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Message:: [QUOTE="Shooter, post: 35925, member: 1915"]Published: 01.11.2005 2-bit mystery so far is unique to Tucson By Inger Sandal ARIZONA DAILY STAR  Coin collectors are starting to see green over unusual markings that look like extra corn leaves on some of the new Wisconsin quarters circulating around Tucson.  So far the extra "leaves" - and why they've been reported only in Tucson - remain a mystery.  "It's hard to say what the value of these things will be," said Rob Weiss, who owns Old Pueblo Coin, 4420 E. Speedway. "Just to discover two varieties like this - it is just so exciting. It is something that really is a major thing in the coin industry."  The Wisconsin quarter, which started circulating last month, has the nation's first president, George Washington, on the front and a state design on back that includes a cow and an ear of corn.  "What we discovered was on a very small percentage of these Wisconsin quarters there are two (varieties) that contain extra leaves," Weiss said. "One variety has an extra leaf that goes up," he said, and a second has a "leaf" that curves down. "It is as clear and crisp and sharp as can be. These are not depressions on the coin. These are raised leaves.  "To find one of the varieties would have been incredible. The fact that there are two completely different varieties that we discovered is completely mind-boggling," Weiss said.  Weiss' shop made the discovery more than a week ago, and as of Monday it was still waiting for an explanation from the U.S. Mint.  "It's not supposed to have happened. It's very exciting in coin circles," he said. "According to the mint, there's no other report of these varieties turning up in any other part of the country."  A U.S. Mint spokesman in Washington, D.C., did not return a call seeking comment.  Weiss' discovery made the cover of the current Coin World, which calls itself the world's largest and most widely read publication for coin hobbyists. The article raised the idea that tool gouges into two separate dies were the most likely culprit, but it also appealed to the mint for more information.  "This is pretty cool stuff for the collectors," Weiss said.  State quarters are produced in the order that the states joined the Union. They are collected by an estimated 130 million Americans. Wisconsin was the last of five states released in 2004; Arizona's state quarter is slated for release in 2008.  Weiss ordered 100 rolls of the Wisconsin quarter from the Denver Mint and 100 rolls from the Philadelphia Mint. Each mint produced more than 225 million Wisconsin quarters, local coin experts said.  "We actually sold quite a few Wisconsin quarters before we discovered them," Weiss said, referring to the marks that appear on a fraction of the coins from Denver. "It was way exciting. The first thing we did, we went through all the rolls."  The eventual value will depend in part on how many of the coins turn up, but Weiss already has sold a set of three - a regular quarter and each of the varieties (a face value of 75 cents) - for nearly $200.  Weiss suggested Tucsonans examine their pocket change. "If people know what to look for, by all means they can find these things out here," Weiss said. "This is an opportunity for people to start looking at their coins."  Bret Palser of Eagle Eye Rare Coins, 1760 E. River Road, agreed. "If you were to go to the bank and search through rolls of quarters, you could find them still," he said.  But they will likely be exceedingly rare in other parts of the country, he said, particularly in the Eastern states served by the Philadelphia Mint. Pal-ser is leaving for a show in Florida on Wednesday and said he already has a standing offer for $100 a set.  Although it's still unknown whether the marks were intentional or a simple mistake, Palser sides with intentional leaves - particularly with the low leaf that curves down. Regardless, he said, "since these look so much like little extra leaves and they are very easy to see with the naked eye, they are going to be a highly collected variety."  There are a myriad of errors that can happen at a mint, where numerous presses churn out the same coins at the same time. Most are striking errors, such as a press getting jammed, and such coins rarely see public circulation, he said.  But the variations in the Wisconsin quarter seem to have happened in the die, and a single die can strike around 40,000 coins before it starts to deteriorate, Palser said. Under that scenario, only a fraction of the quarters would have the variations.  "The simple fact is these are out here and they are going to be very hot," Palser said.[/QUOTE]

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