Why Errors?

i agree it's the odds that a coin is an error and so many less are available that make them interesting to collect

also, for me... I'm not perfect.. why should my coins be?

I like errors of the engraving - misspelled legends and such. The coin still may look quite pleasant.
Errors of the striking process? Not so much.

So far I think realpenny has given me the best inkling of understanding this, of describing a collection motive and what these damaged pieces represent to them.

As to them being rare, well leprosy is rare in Canada too and I don't want that either.

But seriously the concept that errors are rare is mistaken. By definition there are mistakes in every process, therefore in every run and made daily. There's actually rough formula for calculating the average number of mistakes in large scale manufacturing processes based on the number of steps and devices. They may be rare compared to a run as a whole, but based on the absolute quantity present they aren't rare at all. Panda bears and bald eagles are rare.

Takeaway: It seems that it's up to every individual to qualify what entails a desirable error.

Now if the argument is that it's simple time killing fun I can understand that. People hunt for hubcaps and we all look at other peoples change so I do get that part. I mean I go out every year and spend a week looking through blast sites for rare gemstones.

I was trying to drill down to the desire to collect them. Motivation. Grace touched on some concepts and I'm not into those things either but it did shift my attention to the type of thought that makes errors top of mind.

Thanks to the input here and reviewing some other threads I've concluded it's simply a matter of personality and not necessarily intrinsic to collecting coins overall.

I was worried that I was missing out and being left behind somehow.

It all comes down to supply and demand. People naturally look for oddities in everything in everyday life. An error is something that has gone wrong during the minting process. Many "doubles", so they are called, are actually errors, not varieties, because they are actually loose/misaligned dies. If any one of the minting steps or proceses are wrong, then you have an error, not a variety. A loose die in the chuck where nearly every letter/digit is doubled is an error, not a variety. Good planchet, good die, good machinery and the coin is still "off" is a variety because the mintmaster has allowed that die to get into the presses. Anything else, because of whatever problem, is an error. Think of errors as a new coin denomination ... you have a mintage of maybe 100 out of 1 million minted and it's 100-150 years old. Would you pick it up? Collectors of any antique or collectable look for the least made and now it's available ... errors will always be a niche for someone(s). I think that coins that are not entirely in the die and then struck off-center, in whatever way, are really nice coins to have and look at, likewise strike-thrus. Some of the really wierd stuff I'm not interested in.

I actually do have a mint error. The 1944 nickel with no chrome. I pulled it from a roll so it isn't high end, but still I like it.

I know the 1945 nickel also has a no chrome error (something to hope for when hunting) does the 1951 to 1954 nickels also have these errors?

The government doesn't produce its own money, so it's not proof of anything. If the government did produce its own money according to the Constitution, so many things in the world could be solved.

Coin errors are simply production errors made in the mint. They're novelties. Coin collectors - collect coins (smack my head) - not spend them. So it's not like we're using the coins for their intended purpose - to be spent in the economy. The same could be said about other collectors who don't read their comic books. They're oddities. Imagine a typo'd comic book with an alternate ending that few people had.

So there you have it, Ugly. You've been Sapped!