This Week on NumisDex

Every week we post new discoveries, one error type explained, and coins that are not in the books. Here is what we covered — look one up, then save it.

This week26 October – 1 November 2026

The Dime That Isn't Mercury, Coins Struck by Coins, a King's Dollar, and the Buffalo With No Date

The "Mercury" dime that was never Mercury, the mirror-image brockage, Hawaii's own silver dollar, and what to do with a Buffalo nickel whose date wore off.

MondayPost
The Mercury Dime Isn't Mercury
Millions of Americans have called it the Mercury dime for more than a century. The coin's designer never meant it to show Mercury at all.
Read the article →
WednesdayError Education
Brockages: Why One Side Is Sunk In and Backwards
This Civil War token reads STAND BY THE FLAG. Turn it over and the same design is there again, but pressed into the metal and backwards. It's a brockage, and it's one of the easiest errors to understand once you've seen a clear one.
Read the article →
ThursdayNot in the Books
1919-S Lincoln Cent: A Rim Cud Not in the Books
A 1919-S Lincoln wheat cent with a rim cud on the reverse, just past 12 o'clock above E PLURIBUS UNUM. Cuds on Coins lists 16 numbered 1919-S rim cuds, and several sit near the top of the coin, but none match this break, so we catalogued it.
See the listing →
FridayPost
Hawaii Had Its Own Silver Dollar
Before it was a state, before it was even a U.S. territory, Hawaii was a kingdom with coins of its own. The best known of them, King Kalākaua's 1883 silver, were designed by the U.S. Mint's chief engraver and struck in San Francisco.
Read the article →
SaturdayKnown Non-Error
No Date on Your Buffalo Nickel? Read the Coin Before You Reach for Acid
A Buffalo nickel with no date isn't an error, and it isn't rare. Millions of them lost their dates in circulation. The good news is that the year is often still there to be read, if you know where to look, and acid is only one way to find it.
Read the article →

Coins from this week — look one up, then save it

Previously

Week 1819–25 October 2026

America's First Coin, Nickels With No Nickel, and Blue Jeans on a Dollar

The coin that told you to "mind your business," the wartime nickels made with silver, and the blue-jeans dollar two federal design panels couldn't agree on.

MondaySpecific History
The Fugio Cent: America's First Coin Told You to "Mind Your Business"
In April 1787, before there was a U.S. Mint and before the Constitution was written, Congress approved a copper coin. Collectors call it the Fugio cent, and it's usually counted as the first regular-issue coin of the United States.
Read the article →
WednesdayError Education
Woodies: Why Some Old Pennies Look Like They're Made of Wood
Every so often an old Lincoln or Indian Head cent turns up with light and dark stripes running across it, like the grain in a piece of wood. Collectors call these woodies, and the stripes aren't toning or damage. They're a mistake in the metal itself.
Read the article →
ThursdayNot in the Books
1893 Indian Head Cent: A Strong Die Clash on Both Sides
An 1893 Indian Head cent with a die clash on both sides: the C from CENT in front of Liberty's forehead, the wreath through the feathers, and her profile on the reverse. Two 1893 clashes are already catalogued; this is a different, stronger die pair, so we catalogued it.
See the listing →
FridayPost
Wartime Nickels: The Nickel With No Nickel and the First P Mint Mark
In 1942 the United States started making five-cent pieces with no nickel in them. To mark the change, the Mint did something it had never done on a U.S. coin: it put a mint mark on coins struck in Philadelphia.
Read the article →
SaturdaySpecific History
The 2027 Innovation Dollars: Blue Jeans, a Microchip, a Telescope and Beverly Cleary
The 2027 American Innovation $1 coins will honor Oregon, Kansas, West Virginia and Nevada. In April, the two federal panels that review U.S. coin designs looked at the candidate designs for the back of each coin. They agreed on two states and split on the other two.
Read the article →

Coins from this week — look one up, then save it

Week 1712–18 October 2026

A Wartime Penny, DC Superheroes on U.S. Coins, and the Great Silver Meltdown

The 1943 penny mistake worth over a million dollars, three DC superheroes headed to real U.S. gold in 2027, and why the government deliberately melted 270 million silver dollars — the decision that gave us the Peace dollar.

MondaySpecific History
The 1943 Penny: America's Most Famous Mistake (and the One That Happened Backwards)
You've probably heard that you should check your 1943 pennies. Here's the real reason — and it's stranger than the rumor.
Read the article →
WednesdayError Education
How to Identify a Doubled Die
Two pennies can both look "doubled," but only one is worth real money — a true doubled die is rounded and raised, while machine doubling is flat, like a shelf.
Read the article →
ThursdayNot in the Books
1918-S Lincoln Cent: A Known Rim Cud Die, and a Pre-Cud Not in the Books
A 1918-S wheat cent with the documented CU-1C-1918S-01R reverse rim cud at about 2:30, plus a pre-cud between 3 and 4 o'clock that the worn reference example doesn't show. Either that die had it all along or this is a later die state, so we catalogued it.
See the listing →
FridaySpecific History
The Pittman Act: The Meltdown That Gave Us the Peace Dollar
In 1918, the United States melted roughly 270 million of its own silver dollars on purpose. It sounds like vandalism. It was actually a wartime rescue — and it is the reason the Peace dollar exists.
Read the article →
SaturdaySpecific History
DC's Aquaman, Batgirl, and The Flash Are Headed to U.S. Coins in 2027
The U.S. Mint's Comic Art Coin and Medal Program has its 2027 lineup, and the designs just took their first step toward approval. On 17 September 2026 the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) — one of the two federal panels that review U.S. coin and medal designs — considered the candidate artwork for Aquaman, Batgirl, and The Flash, the three DC Super Heroes slated for 2027.
Read the article →

Coins from this week — look one up, then save it

Week 165–11 October 2026

The San Francisco Gap, Trail Dies, Patterns, "L on the Rim"

Three years San Francisco made no cents, an 1863 cent carrying three errors at once, and the "error" thousands of people are selling on eBay that was never an error at all.

MondaySpecific History
The Missing Years: When America Almost Stopped Making Money
In 1933 the only coins the United States struck for circulation were cents and a single half dollar. No nickels, no dimes, no quarters, and no silver dollars since 1929 — because coins already struck were sitting unused in vaults.
Read the article →
WednesdayError Education
Error Education: Trail Dies
Trail dies were catalogued as a doubled die for six years before anyone worked out what they were. They come from polishing the die, not striking the coin, and a 2003 example settled it by appearing on a die that could not physically have been doubled.
Read the article →
ThursdayNot in the Books
An 1863 Indian Head With Three Errors
An 1863 Indian Head cent carrying three distinct errors at once: multiple die clashes that pressed the wreath onto the obverse, a tapered planchet, and a spiked head.
Read the article →
FridaySeries
Patterns: The Coins That Were Never Adopted
A pattern is a coin the Mint designed, engraved and struck — and then did not adopt. This 1945 cent used regular dies and normal bronze, but was struck on a thick planchet, and 1944 has one too.
Read the article →
SaturdayKnown Non-Error
"L on the Rim" Is Almost Never an Error. But There Is a Real One.
The L of LIBERTY touching the rim is almost never an error — it is placement, die wear and rim wear stacking up. But a real catalogued error does look similar, and the tell is abrupt truncation rather than closeness.
Read the article →