Clash marks are valuable, but people often try to mimic them with a vise, pressing two coins together. Other times, for one reason or another, glue creates an impression of one coin on another. Do not bid on any of these until you can tell them apart. As you might imagine, eBay and online auctions often label vise and glue coins as clash marks.
Here are all three:
You can easily distinguish them by looking for specific tells under a loupe or magnifying glass. You want to check if the extra impression is raised or sunken, and whether the lettering is oriented normally or backwards. If backward, you’re looking at a vise or glue coin.
| TYPE | CLASH MARKS | VISE COIN | GLUE COIN |
| RELIEF | Raised Devices | Sunken Devices | Flat Layered |
| ORIENTATION | Normal | Backward/Reversed | Backward/Reversed |
| THICKNESS | Normal | Flat/Distorted | Thick/Sticky |
A die clash happens at the Mint when erroneously the obverse and reverse dies strike each other without a blank planchet between them. The so-called “ghost” image will be raised, not sunken or flatly layered.
Vise coins are created by pressing two coins together with a vise or hammering them to mimic the clashed die. Because of the method, the lettering will be backward, flattened, distorted or damaged, especially by the rims.
A glue coin happens any number of ways when two coins are bonded by an adhesive. When separated, the ghost image appears flat and layered on the other coin.
Often the tone of the coin will be altered with a dried or amber look, as you might anticipate with glue. True, flat and layered can be confused with raised of a die clash. To be sure, dip the coin in acetone and the ghost will dissolve.
Sometimes people use a vise to create weird patterns, thinking those unfamiliar with how coins are minted will consider this an error or variety.
You’ll find many more examples of vise and glue coins on Facebook because few people know how to tell these apart from clashed dies. They find them in rolls, typically, because someone realized this wasn’t a mint error.
Sometimes glue takes strange shapes. Again, you need to know how coins are made to understand how this could never happen at the Mint.
Depending on the condition of the coin and the denomination, because clashed dies, vise jobs and glue coins happen across denominations, values vary from minor examples $30 to major ones in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
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