This is a known anomaly of which I have never heard of a good reason for. It is not contained to the 1896/1895 dates as in your example.

I have one of these also. Mine (below) is an 1899 over 1898 strike. This is on my PC Krag rifle. It has been referred to as "rare" or "uncommon" in previous posts. I am out of town and don't have my references to look at to see if Joe Farmer has written about it in his well researched Krag book.

Thanks for the post and question. If it has been discovered why and how, I hope your post will scare up the best answer. I have never seen anything anywhere previously, though, that would put anything of a premium on the value of an over strike like this. I am a coin collector from way back and can pass on the knowledge that over struck coins usually carry a significant premium dependent on number of over strikes that are suspected to have been made from their original creation at the mint. Over strikes in coinage is known to have been done by reusing the mint die from one year and simply re-carving the newer date over the previous date to use in the new year. The "re-carving" (or re-engraving- whichever took place) was done poorly and not proof read until after some coins were struck and put into circulation. The quicker the error was corrected, the fewer coins that were made and available for people to find.

A well populated database of Krag rifles and carbines could help to clarify how many of these exist which could help in determining the how and why.

Welcome to the KCA and enjoy your visit!

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