Howdy folks, I've been away for a while;good to be back! I've had a rather rigorous work load for the past semester and a half with little time to sleep and eat, let alone enjoy hobbies. But enough about that - the thread title is ERROR COINS. I've long been an admirer of error coins. I'm not sure if it's because they're so one of a kind or because as technology advances, they become more scarce due to more reliable and efficient machines. I realize that error coins still make their way out of the mint (ie Wisconsin quarter with extra leaf), but it seems like in the past it happened more often. The discussion I hope to start is: -Are error coins becoming something of the past since the mint uses more reliable machinery to make coins and to detect errors before they leave the mint? -How does the mint detect error coins before they release them? -What's the most resent dated coin with a significant error you've seen? -Do you enjoy/dislike collecting error coins? And anything else you'd like to mention about error coins. Cheers! Dima
I have rolls of error cents from 1955-1958, there were so many. My most recent error is the Washington smooth edge with die clash and starburst on both faces. I haven't found any Lincoln errors after about 1999, but then, I haven't looked closely at many of them either. There are still off-center cents, and multiple strikes, but I've only bought them, never found one.
Real quick I want to clarify my original post. I understand that errors exist, but the majority of older errors I've seen, I could see without any magnification. The more recent the error, the harder it is to detect it with the naked eye - agree/disagree? Some error cents I've seen on eBay (graded and labeled as errors by PCGS) had 25x magnification and arrows to point to tiny variations I couldn't even see.* I'm sure that detecting these differences is something that comes with experience... /edit - I do have a Washington dollar with weak edge; think it's pretty neat.
Since the single squeeze method of die production became the de facto method in 1999 for all denominations, the larger, more noticeable errors have seemingly disappeared. The process of the SS die production, does lead to the minute DDs that some TPGs won't even recognize and also die trails and wavy steps, etc. I just can't get much excited about these, although the Duke Ellington 2009-D is certainly an exception, IMO. Jim
A little off topic, but can you explain (or link to) explanations/descriptions of these two methods of production. Which error? I was unable to find a description online. Cheers! Dima
Yes, the number of major error coins has declined greatly in recent years. For errors that result from or create off size errors the addition of extra passes through the riddlers has resulted in a great reduction in these errors getting out. Also the government now requires errors that they miss but which are caught at the coin rolling facilities such as Brinks etc to be returned to the Mint. In the past the rolling facility personnel were allowed to buy them at face value and they were the source of a lot of the errors in the marketplace. Now the official government stance is that until the new coin is actually released to the banks they are the property of the United States Government and rolling personnel exchanging for them are stealing government property. For errors that do not result in a off size such and doubled dies, die cracks, die breaks etc, the coins as they are struck fall into a holding hopper and the press operator is supposed to examine handfuls from time to time checking for errors or other problems. If he finds one the press is stopped and the problem corrected. The coins in the hopper are condemned. If he doesn't find anything then he dumps the holding hopper into the main hopper and production continues. In theory this allows errors to be caught sooner an the errors destroyed before the have a chance to mix in with the general production. I don't follow them that much but I do like the 2009-D Duke Ellington doubled die quarter. I don't collect them but I do like them. Studying them can teach us more about the minting process, and a good understanding of that process can help in the identification of fakes, and fake errors.
