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Since when were die cracks considered mint errors?
jwitten
Posts: 5,079 ✭✭✭✭✭
I've owned several like this... never knew NGC would grade them as error coins. Would PCGS?
1
I've owned several like this... never knew NGC would grade them as error coins. Would PCGS?
Comments
Always.
Most are minor errors, some are major errors.
Pay the error coin fee, sure.
First one J.T. Stanton Found Second one Fred Weinberg and still looking for there brothers...….
Enjoy Tom
I used to be famous now I just collect coins.
Link to My Registry Set.
https://pcgs.com/setregistry/quarters/washington-quarters-specialty-sets/washington-quarters-complete-variety-set-circulation-strikes-1932-1964/publishedset/78469
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Error or variety?
Discuss.
To me mistake at production at the Mint > error >< die crack ....... NO?
Most major error coins are not varieties. Many minor error coins are varieties. Most vaieties are error coins but some varieties are not error coins.
Does that help
Just another way to take advantage of the current craze in minor "errors" or varieties and make some extra money in the process.
LOL. Exactly!
With the coins shown, the die crack is minor enough that many coins might have been truck with that crack. So, they could be viewed as varieties.
Well, they didn't intend the die to crack or for the cracked die to strike coins...
An error is a mechanical (machine) malfunction of some sort. Meaning, the machine itself jumped, bumped, slipped, turned, tilted, vibrated, or one of probably a hundred things that could go wrong during the striking process. Each malfunction that causes an error is unique, and, with a little research and understanding, is recognizable. Some may be very similar, but a striking error is always technically unique to the strike, which makes every error unique.
Some examples of errors are:
Off-centers
Rotated Dies
Struck Throughs
And Double Struck Coins.
The opposite is what makes a die variety. This is when the actual die has some kind of unique characteristic that is repeated exactly, or progressively, among multiple coin strikings. Just about every series has its own unique traceable die varieties. VAMS, Overtons, Cherry Pickers (Fivaz/Stanton), Snow, and Sheldon are just some of the well-documented, published, and recognized die variety series.
Some die variety examples are:
Re-engravings
Over Polishings
Repunched Mint Marks/Dates
And Die Cracks
Exerpted from https://www.pcgs.com/News/mint-error-or-die-variety
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I wont get upset either way, but I came to understand that errors were "one-offs" - each being unique (even if many similar ones existed).
Die varieties, on the other hand, would include flaws or mistakes in the die itself (doubled dies, three legged buffalos, die cracks, etc.).
I think there's overlap.
Here's a fun question then:
Is an "off-center strike" an error but a "misaligned die" a variety?
It's really funny how things have becoming in general
A non coin related thought came to my mind.......
The tattooed part of population used to be rare and exceptional but now since they are becoming the norm majority ..... the t-virgins are the most rare and well sought perhaps
I bet Nobody cares or hunt for errors back in the 1800's
The term 'error' has, in the past, covered both
mechanical errors and die varieties.
Today, we call Error coins those coins with striking mistakes,
or planchet mistakes - and that would include die cracks, imo.
(double strikes, off metals, off centers, clips, partial collars,
broad strikes, clad layer missing, etc. etc.)
Die Varieties are the RPM's, Doubled Dies, etc.
Although a die crack is a variety of the die, it's due to
an error on the die - it cracked, as opposed to a die
that received another impression from the hub ('55 DDO)
for PCGS. A 49+-Year PNG Member...A full numismatist since 1972, retired in 2022
...... a lot of things crack me up
Die cracks are both errors and varieties. It's an error because it's an unintended defect created by the mint. It's a variety because all coins struck by this die will show this characteristic which can be used to identify this specific die. Being an error or variety does not always make a coin more valuable but it can certainly make a coin more interesting.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
Lots of die cracks in pre Civil War gold.
For some reason I thought I had submitted a nice die crack as an error a long time ago and it did not grade as such. Good to know they will do it now. Not sure it's worth the extra grading fees though.
I don't consider a die break on a very carefully made and "special" coin - A PROOF, to be a "minor" error. Hopefully, I'm not in the minority.
OK ... they may be worth ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!!!!!!
Well, we've narrowed the range down to somewhere between $0.25 and $1 million
Suddenly I need one of those.
Collector, occasional seller
Die cracks were expected for early US coins, and the coiner did not remove the dies when cracks appeared. The chief engraver documented this. Some working dies were used again for multiple die marriages after die cracks appeared. When dies shattered and could no longer strike an acceptable coin, dies were removed from service.
Some early die marriages only appear with die cracks. I don't believe all 1795 three leaves half dollars should be called error coins.
Early coins with die cracks are die stages or die states of a die marriage. They were expected and are not errors.
At the point in time when the US Mint removed dies when a die crack appeared as part of Mint procedure, then it could be called an error.
Die cracks can be interesting.... and I will not debate the semantics. ToMAYtoes, ToMAHtoes....Cheers, RickO