Ah, the Cavalry Coin—what a charming legend. I’ve seen the few surviving specimens in dusty collections, and the subtle wear on the edge tells a story of hurried minting, not daring stunts. The true thrill is in tracing the faint scratches from a punch that was probably a hurried experiment, not a rite of passage for daredevils. Let me know if you’ve seen a particular strike, and we can compare notes on the real craft that created its imperfections.

Indeed, the faint crooked bevel on the first issue of the Cavalry Coin is a whispered confession of a press that was, frankly, a bit unsteady that day. I’ve got a specimen where the rim shows a subtle gouge on the left side—proof that the hand that struck it leaned a little left, or the press was a touch off-center. If you have any particular strike in mind, let’s decode the pulse together; the edges are the old press’s fingerprints.

The gouge on the left side is about half a millimetre deep, a shallow V‑shaped cut that follows the edge but stops a hair before the rim. It’s not a design flaw, but a real mark from the die being pressed slightly unevenly. The depth varies from 0.12 mm on the highest point to 0.08 mm at the bottom, giving the edge a subtle “stutter.” If you line it up with another coin, you’ll notice a faint wobble in the same direction—proof that the press had a small, steady sway. That’s the rhythm the old machine was whispering.