Clipped Planchet (CLP)

A clipped planchet is a coin struck on a blank that was cut short during planchet production, because the punch overlapped a hole already punched in the metal strip or ran off the strip's end or edge. The result is a coin with a portion of its edge missing -- a curved, straight, or irregular bite taken out of what should be a perfectly round coin. Clipped planchets are among the most visually distinctive planchet errors.

How Does It Happen?

To understand clipped planchets, it helps to know how the U.S. Mint produces planchets. The process begins with large coils of metal strip that are fed through a blanking press. This press uses a punch-and-die mechanism to cut round discs (blanks) from the strip in rows, much like a cookie cutter punching circles from a sheet of dough.

After each punch, the strip advances forward so the next punch cuts from fresh metal. The spacing is calibrated so each new punch falls between the holes left by previous punches, maximizing the number of blanks extracted from each strip. Clipped planchets occur when this spacing goes wrong.

There are several distinct types of clips, each with a different cause:

• Curved clip: The strip fails to advance properly between punches, so the punch overlaps a previously punched hole. The resulting blank has a concave bite taken out of it, following the arc of the adjacent hole. Error-Ref calls very large ones crescent clips; Alan Herbert sets the threshold at more than 61% of normal weight missing, Error-Ref at 75%.
• Straight clip: The punch cuts across the front or back end of the metal strip, or across the side of a strip that is narrower than it should be. The blank is cut partly from the strip and partly from empty space beyond it, producing a straight missing section. Struck out of collar, the straight edge can bow outward.
• Ragged clip: The punch catches an untrimmed end of the strip, or a ragged fissure that formed as the strip was rolled. The resulting clip has a very irregular, rough, grainy edge rather than a clean curve or straight line.
• Incomplete punch (incomplete clip): The punch fails to penetrate the strip completely, leaving a circular punch mark; if the strip then fails to advance, the next punch slices through part of that mark. The blank carries a sharp, narrow, crescent-shaped punch mark that penetrates the surface and shows on the edge.
• Elliptical clip: The finished coin is oval rather than round. Error-Ref's leading explanation is that a punched blank stays caught in its hole, the strip fails to advance, and the punch slices through that hanging blank, producing an elliptical blank and a crescent-clip blank together.
• Multiple clips: A single planchet can have two or more clips of the same or different types; curved, straight, ragged and elliptical clips can occur in any mix.

Once a clipped blank enters the coining press, it is struck by the dies just like a normal planchet. The dies impress the full design onto whatever metal is present, but the clipped area remains blank and unstruck.

How to Identify a Clipped Planchet

Clipped planchets have several reliable diagnostic features:

• Missing edge section: The most obvious indicator is a portion of the coin's rim and edge that is absent.
• Breakaway zone on the clipped edge: The exposed edge of a curved clip usually shows a "belly line": one half of its thickness (upper or lower) is grainy and the other half smooth, the mark of metal that was sheared and then torn. Straight clips vary from smooth to rough; ragged clips are rough and grainy.
• The Blakesley effect: The rim at the pole opposite the clip is often weak or absent. Error-Ref lists this as a diagnostic of genuine curved clips, with the caution that large authentic clips do not always show it, so its absence alone does not condemn a coin.
• Rim taper: The rim should thin and fade away as it approaches the clip.
• Metal flow at the clip: Design next to the clip is often smeared and stretched by metal flowing toward the missing area.
• Clad core reversal: On clad coins, the copper core shows asymmetrically along the edge, and its position flips between the normal edge and the clipped edge, because one is the edge of the blank and the other the edge of the neighboring hole.
• Weight: Clipped planchets weigh less than normal coins. The weight deficit corresponds to the size of the missing section. A 10% curved clip on a Lincoln cent, for example, weighs roughly 10% less than the standard 2.5 grams.

Clipped Planchet vs. Post-Strike Damage

The key question with any suspected clip is whether the metal was missing before or after striking. Genuine clips usually show the Blakesley effect; damaged coins do not. Additionally:

Notable Examples

Lincoln Cent Elliptical Clip

Error-Ref illustrates a 1965 Lincoln cent struck on an elliptical clip planchet, its outline a clear oval rather than a circle.

Clad Coin Clips

Clad dimes, quarters and half dollars, and the clad Sacagawea dollar, carry a copper core between two outer layers, which gives clips on them an extra check: the exposed core shifts position where the normal edge meets the clipped edge. Error-Ref shows a Bicentennial quarter displaying all five of its curved-clip diagnostics, including the core reversal, and a 2007-D dime whose oval outline is broken by a curved clip.

Jefferson Nickel Clips

Clips combine on a single coin as well. Error-Ref shows a 2001-P Jefferson nickel with both a curved and a straight clip, and a pair of crescent-clip nickels.

Clips on World Coins

Clips are not limited to U.S. coins. Error-Ref's examples include a 1982 Mexican peso with six curved clips and a 1999 British penny with an elliptical clip.

Collecting Tips

• Measure clip size by weight: The amount of missing metal is usually expressed as a percentage of normal weight, which a scale gives more reliably than an estimate by eye.
• Know the type: Identify whether a clip is curved, straight, ragged, elliptical or a combination, since each has its own cause and its own edge texture.
• Check every diagnostic: Use a loupe on the pole opposite the clip (Blakesley effect), the rim beside the clip, and the clipped edge itself. A missing Blakesley effect on a small clip is a red flag for post-strike damage; on a large clip it is less telling, so lean on the edge and the metal flow.
• Certification helps: Third-party grading from PCGS or NGC authenticates a clip and standardizes the description (e.g., "Curved Clip at 2:00, ~15%").