James Monroe Presidential dollar error?

chrisadkins · July 17, 2008 11:16AM

About 3 weeks ago I purchased two James Monroe presidential dollar rolls from a coin shop here in Michigan and I found a very unusual find in one of the rolls. The coin I found is almost completely black and I also found another coin in the same roll that was darkened, but not as dark as the other one. I'm not sure if this coin was stamped on another type of metal or what, but it is sure a pretty neat coin and hopefully a valuable one. I went back the next day to the same shop and bought some more rolls and found nothing, so I'm hoping this is a pretty rare coin whatever it turns out to be. Has anyone found anything similar or have any idea what could have caused this coin to be almost completely black instead of the gold color it is suppose to be? I'm not sure if I should send it to a grading service or what. I plan on taking it to a coin show or another coin shop to get some opinions, but before I start floating it around I want to make sure I'm not sitting on a goldmine. If anyone knows what this might be please post.

SilverEagles92 · July 17, 2008 11:17AM

to the forums!

It sounds to me like you might have a sintered planchet?

PipestonePete · July 17, 2008 11:18AM

Would you happen to have a photo of this coin?

chrisadkins · July 17, 2008 11:29AM

Pipestonepete, I don't have access to a scanner right now, but I will try to get a picture up tomorrow. Also thanks to the other guy who suggested that this might be a sintered planchet, I will try and read up on what a sintered planchet is suppose to look like and see if these coins resemble this. I'm glad I found this message board and I can't believe how quick you can get an answer to your question. Thanks guys for your input.

FullStrike · July 17, 2008 12:31PM

I found a purple one last week.

If offered a reasonable bid, I'll probably be able to find any color of the rainbow for you.

coindeuce · July 17, 2008 12:55PM

I have a customer who found a Monroe Philly in a roll with nothing but edge lettering. Completely blank on obverse/reverse. Obviously it's on the way to PCGS.

direwolf1972 · July 17, 2008 1:04PM

19Lyds · July 17, 2008 3:02PM

What you have found are "sintered" planchets. This is where the planchets get hung up in the annealing ovens and get coated with copper dust which gets baked into the planchet surface. On the presidential dollars it ranges from light brown to nearly black. On nickels it can make them appear lavendar in color while IKEs turn dark brown to black with some fairly vibrant blues.

I've seen this on Washington and Adams Dollars. I've also seen this on Peace Medal Nickels as well as Eisenhower Dollars.

19Lyds · July 17, 2008 3:04PM

BTW, PCGS will grade it as an error as noted in the above picture.

CoinAuctionsHelp · July 17, 2008 3:19PM

Nice find, have PCGS grade them.

chrisadkins · July 18, 2008 11:10AM

19LYDS, thanks so much for the pictures and those pictures have confirmed my find and indeed I have found a couple of sintered planchets. My darkest Monroe almost looks identical to the Washington sintered coin picture that you posted. I don'tt think this will bring the big bucks that I was hoping, but they still look like they could be worth a prettty penny if I get them graded. Thanks again everyone and I'm glad I found this message board which looks to be a 24/7/365 expert response board where you can get a response within minutes on any question you have. I've been reading these boards for an hour or so and learning alot about other things.

charley · July 18, 2008 11:17AM

Welcome. You may want to activate your pm function(or not). Respectfully, John Curlis

DorkGirl · July 19, 2008 12:18AM

Gandyjai · July 19, 2008 12:31AM

Check your Monroes for this die chips error as well. Nice round bumps appear on the end nose (Witch's Nose),
the chin (Chin Stubble), (3) in a line below the ear (Dripping Ear Wax), and (3) on the chest (Ketchup Stains).
A few have been found down in Florida and all show these same features.

Brian

I Love

Error & Variety Ikes!

19Lyds · July 19, 2008 12:41AM

<< <i>19LYDS, thanks so much for the pictures and those pictures have confirmed my find and indeed I have found a couple of sintered planchets. My darkest Monroe almost looks identical to the Washington sintered coin picture that you posted. I don'tt think this will bring the big bucks that I was hoping, but they still look like they could be worth a prettty penny if I get them graded. Thanks again everyone and I'm glad I found this message board which looks to be a 24/7/365 expert response board where you can get a response within minutes on any question you have. I've been reading these boards for an hour or so and learning alot about other things. >>

You are quite welcome and you may be surprised at the folks out there that will pay a premium for a sintered planchet presidential dollar. I would for a good dark one.

The Washington pictured above sold for $190+ raw while others at the time were going for nearly $300. I wish now that I had not sold it since I have not come across any more and that one was very nice.

ricko · July 19, 2008 2:40AM

Welcome to the forum... good catch... Cheers, RickO

packers88 · July 20, 2008 5:05AM

You definitely have a sintered coin and someone actually submitted a sintered monroe to coinworld about 3 months thinking he had found the monroe struck on a quarter planchet. I don't know how one could be so naive and not just take a quarter and place it on top of the monroe dollar to realize it wasn't the monroe struck on quarter error, but I guess he thought he had a big winner there. I have a few that I plan on sending off to pcgs for ngc soon because in order to realize the true value of these rare finds you almost have to have them in a holder from one of the top grading services and labeled as a sintered coin or I guess the official term is an improperly annealed planchet. I'm also from Michigan and I found mine in some bank rolls. I went back to the bank I found them at two days later and the teller said a guy had just came in and bought the last 9 rolls. Gee I wonder why, I asked myself and then I kicked myself in the a... for not going back a day earlier. Oh well, I have a few for my personal collection.

packers88 · July 20, 2008 5:11AM

also those are excellent pictures that LLyd19 put up, I tried taking some pictures to sell one on ebay a few months ago and I could never get a good reflection of what the coin really looked like in the picture. I tried a scanner also and I still could never get a nice picture, but the pictures LLyd19 has up are like what you would really see if you found a sintered presidential dollar.

James Monroe Presidential dollar error?

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