Coin dies are made in stages. To make a die capable of striking coins, the design must be stamped into it twice by a master die or Hub. Between each of these impressions, the unfinished die must be heated in a process that's called 'annealing.' In the case of this error, a 1941 die and a 1942 die had both received their first stamping and were both ready to be annealed. When the dies were returned to receive their second stamping, the dies were accidentally switched. When they were stamped the second time, both dies now had impressions of both the 1941 and 1942 dates. The 'P' version of this overdate dime will have both a "1" and a "2" as the last digit of the date. The "2" will be mostly to the right of the "1." See the image to the left. The 1942-D overdate will have the "2" in "1942" almost completely over the "1" and the "D" mintmark will have been repunched, that is, stamped over a "D" that was placed in the wrong position.

This coin error is very popular with collectors because of it has such a striking (no pun intended) appearance, and especially on the Philadelphia example. We have a very small hoard of this incredible error in a variety of grades, but those listed to the left and below are ALL WE HAVE, so you'll need to call quick if you want to claim one of the top ten errors of all time. These rare coins have all been certified and slabbed for your peace of mind.

You can find slabbed but ungraded specimens (designated only as 'genuine') of the 1942/41 on the internet right now for $650 or more. We think you'll find our prices for truly graded coins MUCH more appealing!