We all probably have certain coins that we think are rarer than the market would indicate. To start the conversation I offer the following dime struck on clad layer: What's your opinion?
The difficult part of determining rarity for practically any Mint error is the fact that the grading services don't keep track of them. Instead, they just go into the graded population of normal coins. Neat coin you have there! Chris
Agreed, there really isn't an accurate assessment of how many errors for a given date were made, because many errors can happen at any time during the minting process (like double struck, off-center, etc). Varieties are a bit easier to keep track of, because there are identical examples produced, because the coins were all struck by the same die. While we may not get an exact number, many attributors can estimate the number struck by examining later-die state examples, and figuring out roughly how many coins could be struck by a single die until it reached that die state.
Not expensive at all. I think the last one on Heritage sold for about $125 I believe. I believe I bought this on eBay for roughly $100 - certified. It's only MS60, but ANACS consistently undergrads any coin less than full weight.
I have to disagree on 2 counts: 1. It matters when you are trying to put together a collection. 2. If you are purchasing as an investment (and I think errors are a poor choice FWIW) I think the market is ultimately pretty efficient and rarity will matter. Not always, but frequently.
My experience has been that the more dramatic and the higher the grade, then the more expensive these errors get. The caveat is that they have to be found in the wild though, which can get very expensive.
That was how they would "dress up" the ASE dies when die wear would start causing them to lose their satin finish. The would strike an ASE through a piece of emory cloth or a sanding disk. The fine grade abrasive would restore the finish on the die and the ASE was supposed to be destroyed. Sometimes they would get out. i remember reading about these in Coin World back when the first one showed up. As to how you would grade it, by the reverse of course.
