The top two are the two I think might be some sort of goof. They're concave/convex in different directions. The bottom left is an interesting kind of damage that I'd love to know the probable cause of, and the one in the lower right seems it just got sliced slightly. I don't know if that could've happened prior to circulation or not. They're each in the same position in each of the photos.
The top in the pic are damaged coins, the bttom two however appear to be genuine errors - know as clips. The clip occurs when the planchets are punched out. The edge of the punch overlaps the edge of the planchet strip where another coin was already punched out. This is what results in the crescent shape piece missing. One of the clip coins is also damaged.
So it's exactly the opposite of what I thought? How funny! They're not attractive enough to have any extra value are they?
Not really - but the undamaged one is quite collectible. Clips are quite popular among many error collectors.
That's confusing...in other fields when something is "quite collectible," it usually has value. That said, even if a penny is worth 100 times its face value, a $1 deal is as small-time as they come!
Well that's kind of how it works isn't it ? I mean, I have coins that I have paid thousands of dollars for - but yet there are literally millions of people out there who wouldn't give me ten bucks for them. The value of any object is only determined by the person who wants it
I'm guessing any of those millions who COULD give you $10 for it and knew they could turn it for thousands to another buyer would! Of course, anything is only worth what one can get for it. I got into doing this because I enjoyed it. I've bought only 4 nickels, costing a total of $2, because I wanted an Indian Head...then found one shortly afterwards in circulation but with the date no longer legible. I don't have much that's exotic, but do have a bunch of Whitman folders without any empty slots for the past 50+ years' pennies, nickels, dimes & quarters, all from pocket change. I think I have a nickel from the '40s, with only about 13 million total minted, per the folder slot for it. Has anyone else noticed that since 9/11, there seem to be fewer new "P" coins (state quarters, for example) on the West Coast? I think the metal detectors have stopped folks from carrying their change onboard when they fly...
THAT'S the absolute best reason there is Re: the value - I was only making a point - that being that coins don't have to have value to be considered quite collectible. People collect them because of their uniqueness, the beauty, history, the challenge and because it's just plain fun.
Does anyone have theories on what would do the types of damage the top coins have? I've got pennies that are still flat, with much shallower gouges and their surfaces are ugly and torn up. Those two coins have their cores still completely covered. I ask out of curiousity rather than because I doubt what anyone has told me. In other words, what the heck do folks DO to these coins to change them so dramatically w/o "cracking" anything on their surfaces?
