DWLange

That appears to be environmental damage and not something done at the mint.

And sold to collectors and dealers who had inside connections...

Employment at the various U. S. Mints was always highly politicized until civil service reforms were codified in the 1880s. After that time most jobs were secure, as long as work existed and one did his or her job properly. Of course, the mint directorship in Washington remains a political appointment to the present day. Though this position has been either vacant or neglected in recent decades, it was much more visible prior to that time, and the director was expected to submit his or her resignation whenever the presidential election resulted in a change of party in the White House. In the case of the Carson City Mint, a series of party changes led to a suspension of coining in 1885, its resumption four years later, and its final termination four years after that.

If the date isn't readable, it won't be certified. You can still determine the lost date of some coins by hub features that are unique to particular dates. An example is the 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter Dollar, which has a slightly different obverse hub from the 1917 Type 1 quarter. Of course, Type 1 Buffalo Nickels are immediately identifiable by their unique reverse hubs. The quarter is saleable at a premium if it can be determined as having been a 1916, but the nickels are worth less than a dollar without their dates.

It looks as though it may be one of the countless coins that have been giving an extremely thin gold plating to be sold as novelties. A fair number have been returned to circulation when their purchases realize that they have no premium value.

There is no official documentation for any of this. Collectors sussed it out through observation and dedutive reasoning. The fact that so many Type B MS quarters are prooflike made the re-use of retired proof dies a logical conclusion. I don't believe anyone has written a definitive article on the subject, but something may have appeared in one of the error coin periodicals. As for the relative rarity, this is best determined by NGC's Census Report. Just click below the date for each Philadelphia MS quarter from 1956 through 1964, and it will reveal the total population with the Type B coins in a separate line. We continue to receive more submissions of Type B coins every week, so the numbers will continue to grow, though perhaps a slower rate than when these varieties were first recognized.

The Type B reverse hub was intended solely for proof coins, and dies taken from it were used for that purpose from the 1930s through 1964. As proof mintages accelerated rapidly during the 1950s the Philadelphia Mint began using these proof dies to coin currency strikes whenever they had become unfit for proof coinage or were simply no longer needed for that purpose. MS quarters dated 1956 through 1964 are known that reveal the Type B reverse. While not truly rare, they are scarce enough to carry a premium. The retired obverse dies for proofs were used, too, but these carry no distinguishing features. They did, however, retain some of their proof finish for the first few hundred strikes.

It's not a coin but some sort of medal. The word PAX means peace, so it may be a good luck talisman to be carried when traveling.

I believe the Treasury keeps track solely of dollar value and not the number or denomination of the coins.

It does appear to be O-103. Here are NGC examples from VarietyPlus: https://www.ngccoin.com/variety-plus/united-states/half-dollars/capped-bust-lettered-edge-half-dollars-1807-1836/818069/

I've just learned that my book will ship from the printer around August 12. This is two weeks later than originally anticipated, and I ask that those who responded to my pre-order sale bear with me until the books are on hand for delivery.

That cavity in the die became partially filled with grease or metal filings. This is not unusual on coins, and it's not considered a variety or significant mint error.

It looks like adhesive residue. It may have been removed from some marketing literature that tries to get your attention with an attached coin. These days, a penny is pretty cheap. Most such flyers have a nickel attached.

Not all of the labels have separate line entries. Only those coins having separate text descriptions are delineated.

There's probably a VAM number assigned to that die, but it will take quite awhile to find it among the countless trivial listings: http://ec2-13-58-222-16.us-east-2.compute.amazonaws.com/wiki/1922-P_VAMs

It's not an RPM---just the effect of die erosion.

Just damaged---no mint errors

Thanks, Roger. I should have included that statement on the cover.

It's not a DDR. It has some die erosion doubling only.

Just environmental damage----not made that way.

So we can't call them pistareens?

I don't recall the numeric grade, but it was MS, not SP.

Most likely it was included in some commerical offering of gold-plated, circulated Indian Cents. Typically, the ones from 1900-1909 are offered as a set in some colorful packaging and sold through general interest magazines such as Reader's Digest.

The numerals are incorrectly formed, and the mintmark is way too small. Here's the real thing for comparison: https://www.ngccoin.com/coin-explorer/barber-dimes-1892-1916-pscid-30/1894-s-10c-pf-coinid-14805

I remember when that coin came to NGC in 2003. It was Skip Fazzari who first spotted the mint plug, and I confirmed it. Paul Gilkes then wrote an article about the discovery for Coin World.