New Pickup (and new discovery) - Germany 1972 F Proof 10 Mark Doubled Die Obverse

Hello again!

Recently picked this coin up and didn't think too much about it. It's got a lower mintage than the BU strike (125,000 vs. 4,875,000) but from what I've seen hasn't really earned too high of a premium over silver melt...so I was going to sell it to defray the costs of my entire purchase (so I could keep some other pieces from that buy.) I'd even listed it (unsuccessfully, I might add) for a small premium over melt. It was in what looked like the original PVC flip (had the mint mark embossed in the plastic) and did have some PVC contamination.

Then that little voice in the back of my brain tells me to take a closer look at it before I sell it off. I don't know why it said that, but it's the same voice that on multiple occasions that has said things like, "You'd better slow down or you'll hit a deer" about ten seconds before a deer runs across the road while I was driving at night. I wish that voice would tell me lottery numbers or give me stock market tips!

Anyway, back to the coin: I did take a closer look at that coin, and I immediately withdrew the coin from my sales list. Why? I found a nice little doubled die on the obverse lettering.

I still have yet to find another example cited online anywhere - so I'll tentatively call it a "discovery piece." (Not that something like that matters to me.)

Here's the entire coin:



Here is a closeup of the "1972 In Munchen" side - in my opinion the doubling is easiest to see on the U of MUNCHEN:



Here is another closeup of that same area with a few red arrows pointing to where the doubling is easiest to see:



This doubling is evident (in various strengths) on all obverse lettering - I just shared photos of the area where it was strongest.

Not sure if it adds any significant value to the coin, but it DOES mean I'm holding on to it for a while longer.

Thanks for reading, and if you either a) already noticed this variety or b) know somewhere online that has already noticed the variety I'd be very happy to learn more about it.

 

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Nice specimen Benjamin cool doubled die.....congrats!

 

Thanks!

It's not quite as fun as the Spanish Proof 50 Centimos that has been at NGC for three months (and they probably won't even attribute the doubled die, either) but it's still pretty cool.

Cool enough for me, anyway.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

You know I mentioned you a few weeks back.. on the 1876 US seated quarter the mpd!
Man that was a sweet pickup...couldn't happen to a nicer guy too! I hope you and the wife are doing well....Paddy

 

I don't recall that tag, unfortunately, no...

EDIT: and it was an 1875 Seated Quarter, I believe, not 1876, haha...

...but I do have a fun story:

I was browsing Reddit, and this kid starts talking about a collection he's inherited. He was wanting to sell it off, so I ended up buying the 68-70 proof and mint sets and a few later dates (at greysheet bid, so I paid him fairly.) He mentioned selling the earlier silver proof sets locally for like $15 each (ouch!) so I kind of felt like it was my duty to help him check out the silver dollars he still had.

Turns out he had a really nice looking 1901 Morgan. I pointed that one out, and let him know it was a pretty valuable coin in better grades - but also had him check the reverse for the doubled die reverse variety. He sends me scans and sure enough, that's what it was! I made sure to let him know NOT to sell it before he got it graded, because if it graded MS it would be well worth the wait and investment in time and money.

Didn't hear from him for months and months...and out of the blue he messages me this weekend. Turns out a LCS did offer him $1k for the coin...but he followed my advice and sent it to NGC (well, I actually told him PCGS but whatever) instead.

NGC gave it an MS62 - and he ended up getting $15,000 for it! I was so happy for him, and glad I was able to help him reap the benefits of his inheritance (vs. some random LCS.) He let me know that because of that one coin he was able to split that money with his family and, more importantly, KEEP the rest of the coins he was interested in. That was the part that made me the happiest.

(Note: He did end up sending me a small bin of world coins he had no interest in, even though I told him I'd help him check for silver or better dates - he still wanted to thank me. It did have about $100 in world silver, including a lot of tiny silver coins, so it was a fun thank you to get.)

 

Yep Good Karma always finds it mark...as well bad does also....I know as we have done business before that you are a honest dealer . No members here should ever worrie about buying any specimen from you. And that folks is a check you can take to any bank to cash.....this forum is very fortunate to have the dealers who post here....Benjamin, John, Mike are three of the best...I would endorse any day!
You know why? Great customer service, honesty...and they stand behind their inventory.
And members should patronize them....all.