Varieties/errors, a hobby in itself...

joeykoins

Hi guy's, I'm a variety/error coin man.Sure I started out with collecting coins in mind first.Then,someone showed me the variety aspect of the hobby.I was instantly hooked! This only deepens one s interest in coins.I can't even imagine a coin collector not caring to seek out the abnormality in a coin.Esp.if more value of a coin are in these hidden gems.Anyway,here is my question to all,what % of variety/error interest are in this crazy business of the coin collecting hobby? Would you say, #1. 25% #2. 50% #3. 75% #4. 90% I'll say,90%. We know it's not 100% Thanks!

jmcu12

I think it depends on the series-

For varieties like vams, Overton, cherry pickers; about 15%?

For true errors maybe less than 10%, but I think that number is rising slowly now.

WaterSport

Whatever the percentage, its is growing....

WS

JRocco

Varieties are what it is all about.

Windycity

Varieties are a blast... an ongoing treasure hunt.

joeykoins

Think of ALL the authors of var./err. books.Many,many!!! This is bigger than we think.Just think how boring the hobby would be without var and err.s?

nwcoast

Remember the old saying?

"variety is the spice of life"

CoinZip

I think its a natural progression...

most of us start out filling wholes in books, then we move toward more specialized collecting.

Sometimes I have to stop and remind myself that there is a whole world out there that collects something other than Bust Halves......

rmpsrpms

<< <i>I think its a natural progression...

most of us start out filling wholes in books, then we move toward more specialized collecting.

Sometimes I have to stop and remind myself that there is a whole world out there that collects something other than Bust Halves...... >>



Like maybe Bust Half varieties

Manorcourtman

I'd say variety/error guys are a very small % of the hobby. But they are nuts about it!

sniocsu

<< <i>I'd say variety/error guys are a very small % of the hobby. But they are nuts about it! >>



So, so true

LanceNewmanOCC

<< <i>But they are nuts about it! >>



well i will share an image from the vamworld forum that is apropos:

pitboss

I got interested in coin collecting about 60 years ago and over the years became bored with the regular coins I had.

About 5 years ago became interested in varieties and it opened up a whole new world to me.

LanceNewmanOCC

.
anyone finding themselves board with this hobby in any fashion should be encouraged to type 3 little 'ol letters into the main page search function "occ"

if there isn't something in one of those few threads to get ya interested again, well, all hope is lost...
.

joeykoins

I'm waiting for Fred Weinberg,to chime in! Com'on Fred,I'm anticipating your reply?

panther

I started with a collection of Washington Quarters. After My set was completed I then started looking for varieties. Now I am hooked!!!

I have the # 3 set from 1932 to 1964. After three years of searching I am only 79% complete.

But the fun is in the search. I am surprised this part of the hobby hasn’t interested more people.

OKbustchaser

<< <i>I think its a natural progression...

most of us start out filling wholes in books, then we move toward more specialized collecting.

Sometimes I have to stop and remind myself that there is a whole world out there that collects something other than Bust Halves...... >>





There is????

joeykoins

<< <i>I started with a collection of Washington Quarters. After My set was completed I then started looking for varieties. Now I am hooked!!!

I have the # 3 set from 1932 to 1964. After three years of searching I am only 79% complete.

But the fun is in the search. I am surprised this part of the hobby hasn’t interested more people. >>

Ain't that the truth? Amazing! What people are missing?

19Lyds

<< <i>I started with a collection of Washington Quarters. After My set was completed I then started looking for varieties. Now I am hooked!!!

I have the # 3 set from 1932 to 1964. After three years of searching I am only 79% complete.

But the fun is in the search. I am surprised this part of the hobby hasn’t interested more people. >>

I am surprised as well since some of the doubled dies in the Washington Series closely rival the 55/55 Lincoln in that your eye's kinda pop out of your head!

Now don't take this the wrong way but, I looked, and you've got a really NICE Set!

As for the OP, I can't even wager a guess but IMO, anybody that seriously collects a specific series, does that series an injustice by NOT collecting its varieties.

joeykoins

I think the " king" of all the varieties/error coins are in the Lincoln series,new and old.No? Anybody agree or disagree?

Raybob15239

Morgan and Peace Dollar varieties (VAM) collecting, I believe, is growing. I think that venues like eBay help foster that growth, but unfortunately, I think that some sellers on eBay try to take advantage of or dupe the uninitiated with exaggerated claims of values of certain VAMs. Some potential collectors are turned off of the hobby as a result.

I started by building a date and MM set of Morgans and Peace Dollars. I completed the Peace Dollar, but hit some stoppers on the Morgans. I accidently happened upon VAMWorld and was intrigued. It did not take long to be completely hooked. What I love about VAM collecting is that I can continue to expand my collection and can do so inexpensively. Plus, the hunt is the best part.

pitboss

<< <i>I think the " king" of all the varieties/error coins are in the Lincoln series,new and old.No? Anybody agree or disagree? >>



I agree and anyone just starting out collecting varieties gravitates to the Lincoln cent to start out.

joeykoins

It also,helps that the Linc.cent has been around forever too! ( 1909-2??? ) It's been carrying on now for more than 104 years.Go Abe,GO! ...and your right Raybob,it is all about the hunt.

FredWeinberg

Difficult to give percentages of
Error or Variety Collectors.

There are lots of serious collectors
of Mint Errors (double strikes, off centers,
off metals, clips, clad layer missing, etc.),
and in each Series of type coins, very
serious collectors of die varieties in those
specific series - you see that here on the
boards - there's almost every type coin
die specialist here to answer most questions.

