Exactly what Bryan said. If you actually dig through a large number of coins you will see this on a regular basis. Saying it has no value IS correct...because that's the truth. Whether it is sold by the unknowing to the unknowing makes no difference at all, at whatever price. I have never kept stuff like this or I would have roll after roll right now. I have better things to do, and when I see something over and over and over again, I have the common sense to assume it's probably common and of no value. I keep what has value and toss back the rest, and these have always been included in the toss-back stuff.
This is just another case of something that someone didn't understand and found a buyer that didn't understand either. A case of a dealer (and most know little to nothing about errors, especially minor ones) finding something a little odd and sticking it into a flip to sell it to the first sucker that comes along...and it shows up here as a statement that people who study this stuff every day of their life might be wrong because this dealer had some for sale. Yeah...I see this stuff for sale at shows all the time, and it usually prompts me to move on to another dealer's table because this one doesn't take the time or energy to educate themselves in their own business. They are uneducated at what they are selling, and that's someone I don't need to be doing business with.
I am actually becoming a bit peeved at the attitude that resonates here regularly. You find something after looking through a few coins, think you might have hit the jackpot, and don't want to listen to people who have studied it for years when they tell you the stuff you have found is normal, wouldn't bring a premium value to anyone who knows squat about the subject, and that's all there is to it. You want to create value out of nothing and not bother listening to people who spend thousands of hours and dollars per year traveling the country to attend shows, educating clubs, writing books, talking with book authors personally, and going through tens of thousands of coins looking for what's valuable. You would rather trust someone you have no clue who they are, what they do, and list anything they have in their pocket on
ebay with no sound credentials and no knowledge of what they do or don't have. Just because it sells on
ebay doesn't make it valuable. I went through that a couple of weeks ago, and it's falling on deaf ears.
Do what you want, have fun at it....let's not bother with ethics, education, value, true rarity, or anything else. Let's just take all the damaged crap and microscopic die cracks and blindly assume they are something they aren't without cracking a single book; without listening to the education of others who bothered to learn. Believe what you want, but don't expect to keep coming here having people who are busy educating those who listen waste their time arguing with you about the value of a valueless coin. I'm finished wasting my time. I cannot help here any more with current attitudes. I'm not always right about everything, so when I'm not right about something posted here, I don't post. If I don't know for sure, I don't give answers like I do know. End of story.
This has gone beyond the point of people learning through sharing. It has become a place for people who don't want to learn post everything they think could possibly be their windfall. It has become a place where the exact same questions are answered day in and day out in an educated manner, just to have the same question come back again the next day as if that question had never been asked. Two or three threads a day started on the same subject...often even the same date, mint, and denomination that have the same common problem. This place is FULL of threads of the same questions, same answers...and the same argumentative attitudes that show a lack of willingness to learn and be educated.
Get this through if nothing else...errors that are valuable - die varieties that are valuable - are valuable BECAUSE they are very difficult to find, don't show up in every box of coins, and have some sort of true rarity. ALL of them have tell-tale signs that they are real, and it's not rocket science to learn those signs. This subject is actually VERY simple if you take the time to learn the minting process, learn the signs of true die varieties and errors, and ask questions of those who already know the subject - with the willingness to LISTEN to them and LEARN. If you don't want to learn the subject, find something else to collect, or find a different hobby that is simple and easy to figure out on your own...because you probably won't listen to experience there either.
Peace out...I'm finished.
Posted 08/30/2007 09:08 am
