1986 Lincoln Memorial Cent Penny

thanks for all the info folks

hope I will one day find a proper error coin but I aint gonna buy one. I will just keep checking my changes and lookin in rolls

Wow, great photo/example of "VLDS" --I learned a new term.

What makes them valuable? Okay, fair enough...

Errors (or any coin for that matter) are valuable when the simple rule of economics comes into play. Lower supply and higher demand make them valuable. When common pocket change comes around and has a very tiny market, it has little or no value. When a major error comes around that's quite scarce or rare and has a huge market, it's very valuable.

With the obvious aside, the question begs, "What's considered scarce or rare?" Well, pretty much most of the stuff you'd have a heck of a time trying to find in change, because most of it is oddly sized or shaped, and most is caught by the sorting bins or the wrapping machines. Mushroom strikes, saddle strikes, fold-overs, bonded or mated pairs, some broadstrikes...those are all rare in change and would command very hefty premiums.

What are some things that would command a nice premium that could be found in change? Well, wrong metal coins, split layer coins, even off-center strikes can bring nice premiums depending on what they are. For that matter, some blank planchets, especially on larger denominations can bring nice premiums.

Thing is, if you found it in change and haven't looked through another 100,000 coins to see if you find any more of them, then that's what you need to do to find out whether it's common. If you've looked through another 100,000 coins and haven't found another one, you might have something worth some merit. If you look through a cupful of change, find something 'odd' and bring it here touting 'error', you're liable to get this response:

What you have is a normal part of the minting process, and while the coin doesn't look perfect as a model coin in your opinion, in the eyes of the mint it still passed the muster of being what they intended to make, so it's not really an error.

Figman asks; "Die wear is considered a natural occurrence and nor an error"
By whom?

The U.S. Mint for one and any of the resident knowledgeable one's on this forum.

Larger coins have a die life of a couple hundred thousand strikes. The Colorado State Quarter die I have was retired after ~145,000 strikes. The smaller coins can have a die life in the mid hundreds of thousands. Lower striking pressure is required for smaller coins so the dies tend to last longer.

Figman asks; "Die wear is considered a natural occurrence and nor an error"
By whom?

The U.S. Mint for one and any of the resident knowledgeable one's on this forum.


Yes, I do question claims made by them and so should you. I'm not being personal by asking who they are, just what they say.

A Rose By Any Other Name

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

I'll just add that I appreciate having experts here who tirelessly educate me on what are collectible errors/varieties, and what are not. Years ago as a younger collector, my only reference was a spurious book which exaggerated the importance of every.single.mark on coins--and with totally fictitious market values. All this misinformation got my hopes up, and I later felt like a fool when I discovered the truth. The result was I stopped my error/variety collecting entirely for 20 years because I thought it was complete scam.

So I applaud those knowledgeable collectors who take the time to help collectors through these misunderstandings because we'll then focus on coins worthy of collecting. They do a great service to our hobby.

Lincoln Cent MINTAGE 1959 - Present is a astronomical number. It's so high I don't want to spend the time adding it up. If you are finding "errors" of any kind examining 100k, then logic explains the obvious. I think the chances of hitting the lottery are 1 in 15,890,700

Collect what makes you feel good, but keep the obvious in mind.