Hi all... I'm the first to admit when I'm out of my league, so I was hoping for some words of wisdom when it comes to the value of this error merc dime. I have the opportunity to pick it up, but I can't accurately assign a value. None have sold (or available) on Ebay, only one sold in HA was a 65 and it sold for nearly $800.
Errors can be hard to value, since they're all unique. While I don't deal with errors, I'll take you through my thought process. I see the 1945 graded 65 on Heritage that sold for $646 in 2012, so I think you have your upper limit there. It also happens to be extremely well-struck in the center for a 1945. A "full bands" collector might want this coin even though it doesn't say FB on the holder. Now for your lower range, there are a few problem AU-BU Broadstruck Mercury dimes on eBay that recently sold for $90-150, and a couple for sale. The subject coin is not a problem coin and broadstrikes are more common than partial collars, so it seems. My gut tells me that if you can get it for $300 and you really like it, you probably should buy it. As our searches indicate, they don't show up often. If it is fully struck like the Heritage coin I linked to above, you could justify paying more. When comparing against the Heritage coin, be sure to compare how impressive the error is, and not just the grade.
Thank You Messy! I'm totally up in the air with this one because I just don't see many Mercury errors out there, making it hard to judge what the market really feels about them. But that exact thing is what is kind of drawing me to it. Could it be that not many exist and the ones that do, are already in someone's collection??? Or could it be that they're not seen often because there's simply no demand for them??? Grrr! Really having a hard time deciding!
I have seen tilted partial collars Mercury Dimes before. Have seen them sell for $30 to $40 dollars raw.
My perspective and thoughts, though from a limited experience. I found a dropped letter quarter (2008D) while CRH. It was gem uncirculated and the dropped letter was a D mintmark, located just about next to the actual mintmark. I got it slabbed and it graded MS66. When I sold it to an error collector, he said that for him (and he actually was a dealer also) that for an error like this on an uncirculated coin, the higher grade (as opposed to say a MS64 or 65) made no difference to him as to the price he was offering (around 200.00), he was buying for the error, its visibility, completeness, and clarity. Perhaps his price also reflected if it had been even high AU. Based on that, you might want to consider how rare it is, and maybe the one that sold on Heritage was on the upper limits, if not somewhat fantasy $$$. IDK. As I have been looking at more 'mundane' coins and seeing sales, just by grade, I see a lot of Heritage selling way more than by ebay or others (for PCGS slabbed ones) in many cases. Either Heritage is getting some really sweet coins for the grade and the buyers know that so they offer stronger money for a particular coin, and the ones that find their way to ebay are generally on the lower end of the grade, or there is a premium people are paying on Heritage for whatever reason. Perhaps an idea would be to say that if one sold for similar on Heritage, knock it down by half in price and maybe then deduct 1/3 that for being below MS64. Then offer only 60-80% of that as a start. So (if my off the cuff calculations are right)646/2=343 and 343/3=114 and 114x2=228 and 228/5=46 and 46x3=138 and 46x4=184. Therefore consider an offer in the 138-184$ range.
The above quote has some bad advice mixed in with good advice. Do NOTpay a premium for bands on this coin. A Full Bands collector will have no interest in this coin. While extremely rare on non-error 1945 mercs, almost all off-center strike 1945 mercs actually have full bands, and I believe the same holds true for tilted partial collars.
Thanks for the clarification. A couple of the broadstruck 45s I saw on eBay didn't have bands. I retract the band-related advice, although it does seem like a "loophole" in the quest for a fully struck 45.
Thanks for the heads up. I was going to look if it had full bands. Now I will know there shouldn't be a premium associated with it.
