Debate - Terminology

As a casual observer of the realm of errors, which I must confess is a relatively new field to me, I have noticed a few things that I find interesting. The one that intrigues me the most is the one i'd like to consider below;


It is the question of terminology. I'm afraid some error collectors have been mightily ticked off with me in the past when I last brought this up on a forum but it's something that I think is common sense. What is an error? What constitutes an error? Are all coins described as errors really that?

Well i'll take it one question at a time.

1) What is an error?

An error in a non-coin sense is something which is wrong, incorrect or an abberation. Most synonyms lead to the same conclusion an error is something which is simply not right or is mistaken.

Therefore when applied to coins it means a coin that has mistakes or something incorrect.


2) What consitutes an error?

Coins that could easily be classified as errors would be coins that have mistakes. So coins with spelling mistakes or incorrect dates are errors. Coins struck on wrong size planchets, struck in the wrong metal, have incorrect obverse/reverse alignment, wrong obverse/reverse match altogether. Coins with various bits missing, like outer cladding etc. All these I would agree are quite clearly erronous specimens and thus errors.


3) Are all coins described as Errors really that?

Well lets consider die cracks, filled in numbers/letters or chipped numbers/letters. What causes these defects?

Well the ultimate factor is usually due to wear on the die caused by the minting process. Older well used dies can cause many of these problems as bits chip off and debris fills the incuse parts of the die, or gets trapped in the fields. But are coins exhibiting these traits really 'errors' though?

Is it erronous that a die should wear and begin to show fatigue? Well every well used die goes through this process at some stage or later before being scrapped, so it's hardly a one off irregularity? In fact coins exhibiting patterns of die wear are struck using dies with flaws, and thus the coins themselves have 'die flaws'. Die flaws are very different to errors, flaws are minor imperfections caused by day to day use of dies. Errors are genuine mistakes.

Is a die crack a genuine mistake and thus an error or a die flaw from exhausted dies?

I think the term 'error' has become so much of a blanket term these days that it is beginning to be used erm erronously.

Any thoughts?

(Any spelling errors you find in the above are totally my own work, belong to me and are copyrighted...)