CPU of the Day: Intel 386 Double Stamp
In coin collecting often times an example is valued not because of its perfection, but because of its imperfections. An off-center print, the obverse being printed upside down, or the double strike, where a coin doesn’t get cleared form the die and gets hit twice.
Such appears to be the case with this Intel A80386DX-33. It clearly went through the engraver twice. A similar example (from the same exact lot) is fine, so clearly this one, made in early 1992, was a mistake that was not caught. I have seen mis-aligned prints, off center etc, but this is the first example i have seen that was engraved twice. It is interesting that even within the same lot, the spacing of the markings varied somewhat. Notice that on the right side of the chips the sets of markings line up but they diverge towards the left. It appears the stepper motors moving the tooling or the chips were a bit sloppy or out of calibration.
Have you seen any other double engraved comments? Let us know in the comments.
