A Piggy-Back On My "When Errors Aren't Errors" Thread...

graceoutcast - Your point is taken - both of them...but neither have much to do with the fact that the die variety and error markets are pretty much set in what's considered collectible and valuable. It's not just a matter of supply and demand, although that does have some factor in the final result.

The main question of the value of an error or die variety would be answered with one question..."Should it have been noticed and stopped at the mint?"

Obviously a chain strike of five coins that jammed the press and created a monster set of unique coins that are not only severely malformed but aren't even round should have been caught and destroyed - but alas, they do exist in collector/dealer hands. They are VERY valuable because they escape the mint VERY infrequently.

Monster doubled dies like the 1955 cent should easily have been caught when the die was hand inspected under a microscope. However, somehow the die made it into regular cent production and some 350,000 examples were likely struck before the die problem was discovered. It was only due to a shortage of cents and a backlog of work that they were allowed to circulate. Yes, the mint KNEW about them before they were bagged. Nonetheless, they are considered extremely valuable because the mint's release of such an "oops" on a die is VERY infrequent.

Change subjects to a small crack in a die that runs through the bottom of the bust to the rim on your favorite denomination. The die didn't have the crack when it was new, so take out the inspection process. The crack developed while the die was making coins, but are still round, still fit through a hole made for the denomination, don't change the overall appearance and face of the coin, and will fit into a roll made for the coin's denomination. According to the mint, this would be considered a normal coin. They pass through the mint every day, all the time.

Now...if you have 5 or 10 examples of the 1955 doubled die for sale, or maybe a few examples of chain strikes on your hands, offer all them up on ebay at once and see what happens. I bet every one of them sells the first time you run them and for market value. Run a half dozen "unique" die crack coins on ebay and I'd bet few if any of them sell even if you relist them. It's not a supply and damand factor there, it's a simple case of valuable coin against a normal coin being sold as something of value.

"The main question of the value of an error or die variety would be answered with one question..."Should it have been noticed and stopped at the mint?" "

So, a die crack on a Proof, for instance, should definitely not have escaped from the mint?

I should have added in that niche market on auction sites the shyster "dealers" who hype stuff up on purpose to make a quick buck - and it happens regularly. They see something on a coin and think they can convince enough people of what they see (sometimes through photoshop trickery) just to sell what they know is pocket change to unsuspecting novices who STILL tend to believe everything they read on the internet. It should come as no surprise that with the internet everyone has a certain amount of anonyminity, thus novice collectors who bid on auction sites don't know whether they are being taken by a shyster or are buying something of true value from a knowledged dealer or specialist. With that to wit, auction sites like ebay are not a good place to gauge value of anything you might find in a collection or group of coins.

I might add that often these people are the same Johnny collectors who found something they think definitely is of value, send them in to have them attributed by every major service, are rejected because the coin obviously isn't what they say it is, and turn to ebay and play expert and sell them as such anyway. It's a free country and a free market, but this is one of the cases of people not listening to the folks who have devoted thousands of hours to studying the coins we spend and collect, and it burns my stomach to see them free to sell their hyped up stuff on the internet. Most of them have good stories, but that's all they are - stories. The people who buy the coins are getting burned because they don't know the subject, believe what they read, and haven't listened to the old adage, "buy the book before the coin."

Umm...about this fast?

Dunno, haven't been tested in many years, and back then it was around 60WPM. I figure it's somewhere between 70 and 80 WPM.

Hurray! That makes 4 of us!

The macro shots of Lincoln cents on my sales site (lincolncent.com)- a Nikon D80 with a 50mm macro lens.
The micro shots of Lincoln Cent die varieties on my research site (coppercoins.com)- a Nikon Coolpix 5200 and a stereo microscope with an adaptor that fits over the eyepiece.

In both cases I use a reostat controlled 180 watt halogen light with dual fiber-optic light guides for lighting. I purchased mine from Larry at https://www.coinoptics.com. I also use a couple of desk lamps with day-glow fluorescent 100watt equivalent bulbs when necessary.

Re: beautiful photos...thank you!

Just some eye-candy...

I think anything that gets people interested in the hobby should be encouraged, whether it be minor die cracks or Machine Doubling or what ever. I for one am trying to complete a year set of Canadian cents that the coin should have at least one die crack. Do I think I am going to strike it rich.....no, but it does keep the fun in the hobby and I still get the joy of the thrill of the hunt. As far as some of those so called error experts out there, they too can have flawed opinions. I once sent a photo of a double struck British 5 pence to one of the authors of the afore mentioned book, who at the time was also a contributer to Canadian Coin News. Every aspect of the coin was doubled, including every letter in the legend as well as the portrait of the queen. The doubling was not just a little off, but way off. Also the coin had a very deep relief of the fields due to being struck twice. I am not an expert coin photographer, but the photo I sent more than clearly showed the doubling. The reply I got back was just a matter of fact the coin had no doubling obvious from the photo. Another thing that sort of irks me is the emphasis that something should not be collected because it does not have monetary value except for face. I understand the investment side of coin collecting is a major part of the hobby, but to me it isn't even in the top five reasons of why I collect them.