Hello all- Today I bought a 1865 two cent piece and the first thing I noticed when I turned the coin over was a little die rotation. It's not much-maybe 20-25 degrees. I also have a three cent piece with the same thing except less noticable. I'm not thinking it's anything special because I'm sure previous owner and the coin dealer would have noticed it-but I'm not sure. Was it common for a lot of old US coins from that time to have this-any help appreciated Bill
Thanks Becky. That wasn't the reason I bought the coin-I've been in his shop for 4 weeks straight trying to get some two and three cent pieces but he's never had any. I walked in today and he got the tray right out. Somebody dropped off five of them-Jackpot! :smile
It really is amazing how few dealers and collectors know how many coins have that feature. It is really noticable when you put coins in a Whitman Classic or Dansco Album. For instance with Mercury Dimes if you line up the fronts and turn the page you would normally see about half of them with rotated reverses. I've seen some with as much as 45 degrees off. I used to put them aside as if they were an oddity but have given up since so many Merc's are like that.
I have cherrypicked an 1864 90 degree rotated reverse 2 cent piece and an 1863 180 degree rotated reverse Indian cent. The more they are rotated, the more they are worth.:thumb: Charlie
Like many rare items they are worth only what someone will pay for them. That is an interesting web sight for rotated die coins. However, at all coin shows where I go there is no big selling point for these die rotations at least for now. I go to at least 2 to 3 coin shows a month. I pointed out a Merc Dime to a dealer that had at least a 90 degree reverse rotation and he actually told me he would lower the price because of that. One dealer I have known for years never even knew they existed and said if he did he would be afraid that people would not want any of his coins with that feature. Rotated die coins may in the near future become more expesive as error coin collectors become more common. But just like on that program of Antique Roadshow they always say "at the right auction....." Always note the RIGHT auction. If you can't find one, they what is it really worth?
You're right of course, but there is a real demand for the modern rotations and these always command a substantial premium when they appear. Part of the reason is that rotations are less common on moderns but many more modern collectors also collect varieties (or errors) than other collectors.
And you too are correct. I am a error collector. I have virtually hundreds of error coins from over the last 60 or so years. And true that rotated dies on recent coins is substantially rare, still many dealers and collectors are unaware of such errors. Most coin books do not even mention rotated dies. What I always find amusing is when I try to explain a rotated die coin to someone, they have no idea that US coins are made so that as you flip them over top to bottom they should always be right side up. Then you see them in utter disbelief grabbing handsfull of coins and trying that. And I don't mean just anyone, I mean coin dealers as well.
