The newest edition of Mint Error News Magazine, issue #24, is now available for free viewing and download. The quarterly magazine is published by Mike Byers and is an excellent tool for collectors who want to know the very latest mint error and variety coin news.
The magazine is packed with outstanding coin photos, in addition to mint error information and the error coin price guide compiled by Al Levy of alscoins.com. Levy uses eBay to compile pages upon pages of recent error coin closing prices.
The coin photos, as often described here, are like guides in themselves. They’re superb in identifying coin errors and deepening error and variety coin knowledge.
Issue #24’s cover story discusses the unique and rare Walking Liberty Half Dollar mint error that was double stuck 50% off-center, and on a silver quarter planchet. The photos are amazing.
Read the rest of this entry »
(Dana Point, California) — A previously unrecorded 1943-S Lincoln cent, erroneously struck on a bronze planchet and found in circulation by a teenaged collector over a half century ago, has been acquired by Rare Coin Wholesalers of Dana Point, California.
The discovery coin now is certified as AU-53 by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation.
"The coin was found in 1944 by Kenneth S. Wing Jr. of Long Beach, California who was assembling a set of Lincoln cents at the time," said Steven L. Contursi, President of Rare Coin Wholesalers (www.RCW1.com).
Wing became a prominent Southern California architect who co-designed the Long Beach Arena in the late 1950s. He passed away in 1996.
Read the rest of this entry »
Like clockwork the latest edition of Mint Error News Magazine, issue #23, is now available. The free quarterly magazine is published by Mike Byers and is an absolute excellent resource for collectors who would like to know more or read about the very latest in minted error coins.
On top of the informative value of the magazine, it also contains an excellent mint error coin price guide compiled by Al Levy of alscoins.com. Levy uses eBay as a resource and lists pages upon pages of recent closing prices for various types of error coins.
While the content is first rate and the price guide valuable, what really places these free magazines over the top is the exceptionally high quality coin photos. The photos are like guides in themselves and are outstanding tools in identifying coin errors and building knowledge.
Read the rest of this entry »
The coin carried a look of age and a lure of value. But instead, it was a replica and comparable piece of junk.
The story retold by the News Post Leader relays how a treasure-hunter discovered what he hoped to be an old gold coin in Choppington, an England village in Northumberland.
There was no such luck for him, however. The coin was analyzed by an expert and determined to be a fake. The outside was covered in gold resin to give an old, golden appearance.
It also wasn’t of sufficient weight and, to top it all off, it was marked in traditional replica fashion.
Read the rest of this entry »
Two days ago, on October 24, the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) released 25-cent alpine skiing coins to the public. These coins commemorate the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
Today, the RCM has confirmed reports that some coins made for collectors have a 2008 date on the obverse (heads) side instead of the correct 2007 date.
The error coins were limited to the Alpine Skiing Coin Sport Cards sold only through "Petro-Canada outlets and a small quantity of Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games coin collections."
Read the rest of this entry »
Two-headed coins don’t command but a few dollars for price.
And, instead of finding one in your pocket change and selling it for profit, you’re more likely to pay those few dollars to purchase one in a novelty, prank or magician’s shop.
That’s not to say people don’t find them… One of the most frequently asked questions is, "How much is my two-headed coin worth?"
Most people who ask are hoping they discovered an error coin that’s worth thousands of dollars. That’ll never be the case with modern U.S. coins.
Read the rest of this entry »
Curiosity and enthusiasm gets jolted into overdrive when an always changing coin series comes out. You don’t need to look further than the 50 State Quarters® Program. It helped create a booming-hot collector market that’s still going strong. Better, the new quarters soundly made it as "replacements" to older circulating quarters.
The quarters program started in 1999 and ends in 2008. Will the new Presidential $1 Coin series, scheduled to last through 2016 pick up the slack? Will it continue the coin collecting momentum? And, more importantly, will the dollar coin REALLY get used in daily circulation?
Or will the new coin suffer near extinction and virtual boredom like previous $1 coin runs?
Read the rest of this entry »
A coin planchet is a metal, rounded disk containing the blended alloys that makeup a coin.
When I think of a planchet, I’m reminded of medieval movies where a smith pulls a long piece of metal from a fiery pit and then pounds away on it, forming a sword. Prior to the final strikings, the raw metal is somewhat similar to a coin planchet - it has the proper metallic content and general shape but it’s clearly just a piece of unfinished metal.
In the case of coins, the metal planchet has a rounded shape and raised rim. (Before the rim is raised, the metal disc is usually referred to as a “blank”.) Planchets are struck and pressed at US Mints, creating the final coin image.
If a coin planchet is just a piece of unfinished metal, how can it be worth anything? Certainly there’s inherent value to the metal itself. Generally speaking, however, unless it’s a larger planchet containing a high percentage of platinum, gold or silver, very little value will be due to its content. Instead, the value comes from the fact that the coin planchet was involved in the US Minting process. 
More notably, the planchet was an ERROR that escaped US Mint quality assurance eyes and made it to public circulation. There’s an attraction with many coin collectors for this type of historical error or uniqueness.
Read the rest of this entry »
