I know there was originally some speculation regarding deliberate alteration here, and then the mint's investigation revealed it was not intentional, but did anyone ever conclusively decide what caused this extra leaf error? Die gouge? Something else?
I think your right because I kind of remember it was getting towards the middle or towards the end of the program and how many times can you get up for another opening for a states quarter. It was a breath of fresh air in the program.
Well, they originally thought that, but the official investigation stated it was not intentional. But I can't find anywhere were it states what actually happened.
I can tell you what happened . This is just common die gouges and nothing else that are on the state quarters . someone lied about the Wisconsin quarters and hiped them up as a extra leaf and caused a lot of new collectors that didn't know any better get their butts burned really good. there are better and bigger die gouges on other states quarters that don't get any attention at all because they are scarce and have not been hyped up like the Wisconsin quarters. I have quite a few of the California quarters that looks like John Muir has a dagger in his hand , then I have a matching set of two of them with die gouges that looks like John Muir has thrown the dagger at the condor bird and it looks as if the bird has feathers falling below it with the dagger just below the feather looking die gouges , these two are comical looking. I only found these two out of thousands of the quarters I looked at and have never heard of another one. I suppose it just determines how much fake advertisement the coins get's is what determines their value.
I read one account that the press operator went to lunch only to find the machine running when he returned. But if there are two types of extra leaf errors would that mean the dies were changed during his absence?
It doesn't really matter anyway. What REALLY matters is: Someone noticed the coin. (Just like the 1922 No D Lincoln) Someone brought the coin to the attention of the collecting community. (Just like the 1937-D 3 Leg Buffalo). Someone had a bunch of them seeing as how they hoarded as much as they could before announcing the discovery. (Just like the 1972/72 Doubled Die Lincoln). Attention to the coin(s) became widespread. (Just like the Minnesota Extra Tree Washington's) The prices in the coins rose dramatically in a short period of time. (Just like the 1970-D Kennedy Half Dollars) Someone made a lot of money off of selling the coins! (Just like the 2008-W Rev 07 Silver Eagle) And now, folks are whining about them. It's the coin business. Those that move in quickly make the best profits off of those that don't recognize the opportunity thats staring them in the face. (Just like the 2011 25th Anniversary Sets) The coin business is controlled and manipulated by the coin collectors to further their particular interests and bring value to what they collect. (Just like the hype and baloney surrounding Morgan Dollars.) Nothing new here and nothing so revealing other than an easily recognizeable variety was found, marketed and sold. It's history now resides in coin collecting history so that in 50 or 100 years, folks will collect these coins (like they do any other variety), pay extravagant amounts for them (like the 1909-SVDB and 1955/55) and be as happy as a pig in a polk when they obtain one. Then, those future collectors will sit around wondering why in the heck more folks didn't purchase them when the prices were so reasonable? (just like any other classic coin which was available at face value.)
problem with the die gouge coins is that no one wants to pay a fortune for a die gouge coin if they know anything about coins.. a real variety coin like the 55 and 72 doubled die cents and the Minnesota extra tree doubled die quarter coins and about all the other true doubled die coins will keep going up in value over a period of time. we all know where the hyped up die gouge coins will go because who will want a die gouge coin when everyone comes to realize what they are which is only from a scratch on the coin die. how many speared bison nickles and Wisconsin extra leaf coins do you think I own ? the answer is 0 and I sure don't want one. I have some awesome die gouge coins that are better than these two that I kept because I found them for face value.
Actually, the "extra leaves" are curved die dents. Whether they are accidental or intentional cannot be determined with any degree of certainty.
Looks like someone has bought into a few of the extra leaf coins or has found him some from rolls. Mike you always have said these are die gouge coins until now in every article I read that you wrote.. I know die dent and die gouge are very similar but not the same thing. I'm adding a interested link to a article that Potter authored about these coins. what he writes is about the same thing as all of us that collect coins already knows . the folks on Ebay are using the false advertisement on these to unload them to the beginning collectors because they don't know any better and buy them. http://koinpro.tripod.com/Articles/2004DWiscDieGouges.htm
Short video from Rick Snow on the the extra leaf [video=youtube;owqNVcat1IY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owqNVcat1IY[/video]
There are other die dents -- curved and straight -- that have also produced pressure ridges. They're entirely accidental.
Mike I know my memory is is faulty and it probably is due to old age and open heart surgery. I think your memory is faulty also if you think you have never called the so called "extra leaf" coins die douges. I suppose this is just the way we are when old age get's it's hold on us. every article you have written that I have read you said they were die gouges and I agree that is what the extra leaf coins are and nothing else . just die gouges like the nick named speared bison nickles. I have a few of the state quarters with awesome die gouges that I have never seen on Ebay or anywhere else . the small die gouges are common on the state quarters for some reason. some of the larger ones must have been noticed by the mint employees and destroyed causing them to be scarce. the folks that are trying to lie and hype this junk up by saying probably a mint employee did this on purpose is the ones that are sitting on a hoard of them. I'm including a link for you to read and see if it refreshes your memory. http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=26&threadid=364966
Again, it does not really matter since the coin is: 1. Obviously different 2. Easily identifiable 3. Consistently reproduced (meaning the die(s) were modified) 4. An official US Mint product. Whether or not the damage was intentional or not is irrelevent. It's a recognized and collectible variety for the Wisconsin State Quarters. Folks that have certain "axes to grind" with regard to this variety have their own personally justifiable reasons for being spoil sports for those that either have the varieties and/or would like one of the varieties. Are prices down? Absolutely! But only because the coin is no longer in the spotlight. Have folks lost money on them? Absolutely but the same is true for ANY modern era coins! The Moderns coin market is very finicky and can be extremely short, in relative timelines, with only a very few exceptions that will hold any type of values. I've got quite a few moderns that fall into the "what was I thinking?" category but you'll not catch me dissing them since, if we're still around in a 100 years, they just might be highly collectible. (Kinda like those 3 leg buffalo's)
