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 Replies: 36 / Views: 3,778 |
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Pillar of the Community
Korea, Republic Of
1881 Posts |
So, I've been looking around in a Korean numismatic forum website, and I got in this argument. Someone posted a pic of an off-center modern Zincoln. There were replies like, "Wow, what a cool coin" and "looks like a good error," then this guy came up and said: "The US Mint creates these "error coins" so that they can sell them to collectors. They are commemorative coins."(ummm.....what?)  Then I replied: "No, it is a genuine error. Not a commemorative of any kind." After my reply, another guy replied to my post: "The US Mint makes these "error" coins on purpose.......The workers make them and smuggle them out of the Mint.......They are not error coins but are more of a commemorative coin.......these are sold at gift shops for $1.....(blah blah blah."(whaaat....) And naturally, I made a reply disagreeing with the OP's points. AS FAR AS I KNOW............... The US Mint has high-security that wouldn't allow smuggling or making of any error coins, at least in the modern days when Zincolns are made. And off-center errors are *not* commemorative coins, and are not a common merchadise at the ordinary gift shop. Can anyone tell me who is wrong and who is right? Please let me know. It may get heated soon......  |
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Pillar of the Community
 Korea, Republic Of
1881 Posts |
Anybody know about the truth.......?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4409 Posts |
You are in the right.
The US Mint doesn't intentionally make error coins nor sell them in the gift shops. They aren't commemorative either.
Now there was a case where a security guard that smuggled out George Washington dollar coins missing the edge letter and sold them to a dealer.
-MV
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Off-center cents are true errors. While there HAVE been some cases of mint employees smuggling error coins out in general the mint IS a high security area and they do try to make sure that nothing is smuggled out (The fact that we know that is has been done is because the Mint DOES catch smugglers occasionally and they have gone to jail for their crimes.
Now back before 2002 off-center errors were relatively common and sold for only a few dollars each (hardly worth risking a felony conviction and prison time over) but since they switched to the horizontal striking presses and added extra QC measures in 2002 the number of off-centers has plummeted. A dated post 2002 cent can now bring a few hundred dollars. hardly a "gift shop" item. The pre-2002 off-centers are still cheap. It would be hard to make them deliberately even if they wanted to. The press runs 750 strikes per minute or 13 strikes per second so there is no way to place the planchets by hand to be struck off-center (not to mention all the guards and enclosures to cut down on noise that would keep you from being able to reachthe coining chamber). Also by its very nature to be struck off-center the planchet has to be at least partially outside of the coining chamber. Since the press strikes horizontally a planchet that is not in the coining chamber is not held in place by the collar and will fall out of the press. (In a horizontal press the hole in the collar (coining chamber) is a hole in a vertical wall. If the planchet isn't in the hole, it is on the wall and there is nothing to keep it there. Gravity works and the planchet falls out.)
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
Errors are called "errors" for a reason  The US Mint does NOT sell ANY errors intentionally. Yes, some errors have been smuggled out by workers in the past but they are certainly not messing around with common-as-dirt OC Lincolns. In the past, most errors left the Mint via canvas bags that were distributed to banks for entry into commerce(cents came in $50 face value bags). Since the early 2000s, the Mint has tightened quality control by installing riddling machines(size-exclusion separation) and discontinuing the use of small canvas bags for commercial purposes. Coins are now directly distributed to armored carrier services in massive kevlar ballistic pallets that hold hundreds of thousands of coins which are then rolled by the armored carrier for commercial distribution. Anything that does not fit in a roll is supposed to be sent back to the Mint for destruction although some of the more dramatic(and high dollar) errors have slipped out from the armored carriers too. |
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
I would chalk it up to a lack of understanding of the culture, but off-center strikes are known in every mintage from every country. Hardly a U.S. exclusive. The knowledge of how they happen is universal among educated numismatics worldwide. They're hardly rare or unique.
Someone demonstrated a breathtaking level of ignorance, nothing more.
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Pillar of the Community
Korea, Republic Of
1881 Posts |
Quote:
Someone demonstrated a breathtaking level of ignorance, nothing more. Those are the perfect words that explain this case...  Edited by Matteproof
04/29/2014 12:26 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1699 Posts |
Coins have been smuggled outside of the mint as recently as 2007 and possibly later. But claiming that any error is the result of this is wrong.
The only error coins that the mint sells (or gives away?) are cent planchets. I wouldnt consider these errors, but an example of a stage in the minting process.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4212 Posts |
Nuff said. I'd email this fiction writer back, including this thread. Thanks for posting the question, you couldn't have been replied to by a better group. Well, almost.
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Valued Member
United States
139 Posts |
He might be referring to waffle errors. Those are error coins that are caught before leaving the mint and then smashed into a "waffle" and sold at the gift shop.  Edited by JoshHellcat
04/29/2014 6:34 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Korea, Republic Of
1881 Posts |
Thanks everyone for all the replies. Seems like nobody answered to my post in the Korean website. The OP might have been right if he was referring to waffled coins...but it was an off-center that was being discussed about. This is a GREAT forum. I will definitely stick around. 1000 posts is my goal, at least for now |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1699 Posts |
Quote:
He might be referring to waffle errors. Those are error coins that are caught before leaving the mint and then smashed into a "waffle" and sold at the gift shop. Can you confirm that waffles are sold at the Mint gift shop? I've never heard of this. Thanks! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1531 Posts |
You should screenshot this thread and show it to them.
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Pillar of the Community
Korea, Republic Of
1881 Posts |
The OP says that the American off-center cent is a commemorative error coin, and it has different looks than a normal error coin. The OP mentioned that I should realize that those aren't real "errors" one day.
I am truly at a loss of words. Needless to say, I am VERY confused.....the OP sounds very serious and confident.
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
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Needless to say, I am VERY confused.....the OP sounds very serious and confident. Well, you can believe some random guy on the Internet, or you can believe a large group of committed American collectors in this thread who know better. I'm going to be in Philadelphia tomorrow - in two weeks, I'm going to live there - and if you like I can physically stop at the Mint and confirm that no such silly thing exists in the Gift Shop. Or, you could just believe us now, because we already know.... Let's be unequivocal: The US Mint does not produce "commemorative errors." The guy has not a clue what he's talking about. Send him a link to this thread. I'll be happy to engage him here at CCF. |
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Pillar of the Community
Korea, Republic Of
1881 Posts |
I trusted you guys all the way from the beginning, I was confused for a second when the OP spoke so confidently, because he seems like a knowledgeable man in the website.
Not confused at all now. I have to trust you guys - there's no better source of US coin info other than CCF. And I am confident myself that the OP is incorrect, so no problem.
Edited by Matteproof
04/30/2014 05:32 am
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Replies: 36 / Views: 3,778 |
Posted 04/29/2014 11:45 am
