting Tips

• Measure the diameter: The single most important diagnostic for authenticating a broadstrike is an expanded diameter. Carry a caliper or use a coin measuring tool to verify the coin exceeds its standard diameter.
• Reeded-edge coins show it plainly: On denominations that normally have reeded edges, the absence of reeding is immediately apparent; on plain-edge coins (cents, nickels) the diameter is the main tell.
• Check the design: A broadstrike keeps the complete design on both faces. If part of the design runs off the edge, the coin is an off-center strike.
• Know the neighbors: Coins struck with the collar partly deployed are partial collar errors, with a normal edge on part of the thickness and spreading above it. They show the same failure stopping short of a full broadstrike.
• Grading service attribution: PCGS and NGC attribute broadstrikes on their labels. Encapsulation provides authentication, which is important because damaged and dryer coins are sometimes misrepresented as broadstrikes.
• Check for additional errors: Broadstrikes sometimes occur in combination with other errors — a broadstruck coin on a wrong planchet, a broadstruck double strike, or, in an example Error-Ref shows from Fred Weinberg, a cupped Morgan dollar broadstrike with a full brockage.