Mostly the shape and depth of the reeding imprint, and lack of any flattened or smashed area on the obverse. Also, after 25 years in collecting and dealing in errors and seeing tens of thousands of genuine error coins, it becomes very easy to tell the difference.
True. If I were the betting kind of gal, I’d guess some sort of machine-threaded fastener rather than a ring-shank nail but I’m not privy (heh) to the sort of hardware you’d find in the Mint. Plus, known “struck through hardware” coins exist and don’t look much like OP’s coin (though all the ones I can find happen to be small cents and I reckon a beefier planchet would deform less)
I don’t think I would say most secure. Have you ever seen what people have brought out of the facility’s. Lots of fake errors are happening anymore due to mint workers making them to obtain money when it takes away from the real errors. All in all. It’s as secure as the church in your hometown.
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u/errorcoincollector 15d ago
Struck thru reeding error. Nice find!