What is considered an error?

Specifically are die cracks considered errors, thinking mainly of the "Speared Buffalo" and the "Spitting Eagle".

 

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I would consider those to be "minor die damage"

 

A die crack is considered a "die stage," not a Mint error. Doubled dies, repunched mintmarks, and overdates are also not Mint errors but are "varieties," though they are "mistakes." A die stage is when the die started out fine, but it went through trauma as a result of striking thousands and thousands of planchets 12 times per second with dozens of tons of pressure, or if overpolished to correct a problem. A variety is when there is a slight change - accidental or on purpose - to a die before it even strikes one coin.

A Mint Error is a mishap due to a mechanical failure or mishap (a coin is struck twice, or off center, or is not struck at all, etc.) or a flaw with the metal itself (a coin is struck on the wrong metal or the metal starts to flake off, etc.). Below are some actual Mint errors:

 

Die Cracks, Spitting Eagles, Speared Buffaloes...

I need big visual beauties! Like what @JCro57 has shown us!

From my collection -

 

You should get a macro lens for that

 

Adding to the Mint error examples above, here are a few from my collection...

 

If I am not mistaken, a doubled die (MD) would be a variety but what about a doubled die made during the die production?

 

A Doubled Die is what creates a Doubled Die strike. MD has nothing to do with a true Doubled Die variety. MD is worthless doubling.

 

But is MD a variety, an error or a oops.

 

Some neat information -
http://doubleddie.com/144822.html

 

I kind-of understand MD (I think) but was wondering if it could be considered an error, although a moderately worthless error.

Let me ask you also if die cracks are errors such as I was talking about in the spitting eagle and the speared buffalo. I mentioned the spitting eagle to a dealer and he thought I was referring to an error on a CC Morgan dollar. Are die-breaks considered legitimate "errors"? Maybe there isn't a good answer.

 

The only way I can answer this is to ask: In the world of coins or here on CT? It's like two different worlds when it comes to errors. One little thing and someone has a million dollar coin.

 

Perhaps I should do a poll asking whether members consider the "speared buffalo" as a legitimate error.

 

The speared buffalo is not a die crack its a gouge. Someting or someone gouged the die at some point. I would consider the gouge a variety. I have the same thoughts on die clashes. What are they?

 

Machine doubling is caused because of a machine malfunction, and thus makes it a striking error. It is a legitimate error, but because these are so common there really is no premium and no desire to collect these among error collectors. Are some of them neat? Yes. Are these desired? Not really.

As I mentioned before, die cracks are considered as "die stages," not as "Mint errors." A die stage is a flaw, but it is a flaw with the die, not a gaffe caused by the striking process due to a mechanical failure. It is caused because of physical stress on the die caused by repeated strikes, or can be caused by someone trying to repair a die by overpolishing it for example. A die stage occurs after the die was made but something happened that resulted in damage to it. A variety is a change or flaw on a die before it strikes a single coin, which could be accidental or intentional.

You need to ask yourself this question when considering whether or not it is a Mint error: What caused the coin to look like this?

If it looks the way it does because that is exactly how the die looks, it is not a Mint error. 3 legged Buffalo nickel? Not an error. A 1943 nickel with the 3 on top of a 2? Not an error. 1955 Doubled Die? Not an error. A die crack, a repunched mintmark, and clashed dies? Not Mint errors. Those all transferred what was on the die to what is now on the coin just the way a cookie cutter forms that image on to cookie dough.

A Mint error is not caused by a coin die. It is caused because of a striking malfunction or a flaw within the metal.

Look at the coin below. The metal around the date came off caused by a poor mix and/or impurities in the metal. It was not caused by the dies = a Mint error.


This second coin below is a double strike. Does the die look like that which struck it? No = Mint error


The third coin below is a nickel that was struck on 25c clad metal, not nickel metal. The metal is wrong = Mint error.


The 4th coin is a 1943 Steel cent with a repunched mintmark. Does the die look like that with a doubled mintmark? Yes = not a Mint error, but a "variety."


The last coin is a 20% off center Susan B. Anthony $1. Does the die look like that? No = Mint error.

 

That would be a die stage

 

Die Clashes are a variety. Although an error with the feeder it impacts the look of the die for the remainder of the dies life. Even if it the clash was attempted to be removed, the next stage will be affected by a die polishing.

 

My understanding is that a die clash is a die stage, not a variety. Since the dies were not hubbed that way right from the start, but are instead the result of them striking each other because no planchet was between them, they became damaged after the fact.

 

Being that variety's can happen in any die stage, and that they are infact the way the die looks at the time of strike. Then they are also variety. I say Variety because I may find an RPM-001 from any year or denomination. In that dies life it may have a stage that is inflicted with a clash. I may want to collect all the die stages. And ALL stages have different attributes.

 

I was just thinking. (All) dies produce varieties. Every single coin is a variety. What ever damage or work that goes into a die in its stages help to identify that particular variety. What varieties are collectable is up to the collector. So say a massive cud is not an error but its a die stage of an otherwise uninteresting varietie. If the 3 leg buffalo had a nice doubled die obverse then the polishing would be a die marker. In conclusion if you would use it as a die marker to identify a particular variety then its not an error. Another area filled dies and strike throughs are errors.If a coin were struck through a planchet there would be no question.