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 Replies: 56 / Views: 13,301 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1027 Posts |
I would like everyone to check their 2009 silver proof quarters, specifically the Northern Mariana Islands quarter obverse for a significant die error. There is what appears at first to be a crescent line across the top of the field. It is actually a raised section of the field caused by a depressed section on the obverse die. I believe that the die was either dropped or it mis-fired in the press and hit something like the reeding collar and was damaged.    I have been trying to find another coin like mine for over a year and no one has seen another one yet. This is a very unique error. There is major damage to the die and it is only because it is hard to see this error with the naked eye that it found its way out of the mint. Use a magnfying glass when looking at your sets. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2734 Posts |
I just checked ten of these Sets with a 16x loupe.
None of them have this error... (darn it!)
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1027 Posts |
While it is possible that the coin I have is the only one that made it out of the mint, I still have trouble believing that I am the one that received it. Certainly, when the die damage occurred, all steps were taken to find and destroy all coins that had been struck but the fact that the coins look perfect in every way except for the crescent and the reeding flaw and the fact that both are difficult to spot with an unaided eye is what allowed my coin to slip unnoticed. The reeding damage is invisible once the coin is in the lens and the plastic of the lens causes so many reflections that seeing the error in the lens requires magnification. I have decided to send the coin to PCGS for grading and slabbing and expect it to get a PR68 or possibly PR69. The thing that really strikes me about this error is that I don't know what to call it. It is something new, not a doubled die, not a cracked or scratched die, not any kind of struck through or filled die. There doesn't seem to be a category for major die damage (the crescent covers a full 1/4 of the coin's circumference) or for a die that struck the press and was still used to mint coins. The coin was clearly struck the standard two times for a proof coin or it would not look so perfect otherwise. It is also clear the damage occurred in use or while the die was being inserted into the press. A die with this defect would never have passed a pre-press inspection. What should we call this error? Does "damaged die" tell enough or does it need something more descriptive like "dropped die" or "miss-fired die" or the totally accurate "why was this die even used"? A little voice keeps telling me that with an error this significant, if I have the only example, it might be worth a lot more than the $4.30 in silver it contains or even the $4.99 I paid for it. I noticed that the 2009 silver proof quarter sets just sold out on the mint web site, so if there is another one out there it is already in someone's hands. It might be worth a trip to the local dealer if they have a good selection of modern sets for sale. I think that when you add the full silver proof sets and the silver quarter sets that over one million total such quarters were minted and sold. So is mine really one in a million or are there more out there?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
What would it be caled? A collar clash. The only thing that bothers me about it is I would expect to see some evidence of the tops of the reeds on the curved cresent of the clash. Maybe they show in hand and not in the pictures?
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Valued Member
United States
476 Posts |
Just another rookie trying to stir up excitement. I KID, REALLY!...clearly your post count isn't reflective of your knowledge/experience in collecting. I appreciate your well thought out presentation...cool find. And  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1027 Posts |
The clash did not occur with this coin in the press. The reeding collar does not seem to have been damaged by the clash, at least not in the ares of the reeds themselves. The reeds in the area of the crescent are incomplete, in the middle of the edge the reeds are not full height. This is due to the fact that there was not enough metal to fill the reeds because of the increased volume of the field area. The radius of the crescent is almost the same as the radius of a golden dollar, certainly greater than anything on the quarter itself, which is what leads me to think that the obverse die struck some part of the reeding collar. The reverse die shows no damage at all, which could mean that the damage occurred as the die was being installed, perhaps it was dropped into the reeding collar. This would also explain why the damage to the obverse die was not much greater and why at least some coins were struck to see if damage had in fact occurred from the drop. All guesses, but educated ones.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1027 Posts |
Here is a picture of the reeding in the area of the raised field. The outer edges of the reeding are normal and crisp, with the centers being depressed and incomplete. The effect is greatest at the center of the anomally and the reeds are normal just past the obverse field crescent. The incompleteness of the reeding is slightly offset toward the obverse as is expected if it is caused by the lack of metal due to the die damage.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1027 Posts |
I think that the reason that there is no evidence that the die struck the reeds in the reeding collar is simply that it did not do so. It must have struck some portion of the reeding collar above the reeds themselves or some other part of the press mechanism. It appears to have struck a flat piece of metal with a round hole in it and all but about 2mm of the die hit the hole and was not damaged. The hole has a radius about the same as that of a golden dollar (but I don't think it has anything to do with that coin). I bet if we could have a look at a proof quarter press we could figure out exactly what happened. I am really leaning toward the dropped die idea because of the lack of reverse die damage and the fact that the depression in the obverse die is only a fraction of a mm. If the die had clashed during coining, the force of the press should have produced more die damage and the reverse die should have experienced some damage as well. Also, the double strike of proof coin minting might have produced some sort of double clash marks.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2734 Posts |
It's a form of die damage I haven't seen before. Fascinating.
