FUN Show Report (Mint Errors)

SullivanNumismatics · January 15, 2020 6:56AM

Here's my brief show report for the FUN Show. We only deal in mint errors, so it's coming primarily from that perspective.
https://sullivannumismatics.com/blog/fun-show-report-january-2020

1630Boston · January 15, 2020 7:14AM

Thanks for the report @SullivanNumismatics
That $25 gold eagle error is interesting.
Boston

ricko · January 15, 2020 7:17AM

Thanks for your report...and the clashed gold eagle picture... So uncommon to see these modern gold errors...Cheers, RickO

airplanenut · January 15, 2020 11:46AM

Interesting read--thanks! Question on the gold error: I can't recall seeing clashed dies listed as an error before (or mentioned at all on the label), and certainly not for coins in a series known for clashing, like 3CNs. Obviously, the a gold eagle is made to be perfect, where something like a 3CN was made in vast quantities and quality was at some level secondary to just pumping out the coins. Is the clash listed as an error simply because on the eagle there just shouldn't be any allowable manufacturing defects, or is clashing generally an "error," but one people don't care about when it's common?

Perhaps a follow-on: clashed dies should produce many similar coins. With the scarcity of a clash like this, is it likely that this is the one coin that got out after many got made and rejected, that there should be others floating around somewhere, or could the die have been caught before many others were produced, but the coins still snuck out? It would seem unlikely to me that the coin would be seen and not rejected along with the die, or that the die could produce any significant number of coins without the recently struck coins being checked for quality.

SullivanNumismatics · January 15, 2020 1:26PM

@airplanenut Technically, a die clash is a variety, since anything that occurs to the die is a "variety" and not an error. To me, all die clashes are "varieties", since they are on the die, and can therefore be put into "attribution" systems by "die."

However, some would certainly disagree with me on that, and die clashes often fall into the "variety" category when they are referenced in attribution guides (Morgan dollar clashed "E"s, etc, Flying eagle 1c clashed with various denominations, etc), but are considered "acceptable" and not a variety or an error when they are on a series of coin that the Mint generally allows die clashes on (Memorial cents, three cent nickels, etc.)

A coin like this gold $25 clashed die is something the West Point Mint certainly would never allow out intentionally--they are very strict when it comes to the quality of their coins, and having die clash marks of this magnitude (or any for that matter) they would never let out intentionally. Because the marks are "beyond what the Mint would allow" and are severe in nature, NGC or PCGS will certify it.