The hot-stamping process is a manual action where a blank chip is placed onto a moving apparatus that looks like a printing press. Instead of having a sheet of paper manually placed on a platen that is then struck with the inked type, the chip is placed in a holder and the pressed by a hot-stamp die. When it opens, the operator reaches in, flips the chip and the other side is done. Alternatively, all the chips are done on one side and the second side is done as a second batch. In either event, it looks like the second side was both upside down and not fully in the right location, resulting in a double-stamp and one of them being off-center.

But, this is just my opinion. Jim Blanchard or even David Spragg would be able to give us some insight here.

However, if a QA person spotted this chip, then it would have been culled out and at that point become a floor sweeping!

But for my money, it was an error chip and not a test of the hot-stamping equipment readiness as my friend Don Lueders advises. (Sorry Don.)

Jim