Error coin writer and researcher.
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Rest in Peace
 United States
1380 Posts |
Checked my 4 sets, no joy here.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1359 Posts |
Looks similar to some Lincolns I found but not SO DRAMATIC..AWESOME COIN. Damage or not, still or keeper.
I never seen the line go all the way across
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2734 Posts |
If you would like me to write it up for Coin World, contact me at mdia1@aol.com. -- Mike Diamond (columnist, Collector's Clearinghouse) Error coin writer and researcher.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3692 Posts |
Looks like the error happened on the planchet/blank since "United States" isn't struck out by that line. Perhaps it was fed through the machine but the die didn't stamp all the way down so they did it twice?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1027 Posts |
Here is a better cross section showing why the top of the lettering doesn't show any damage. There really isn't any way that a planchet flaw could result in a section of the field being raised above the rest of the field, especially after being struck twice by a proof press. Any bump on the planchet (which hads already been polished) would be flattened during coining. The best that a planchet flaw would do is leave a visible line, not a large raised section. Everything about the coin says that it is well struck by a die that had been damaged before the planchet entered the press. I have also included a couple of comparison images of this coin vs. my non-error silver proof Northern Mariana Islands Quarter (I bought two sets, one by subscription and one in the first hour of sales, so both came from pre-release runs). You can see from these images that the lettering has been affected by the "dent" into the field of the die. Only the sides of the letters are changed because the damage isn't deep enough to reach the top of the letters. Especially note the top of the T and the top of the F, the apparent thickness of the lettering is reduced due to the raised field on the error coin.  STA from error coin  STA from normal coin  OF from error coin  OF from normal coin  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1406 Posts |
I'd send it to Mike Diamond! A write up in Coin World can't hurt! Edited by captainkurt
10/29/2010 2:30 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1027 Posts |
Before I start sending it around to be looked at and written about, I figured I had better get it slabbed to protect it so it is on its way to PCGS to get graded and slabbed. Not cheap to get one error coin processed but probably worth it to protect the coin. As soon as PCGS has the info on line I will post a link or just C&P the info here. I decided that I had enough pictures and scans of the raw coin and it was time to get the dang thing authenticated. As an ANA member, I can also use NGC but since I knew that the coin was not grade 70 (probably not a 69 either, more like a 68) at either service I chose PCGS for the prestige, and the fact that PCGS charges more for their mint error service at least implies that they will spend more time on the coin than NGC would. A major die clash on a modern silver proof coin is not an ordinary occurrence. Hopefully the people there will be able to figure out that a damaged die is the only viable explanation for the coin and grade it as a die clash of some sort. I really believe that the press operator dropped the obverse die. That is just about the only thing that can explain the widespread but still minor damage to only the obverse die. I really thought when I discovered the coin that others would show up but it has been almost 15 months since I first started trying to find others without anyone even coming up with another error on a 2009 silver proof quarter of any kind. Now that sales have ceased there are just shy of one million 2009 silver proof quarters of each of the six varieties out there, about 700,000 from full sets and 300,000 from quarter sets. Mine came from a full set, shipped by PBGS on July 24, 2009 and received by me on July 31. In the meantime, I would be happy to supply anyone interested with high resolution images of the coin for whatever purpose they desire, I scan all of my coins at 7200 DPI for archival purposes and naturally this coin has had many scans and photos taken as I tried to understand its origins. |
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Replies: 56 / Views: 13,301 |
Posted 10/28/2010 08:56 am
