Jay..my research is that it is in fact a short mint, not an error. On the original long whip the stagecoach overran the silver and if you look at both strikes closely you will see that there is a quite a difference in both the two drivers and the position of the stagecoach as well as the short whip, though we refer to the strike as the Short Whip. It was probably made after the long whip and then went out of print, replaced by the LM Boot, which has a much simpler design and a much plainer logo. Examine the short and long whip strikes together and you will be surprised at the significant differences. It is a hard strike to find and is not a variation, but a separate strike...Peter