Modern Error Cent

[John Oliver]

I was detecting in a yard where the house was built in 1890 late last week with the Deus 2 and I found a mix of modern and semi old items, but nothing from when the house was new. I think the coolest find of the day was a modern Memorial cent that was struck about 90% off center:

[BigSkyGuy]

Very cool! The key is for a Model T. Very distinctive shape.

[Valens Legacy]

Nice finds and the off centered penny is collectable and may have a high value to it.

That is very rare that it even got passed to the population with it being that off centered.

Good luck on your next outing.

[Rick N. MI]

Great unusual coin find. I love the toy car and key.

[GB_Amateur]

Agree with others that the cent is rare.  It appears to be a 90% off-center K-8 (the latter being the 12 hour clock position of the obverse's remaining detail -- i.e. centered on 8 of a standard USA clock; the 90% is the amount of planchet area that is blank, and my estimates).

Ebay prices realized may give you an idea of its value, but error collecting is a specialty market, much smaller than standard numismatics (i.e. denomination+date+mintmark+condition colletors) so rarity doesn't lead to comparable value.  Extremely cool find, regardless.  Over the years of searching bank rolls and pocket change I've found one blank planchet and a few ~10% off-center coins, but never anything close to yours.  Given that non-experts should immediately notice how unusual that coin is, it should have been removed from circulation quickly after it was released.  That fact just adds to the difficulty of finding one and emphasizes what an extremely unusual recovery you've made.

[John Oliver]

11 hours ago, BigSkyGuy said:

Very cool! The key is for a Model T. Very distinctive shape.

Thanks BigSkyGuy. I did some research and saw that this style of key was used for the Model T from 1919 to 1927. The key was made from "nickel silver" until the end of 1925 When it switched to brass in 1926. The little diamond icon under the word FORD on this one means that it was made by the Clum Manufacturing Company. The Model A key was an entirely different design all together. From 1914 to 1919 the only key for the Model T was a removable switch handle on the coil. This switch handle was a 3 piece design from 1914 to 1917 when it was made in the same shape from one piece of steel from 1917 to 1919.

[John Oliver]

6 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

Nice finds and the off centered penny is collectable and may have a high value to it.

That is very rare that it even got passed to the population with it being that off centered.

Good luck on your next outing.

Thank you. I have found a lesser off center strike in the past while searching through rolls of coins, but this was my first one found while detecting.

[John Oliver]

1 hour ago, Rick N. MI said:

Great unusual coin find. I love the toy car and key.

Thanks Rick. The car isn't that old, but it is cool.

[John Oliver]

1 hour ago, GB_Amateur said:

Agree with others that the cent is rare.  It appears to be a 90% off-center K-8 (the latter being the 12 hour clock position of the obverse's remaining detail -- i.e. centered on 8 of a standard USA clock; the 90% is the amount of planchet area that is blank, and my estimates).

Ebay prices realized may give you an idea of its value, but error collecting is a specialty market, much smaller than standard numismatics (i.e. denomination+date+mintmark+condition colletors) so rarity doesn't lead to comparable value.  Extremely cool find, regardless.  Over the years of searching bank rolls and pocket change I've found one blank planchet and a few ~10% off-center coins, but never anything close to yours.  Given that non-experts should immediately notice how unusual that coin is, it should have been removed from circulation quickly after it was released.  That fact just adds to the difficulty of finding one and emphasizes what an extremely unusual recovery you've made.

Thank you. I didn't want to get in trouble for talking about coin roll hunting on a detecting forum, but in the cold winter months I look through nickel and cent rolls from the bank. A little more than a month ago I found a $5 gold 1911 half eagle coin in a roll of machine wrapped nickels from Loomis. I was over the moon. 

[CPT_GhostLight]

Very cool finds, John, well done! You got a square nail so there should be some other older objects waiting to be discovered, maybe now that you cleared some of the newer finds they will reveal themselves. Good Hunting out there!