Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="JCro57, post: 3109618, member: 92083"]Well, to be a "Mint Error" (and not a "Mint Variety") it has to meet these standards: A. It occurred at the Mint B. Problems involving the metal of a coin: The metal itself has a defect (e.g. lamination), the wrong metal was used (nickel on a cent planchet), it's the wrong thickness (dime struck of 25c stock), the planchet is tapered, rolled thin/thick, the metal was not mixed properly/improper alloy (cent on brass planchet), the clad layer separated, etc. C. Problems involving striking: the coin is clipped, off-centered, broadstruck, misaligned die, double or multi-struck, flip-over strike, rotated dies, brockages, die caps, weak strike or die adjustments, etc. Now a "variety" means something is wrong with the die itself (unintentional, like a die crack) or the die was changed due to a new design (intentional). It will then stamp what is wrong - or an intentional design change - on to the coin. It exists even if a coin is never struck. Seeing there is grease on a die filling in the 4 which created the illusion of a missing 4, and not a result of the striking process itself, the ghost 4 could be a considered by some to be a variety and not an error. But some can make the case that it was not the die that changed, but something running interference between the die and the planchet, thus it should technically be an error. For me, because the die itself is fine, it should be called an "Error."[/QUOTE]