To start, I know the history and story with 1964 SMS coins. But there are SO many "I have this 1964 SMS cent/nickel/dime/quarter/half" threads by novices, I really wonder where they find out about them. Is it YouTube? Or somewhere else? Does anyone here knows? Thanks. Mark
I would vote for YouTube. It seems to get people worked up over coins and collecting more than anything else. Also "click-bait" sites. "You may have a coin worth 1 million dollars in your pocket right now." The more "clicks" these get, the more money the poster makes.
Quite possibly. On a whim I just googled "1964 half dollar", and on just the first page were at least two articles (including the very first one) on the 64 SMS and three videos.
Sounds like you need to publish an article entitled, "No, Your 1964 Half Dollar is not an SMS Issue."
YouTube ( ) many disinformation short click-bait type websites (https://coins.thefuntimesguide.com/1964-penny-value/) It's peoples' desire to "strike it rich" with - inaccurate information - the desire to know that they are lucky and the first person in the world to search for it, so it's a quick find. - the confident knowledge to know that they are right and everyone else is wrong - believing coin / error / variety collecting is simple and knowledge is easily gained by reading a 5 paragraph website. - not having enough knowledge to ascertain all the clickbait stuff out there But then that is about every newbie coin collector on about every thing. just the other day we have a post of someone finding a 1996 quarter with edge lettering error. They read "1996-2011" someplace (misinformation) .. the whole thing was lack of comprehending information and the desire to find a rare error over factual information. I don't understand why people can discern common damage over something that has to be a mint error in their eyes.
Its actually a phenomena called confirmation bias. Everyone one does it to a certain extent although most people aren't even aware they do it. If you know what it is you can be aware and adjust, but no one can be cured. It basically goes that someone will use information to confirm a preconceived belief but ignore information that contradicts their belief. So you get someone who will believe a food server in a restaurant when they say face masks don't protect people from COVID 19 transmission because it confirms their belief. They will ignore the mountain of evidence and all the medical professionals on the planet that say masks do help reduce the rate of transmission of COVID 19 because it contradicts their belief.
It's the Internet as a whole. Like was said if you happen across a 1964 coin it's now a 50+ year coin and qualifies as old which leads people to look it up, they see an article or a video about the 1964 SMS and they think "maybe this is one", wishful thinking sets in and it's off to the races. Rather that read and learn they'd rather just ask a half hundred experts for opinion's on what they think and tell all of them they are wrong. Hahahahaa