Rafael C. writes: I have a question about an Ecuadorian coin. Does the 1928 1 “CONDOR” KM74 have a coin or a medal rotation? Thanks, Rafael
I don’t know off hand but I think the one Condor was struck at the Birmingham mint in England. Most English coins are in medallic rotation, which means that both sides of the coin are “upright” if you rotate the coin from right to left. U.S. coins, for example, are “coin rotated” meaning you have to flip the coin from top to bottom to see the other side in an upright position.
Because of the nature of how dies are constructed, the die pairs can only be placed in the press one way. That means from one pair of dies it is not possible to have some coins medallic and others coin rotated. This last statement only applies to modern coins. In the middle 19th century and before, of all types of rotations were possible in some coinage. Even then, countries such as Great Britain were quite meticulous in keeping coinage errors at a minimum.
