1990 Denver Quarter. Refer to picture 3 and on for the error/oddity. Seen them before referred to as smooth edge/rim. Or toothless rim. no idea what there actually classified as. Any insight as to rarity, perhaps premium, greatly appreciated. Found in fathers pocket change jars. PS I’ve also heard of a “merchants quarter” , but this doesn’t seemed to have been rough anytime in its existence and smoothed later.
I'm pretty sure it has been spooned, banging the edge of the coin with another object. It is an early stage of making a ring.
I agree, though I suppose it could also be a dryer coin in the early stages. Note the thickening of the rim. "Spooning" and machine damage like the "dryer coin" phenomenon both would do this. So it looks like post-mint damage to the rim, in any event, though it's debatable what caused that. Not likely a mint error. Sorry.
It's only damage. Not a Mint Error Spooned is correct Sorry @lordmarcovan I disagree with the dryer coin attribution but I understand what you meant
I've never heard of the terms "smooth rim", "toothless", or "merchan'ts quarter" used before. Am I missing something @paddyman98? OP, I do agree with @paddyman98 that your coin is just damaged and was probably spooned.
No need to apologize buddy. I found this coin very early in my return to collecting/stacking. Naturally I was happy to find it whether or not it was pre/post mint. Still neat as to it’s the only one I have / seen. I have a friend who’s birthday was yesterday and that is the year he was born. Cool gift I suppose.
You are right . However the “Merchant quarter” was told to me by a coworker. He’s a much older fellow (relative to me) and said merchant sailors would have so much time in there hands that they’d start banging the sides of the quarter lightly to flatten them out. The only reason I was even suspicious of this coin is because whoever did this, did it really well ( I think). The new flat edge is remarkably flat and gives the impression ( to a novice ) collector that it had always been flat.
At this point I have to agree. I’m still a novice collector and found this within my first handful of hunts. I just don’t get why someone would wear a coin as a ring (unless silver or gold). But then again I’ve never been a fan of jewelry.
I've often had the exact same thought, but it's good that there are craftspeople in the world who don't mind putting in a long time perfecting their crafts, right?
Another random thought- it seems like there sure are an awful lot of "spooned" coins that seemingly got started, but never finished. Why is that? Why start on a coin, beat it half to death, then quit, and either spend it or scrap the silver (when it is silver), etc.? And why does one almost never see any other unfinished coin rings that are in a later intermediary part of the process? These are precisely the kind of meaningless questions I ruminate over.
As the story goes the maker starts banging on his coin. When he runs out of time the coin goes in his pocket until he continues. Like any coin in a pocket it can be dropped, lost or spent before the job is done. I keep them only if the rim is at least a quarter inch. I've wondered why you find so many dimes started. After you are done they would only fit a baby.
I'll look through my stash and let you know if I can spare one. Not very organized lately. Have roughly 100 gallons of loose and 2x2 coins and tokens to sort down and not working straight through just as I feel like it and when I can find time.
Oh, I don't want one. I was just mentioning that I had never seen one, is all. Thanks, though! Wow. 100 gallons? That could take forever to sort!
100 gallons is what you have when you spend six months looking up 90 gallons of mavericks and toss in everything you buy during that six months. it's easy to sort tokens if they are identified. Just start with 50 or 100 2x2 boxes. Difficult is not getting distracted by another project or promise.
