Expert: Dmitry Livshits - 11/27/2009

Question
Dear Sir, I don't understand what is meant by rotated die. Just recently I bought on "Bid or Buy" a South African coin as described in the above subject. On receipt, I have compared this coin with 4 off my coins to establish the difference. Needless to say, I could not identify any difference. Either I am fortunate to have 4 very scarce coins in my collection or the person who has sold it to me was mislead by somebody else. Will appreciate to receive your comment (if possible with a picture of a rotated die coin).

Kind regards

Loot

Answer
Hi Loot,
A picture would not get the point across, since it would be relative to how you hold the coin. Normally coins are struck with the two sides either in the same direction, with 0 degrees of rotation, or upside down from each other, with 180 degrees of rotation. when the two sides are misaligned, it is called a rotated die. These are measured by the approximate degree of rotation. 5, 10 or even 15 degrees is not a big deal. Rotations around 90 degrees are the most dramatic.
If you hold your coins with the imagery right-side up and flip them left to right the difference should be clear (if there is any). Also, if you put them in a coin holder and flip that around, it ensures that the coin stays level. Sometimes when flipping it in your hand it becomes rotated and a small degree of rotation would not be noticed.
Thanks for the question! =)