What is it about key dates and being engraved?

goldrealmoney79 · February 6, 2021 3:01PM

I feel like I see more key dates that are engraved than common dates, is there a logical reason for this?
Also I get so enfuriated when I see a key date that is engraved, the damage haunts me. On the bright side it can be more affordable to a collector.

What brought this up today? Ive been looking for an 89CC for the collection and came across this one. hopefully the carver was born in 1886.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1889cc-Morgan-Silver-Dollar-Cull-With-Birthday-Graffiti-Key-Date/143939665523?hash=item218378fe73:g:0CMAAOSwMa9gGvVF

End of rant

Mr_Spud · February 6, 2021 3:23PM

Maybe being a key date kept it out of the melting pot? Maybe common dates with graffiti got melted long ago?

jmlanzaf · February 6, 2021 3:27PM

Confirmation bias. You just don't bother to note it on a common date.

NSP · February 6, 2021 4:39PM

As Mr_Spud said, many of the common date graffitied coins found their way to the melting pot years ago. There’s a strong incentive to save a rare date with graffiti, but not common dates with graffiti, so graffitied rare dates seem to be over-represented. Most likely all dates had an equal chance of being graffitied.

This is similar to what was discovered with damage patterns on bombers in WWII. The military noticed that damage on returning planes seemed to be clustered in certain areas, while damage in other areas was never observed. Based on this, they thought that they would be best served to increase the armor protection on the areas where the most damage was seen. However, a statistician noted that the analysis was only based on surviving planes, and planes with damage outside of the commonly observed areas never actually made it home because the damage was too critical to survive. Therefore, it was ultimately decided to increase the armor where no damage was observed.

(Image from Wikipedia)

braddick · February 6, 2021 4:46PM

Most for that date/mm under $300. are totally trashed. That one isn't as bad as others.

ChrisH821 · February 6, 2021 6:02PM

Who would bother to re-engrave a common coin unless for practice?
Edit- just realized we are talking about engraving, not re-engraving.

CaptHenway · February 6, 2021 6:17PM

@Mr_Spud said:
Maybe being a key date kept it out of the melting pot? Maybe common dates with graffiti got melted long ago?

Exactly

bfjohnson · February 7, 2021 2:21AM

I think I know what day it was engraved 🙄

ricko · February 7, 2021 6:01AM

Some engraved coins (key or not) are attractive... Others not so much. A key date (such as the OP) is worth keeping though....Cheers, RickO

PerryHall · February 7, 2021 6:39AM

Let's not forget that when these coins were engraved they were nothing more than pocket change worth only face value rather than rare and valuable "key dates".

Catbert · February 7, 2021 7:03AM

Life is short. Being infuriated over an ebay advertisement is first world problem angst.

Hydrant · February 7, 2021 7:22AM

What jmlanzaf said.

Hydrant · February 7, 2021 7:24AM

@NSP said:
As Mr_Spud said, many of the common date graffitied coins found their way to the melting pot years ago. There’s a strong incentive to save a rare date with graffiti, but not common dates with graffiti, so graffitied rare dates seem to be over-represented. Most likely all dates had an equal chance of being graffitied.

This is similar to what was discovered with damage patterns on bombers in WWII. The military noticed that damage on returning planes seemed to be clustered in certain areas, while damage in other areas was never observed. Based on this, they thought that they would be best served to increase the armor protection on the areas where the most damage was seen. However, a statistician noted that the analysis was only based on surviving planes, and planes with damage outside of the commonly observed areas never actually made it home because the damage was too critical to survive. Therefore, it was ultimately decided to increase the armor where no damage was observed.

(Image from Wikipedia)

Very,VERY, interesting.

goldrealmoney79 · February 7, 2021 1:57PM

@NSP @Mr_Spud
Ahh So survivorship bias. very interesting read, thanks for the article about the WW2 airplanes. Things make more sense now.

What is it about key dates and being engraved?

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