I can say without a doubt that BOTH areas
of Errors (the general term) have grown
immensely in the past 40 years!

As I've mentioned other times here on CU,
up untill the CPG came out (and not counting
the Van Allan/Mallis VAM Book, and EAC Copper
coins), there wasquite a bit of overlap in
collectors interest - ie; if you collected 'errors' then,
you couldbe interested in both mechanical and die
errors......

joeykoins

Fred,thank you for your expertise input!We appreciate very much so.

panther

<< <i>

<< <i>I started with a collection of Washington Quarters. After My set was completed I then started looking for varieties. Now I am hooked!!!

I have the # 3 set from 1932 to 1964. After three years of searching I am only 79% complete.



Now don't take this the wrong way but, I looked, and you've got a really NICE Set!


Thanks for looking. it has been awhile since someone told me I had a nice set. I thought I was getting to old........

keyman64

I don't do much with errors although I do own a couple.

Mercury Dime Varieties are 100% of my focus these days.
As for the focus of others I would say fewer than 20% focus on varieties.

pitboss

20%. Thats a lot of collectors.

Caleb

Why would anyone want to collect varieties

Save your money, buy GOLD

19Lyds

I think that 25% or less are Variety Collectors while the other 75% will jump on the band wagon just to make a few quick bucks and then go back tot heir series of choice!

By that, I'm referring to some of the more obscure Varieties or Varieties that are NOT in the CPG and required for certain registry sets.

Type2

I dont know but it's geting tuffer for me out there.

unclebob

When I was a teenager, I saw a special on Mel Fisher and ever since that day, I wanted to be a treasure hunter. Even pushing 50, I still want to find a Spanish Galleon!

The hobby is rewarding in many ways.

It allows me to treasure hunt...

It allows me to stretch my collecting budget.

I'm on cloud 9 when I score even a modest coin... and it fuels the obsession to an even greater level when I find a real scarce coin like I did last week.

It increases my knowledge of the hobby.

I'm contemplating a Copper, Nickel, Silver type registry set of nothing but varieties.

oldsubguru

I do believe that the error / variety part of this hobby is growing and one of the many reasons is that there is a better understanding of what is going on. In the past, most error and variety coins were met with a touch of disbelief and or misunderstanding by the average coin collector; they just did not know how those errors were created. What fun is there in collecting something that you have no idea of how it happened or one that you may have mis-identified?

Presently, I am the web master of Traildies.com, Maddieclashes.com and error-ref.com and I firmly believe that these sites have had a positive impact on error and variety coin collecting. I would not have wasted my time and money if I felt otherwise. And I do hope that people who have visited these sites do come away with a better understanding of how, why and where these errors and varieties are created. Our goal is to help the average collector understand just what is going on.

What makes this part of the hobby so exciting is the hunt for those errors and varieties and the elation of being the first to find a particular variety die. I know this for a fact having found my share of discovery pieces. That is what this part of the hobby is about and it is addicting.

So, if you do have any questions about errors and varieties, go to one of our sites and if you cannot find the answer there, contact us. We are always available to help the collector and we are always open to suggestions on how to improve these sites.

BJ Neff

crypto79

<< <i>

<< <i>I started with a collection of Washington Quarters. After My set was completed I then started looking for varieties. Now I am hooked!!!

I have the # 3 set from 1932 to 1964. After three years of searching I am only 79% complete.

But the fun is in the search. I am surprised this part of the hobby hasn’t interested more people. >>



I looked, and you've got a really NICE Set >>



X2 what a great set of Washingtons

morgansforever

I do errors here and there. I especially like BS and DS coinage. My first variety was a PCGS MS64, 7 over 8TF Strong Morgan, then I discovered VAMs in my own collection, one being a nice MS63 1878 7TF VAM-145. Now I have my sites on a 1880/79CC Rev of 78 VAM-4, love that overdate. Plus it's so much fun to shoot the variety, error or VAM. I even hooked a casual collector at a local coin club meeting, now he owns a 7 over 8 Morgan. Gotta keep it rollin

Type2

Very nice what i like is you can still find them out there, It's alot more fun to find it raw and have the Vam or Error holdered your salfe insted of pay the big $$$ to some one to do it for you, The pay off can be very good some times as well.

howards

I started by collecting from change (back when you could still find many interesting and obsolete coins in change). As an adult with disposable income, started collecting Morgan dollars. Got interested in VAMs way before they were popular (took me a long time to find a copy of the VAM book - they were not generally available).

Then I stumbled across shield nickel varieties. I was blown away. Why collect those VAMs that I had to squint at? :-) For all those who think Lincoln cents are the kings of varieties, check out shield nickels. There are many types of varieties. The degree of variety (e.g., strength of doubling on a DDO) is astounding for some varieties. There's one astounding '55 DDO Lincoln - many astounding shield nickel DDOs. There are only 18 years to pick from, so a date set is not hard (except for the 1880), but no one will ever complete a shield nickel variety set.

BTW, I think error collecting and variety collecting are entirely different disciplines, with very different specialized knowledge applicable to each area. I'm quite strong in variety collecting, but I don't know much about errors.

georgiacop50

Variety collecting is good fun and can be quite profitable.

But it can get ridiculously just plain "stupid". For example, check out the PCGS Franklin Varieties set now: It has been totally polluted with all the FS 402 crap, which are simple die clashes. seehere

Stupid I tell ya. But even more stupid are any collectors paying big money for them!