So we all know that proof coins are made with special processes and strict quality control. What kind of errors have you seen in a PF set that makes you scratch your head like, how did they miss that??? There is the big stuff like 1970 No S but What other errors sneak out of the mint?
I found a 1968 Proof dime doubled die from a set I broke up recently. The L & I in Liberty. Have not attributed it yet.
You'd be surprised at some of the dramatic Proof errors, double strikes, double denominations, off centers, off metals, etc. etc. etc. that have come out of the San Francisco Mint from 1968 to about 1974.
I would wager more are to be found as well. Sad fact is that many proff sets were purchased and not even really ever looked at. I remember the story of an error Morgan CC dollar that the GSA sent out, verifying it was an error and congratulating the new owner. The GSA followed up a couple of years later to ask them about it. The owner had never even opened up the package to look at the coin or the note.
....I'm not talking about errors found in Proof Sets. The GSA coin you mentioned was the off center 1884-CC. I handled that coin on my visit to the West Point Depository, (now a Mint). It was shipped to a gentleman in Portland, Oregon, and I tried to trace it or locate it for decades after 1973. I fount out, about 10 years ago, what happened to it: The Portland Ore. gentleman walked into a coin shop in that town, about 3-4 years later (after '73), and sold it to the owner (who I know), but he sold it to another dealer who happened to be in the shop within a day or two. He's had it since the late '70's, and I happen to be very good friends with him too - and I've told him how 'jealous' I was that he ended up with it..........
Well, you would know the story better than I. This is your pond sir. I was just trying to remember the story as best I remembered from a numismatic publication some years back. Btw, you might not be talking about errors in proof sets sir, but I am willing to wager there are still some in proof sets out there. Almost no one looks at them at shows or the ones in their closets. I remember a story maybe 10 years ago of a collector find 2 of the no S nickels at the same dealer at a show. Those kinds of errors are pretty obvious, (and well publicized). A dealer friend found a pretty dramatic off center, (maybe 60% offcenter) proof in a foreign proof set sold to him at regular prices last year, (maybe $6). Sadly, not enough collectors and dealers really look at their coins it seems.
Other than minor stuff like minor strike throughs, rotated dies or die cracks was one 1969 set I sold to a customer in the shop who brought it back wanting to exchange it because it was defective. It had about a 15% clipped planchet quarter in the set. Told him I would be happy to exchange it, but that he would be making a mistake. I told him though that if he really didn't want to keep it I would be happy to BUY it back from him at a very healthy profit to him.
More honest than me - "Oh yes, yes, I'll get you a new one, it isn't worth anything if it is damaged like that"
