Posted 09/22/2008 10:45 am
Biokemist has it right. Die chips and die cracks are very common on all coinage. Generally the numismatists will teach collectors to use them as markers to specific dies, but otherwise they are just normal. No error, no value, nothing to get excited about.
The ONLY exception to this is the recent craze over spending exhorbinant amounts of money on proof coins with die chips and die cracks. Alas that fad will too pass some day. Fact of the matter is that proof coinage used to be struck with care and die life was very short to ensure high quality product. Of late quality has become far less a concern than quantity, so many more dies are cracking because of the increased number of coins struck per proof die. Eventually the market will catch on and treat these as common occurrences as well.
The ONLY exception to this is the recent craze over spending exhorbinant amounts of money on proof coins with die chips and die cracks. Alas that fad will too pass some day. Fact of the matter is that proof coinage used to be struck with care and die life was very short to ensure high quality product. Of late quality has become far less a concern than quantity, so many more dies are cracking because of the increased number of coins struck per proof die. Eventually the market will catch on and treat these as common occurrences as well.
