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 Replies: 11 / Views: 2,372 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1903 Posts |
In other areas of collecting such as stamps, baseball cards and even paper currency the aspect of how well the subject is centered plays a large roll in the ultimate value of the object, especially in top grades. One thing I never read here is about how well centered effects the value of a coin. I totally understand coins being WAY off center being desireable due to scarcity. I have just seen some really great coins that were distractingly off center that no one made comment on. All else being equal I would easily put my money on a well centered coin over a slightly off center coin that was slightly better condition. What am I missing here?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3345 Posts |
I think that coins being a little of center like 1-5% is extremely common and so no one values them as much. You can search through rolls and find them.
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Valued Member
United States
159 Posts |
well it depends on the coin. For coins that were hand stamped it is extremely rare to find a coin that is perfectly centered, so a little bit off center, or even way off center is fairly normal. However for coins that are machine stamped it really depends on the technology that was used to stamp it, but typically if the coin is machine stamed and off center it could affect the value.
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Moderator
 United States
14463 Posts |
I believe if part of the design is missing that can add value to some collectors. Coins with partial/whole missing dates are less valuable.
Edited by Fuzzy317
08/24/2011 12:32 am
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
Off-center coins are errors that involve a collar failure and are collectible in all degrees of off-centeredness. Misaligned dies(MAD) within tolerance, on the other hand, can distract from the eye appeal of a coin IMO.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
584 Posts |
Can you post pics of coins your referring to, or a link. I'd love to see if its something I've been wondering as well. Thanks
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Using the famous Red Book, 2012 edition, pages 404 to 407, it is noted that a coin slightly off center is called a Broadstrike. Also, lists coins struck 10% to 60% off more valuable. For me Roosevelt dimes are motorious for being a little off and many have enlarged rims. I suspect the Mint does that purposely due to someone there not likeing them.  At coin shows there are more and more dealers selling such off centered coins. One dealer at a coin show I went to had a table full of error coins. There are more and more error coin collectors popping up all the time lately. Remember too that any off centered coin is worth the most if the date is not missing. Some sell coins with nothing on them and I suspect that some of those are just blanks from a Washer company. |
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Moderator
Australia
16810 Posts |
Creating an "off-centre" coin is harder to do than it is for a stamp, or for that matter a banknote, due to the manufacturing process. Stamps and banknotes are printed in a sheet and then cut/perforated into individual items, whereas with coins the process of making them is supposed to centre a coin each time within the collar die. Coins that are "slightly off-centre" are therefore relatively scarcer, and the threshold between "annoyingly off-centre" (zero or negative premium) and "valuable error coin" (positive premium) is relatively small.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
I think some of you are missing the point of his question. He was wanting to know if a well centered coin is worth more than a MAD coin, because well centered pieces are more valuable in other collectible fields.
The answer, as far as I can tell is no.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Quote:
All else being equal I would easily put my money on a well centered coin over a slightly off center coin that was slightly better condition. What am I missing here?
Quote:
I think some of you are missing the point of his question. He was wanting to know if a well centered coin is worth more than a MAD coin, because well centered pieces are more valuable in other collectible fields. Sort of a confusing original question I guess. I think your not missing anything. So much depends on what you may mean by better condition. A well centered coin of MS-63 could sell for $25 and the same coin in MS-65 but slightly off centered could still sell for more than double that. In many instances a slight jump in grade makes a wopping jump in value regardless of such minor problems. As already noted a well centered coin is rather the norm so no big thing for them. However, when you state a higher condition, so much depends on the coin then. In some instances a coin could jump thousands of dollars with one grade higher regardless of a slight offset. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1903 Posts |
Thanks for all the replies and I admit my question was poorly worded, but in the end you all came through and gave me the answer I was looking for. Thanks as always  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2270 Posts |
Centering is important to me. With older coins being well centered is typical but with clads and most moderns well centered coins can be quite elusive.
In a sense centering does affect grade inasmuch as poorly centered coins are usually not extremely well struck and strike is factored in.
I think as time goes by collectors will pay more attention to this factor especially with clads.
Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
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Replies: 11 / Views: 2,372 |
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Posted 08/23/2011 11:09 pm
