The first Dr. Sally Ride Quarter has been discovered struck on a Jefferson Nickel planchet. It has been certified and graded by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) as NGC MS-67 and is being auctioned by GreatCollections on April 30th.
Issued in 2022, the Dr. Sally Ride quarter was released as part of the inaugural year of the American Women Quarters Program by the U.S. Mint. For this particular error coin, a planchet for a Jefferson Nickel found its way into the presses being used to strike quarters at the Philadelphia Mint.
In recent years, the U.S. Mint has significantly improved the production process, reducing the number of errors that inadvertently leave the Mint and are later discovered in circulation. For the Dr. Sally Ride Quarter, issued in 2022, this is the first to have been discovered struck on an incorrect planchet.
Noted error coin authority Jon Sullivan said, "It is the only example known for the Dr. Sally Ride quarter, and one of only a few of the whole American Women Quarter series. Recently-produced errors like this are in demand, as they are much more scarce than most similar errors from 20-30 years ago."
The error coin is being offered in an auction by GreatCollections, with bidding to end on Sunday, April 30th. At the time of writing, the current bid was $6,000.
Dr. Sally Ride, a noted physicist, astronaut, educator and first American woman in space, was celebrated in 2022 by the U.S. Mint alongside Maya Angelou, Wilma Mankiller, Nina Otero-Warren and Anna May Wong.
The error will be on view at the Central States 84th Anniversary Convention (CSNS) in Schaumburg, Illinois from April 26th to 29th and at the GreatCollections Irvine office by appointment. To view the auction, visit www.greatcollections.com.
About GreatCollections
GreatCollections, the official auction house of the American Numismatic Association, specializes in auctioning certified coins and banknotes, handling transactions from start to finish. Since its founding in 2010, GreatCollections has successfully auctioned over 1 million certified coins, making it one of the leading certified coin companies in the United States with annual sales in 2022 exceeding $270 million. Ian Russell, owner/president of GreatCollections, is a member of the prestigious Professional Numismatists Guild and member of the National Auctioneers Association. For more information about GreatCollections, visit www.greatcollections.com or call 800-442-6467.
Best marketing gimmick ever. No way a blank accidentally made it to the quarters section. This was deliberate to create a frenzy and hope others buy more hoping to find the unicorn. For $6,000 (current bid) it got the mint free advertising. And I would tend to think that the auctioneer is in on it. After all, he also got a free ad. But considering he is on the board, and closely associated with the mint, it totally sounds like a scheme to pad pockets as I’m sure he’ll collect a nice premium on the sale. And again in 2… Read more »
D & C,
They should put it on the next NASA or SpaceX rocket to space & watch the value rise exponentially when it touches down & they put that special NGC “Space-Flown” label on the coin slab. The sky’s the limit on this coin auction!
NumisdudeTX
Or on virgin galactic and it’ll be the last set ever to hit upper atmosphere on Virgin
Seth,
It seems to me these coin hawkers on tv bloviate more about a given label than the coin inside the plastic. I think it’s nuts, but if it had “Space-Flown” on it?
BTW. I hope you are safe from all the terrible storms that have been going thru Texas. I have some friends near Houston that have had some issues these last few years.
Hey Craig,
Safe here weather wise as of today, thanks.
The “special labels” on graded/slabed coins has gone from sublime to ridiculous I agree with you for sure. NGC is the worst offender in that silly labels game. But, they all do it.
Happy collecting/investing Craig!
NumisdudeTX
Dazed and Coinfused, you say: “Best marketing gimmick ever. No way a blank accidentally made it to the quarters section. ”
By “accidentally” you mean mistake, right? LOL You are correct, mistakes, never happen inside the US Mint? Haha
Aw man, I wanted one of those!
100% sure that coin was never made by US mint
Ok bc and bce. Kinda confusing. When did the calendars adjust? Was it when he was born in a Manger, or was it when he was 33 and his body disappeared, or did they start after he started performing miracles. Who decided to date calenders? I bet that’s why the Mayan doomsday calendar is wrong. Basically, when was the first official calendar commissioned to reflect our current standard. Does that mean that until Constantine accepted JC that calendars in Constantinople were printed wrong. Sounds like a y2k scenario all over again.
D & C,
Man, I was thinking that God must hate me, after all I’m never lucky enough to find a “quarter” pressed on a “nickel” planchet in my change…ever. I feel much better after reading your post regarding your theory on what likely took place. I certainly put more culpability on the govt. for this “accidental” pressing than on the possibility that God hates me.Thank you, Rev. D&C, for your post…I enjoyed it!
Kaiser. Lol…I guess we better get used to “climate warming!”
Sir Kaiser, would that be Sponge Bob Square Pants from Bikini Bottom?
Definitely makes me wonder even more about the processes in place to prevent such errors from occurring? Perhaps this was an errant planchet, that founds its way, “mysteriously” into the quarter planchet bin, during the blanking process? Seems like there would also be a sorter, much like a coinstar or bill/currency counter that would reject? Or did it find its way in from a press operator? Truly would love to know who “actually” found it and submitted it for grading? Enquiring minds want to know!
So, this error coin was no mistake.
Article states that error in modern coins are rare. And with computerization, automation, and cameras that can check ultra fast moving products for defects I can see why. If it was a proof where they are inserted by hand and double stamped it would be almost impossible to happen. And since the blank inserted into a quarter die, you’d think it’d be like coins on a railroad track. Smashed flat.so it would “flow” as magic mike says, into the die, which should make that nickel blank thinner and larger diameter. If a quarter in a dime either you’d expect machine… Read more »
I see the reeds. So makes ya wonder how it is reeded it diameter is smaller than quarter. Wasn’t on their main page, odd since it is only known example. But 5 bids on it. So we know it wasn’t filed down smaller, or cut to fit nickel size. All around it looks out of place. Is that a quarter holder it is in, or nickel? Guess we will find out in a month. What is messed up is, can you imagine going to the show, seeing it and then finding out the bag you bought that never opened was… Read more »
Pretty sure I just found one of these in a roll of quarters I got doing laundry
In 1998, Perth Mint employee Nigel Simcock was jailed for 18 months after being found guilty of concealing 80 gold coins in his mouth.(ABC Archives)
Something as menial as potato chips have quality control that’ll blow off chips too small or too light. If it doesn’t pass muster it gets kicked off assembly line. Huge puff of air kicks it aside and all is well. Can’t believe that mint doesn’t have an “eye” of sauron that kicks light or undersized blanks. Then again they still rely on floppy disks. And since blanks cut from a roll, likelihood of foreign coin blank is minimal, if not possible.
It’s like those 1913 Liberty nickels.
I like standing liberty.
As opposed to squating Lady Liberty…
NumisdudeTX
You’re mistaken. You’re thinking of Lady Liberal, not liberty. Liberty sells insurance. But squatting lady liberal is spread eagle (bald eagle obvi)wiping it’s nether regions with American flag. (MSU named it part of the offensive words, like Christmas tree, or bunnies, or bury the hatchet)
You know relatively where it would be. So you follow it, buy appropriate number of coins. Big deal you pay a couple hundred for coins you won’t use, but you’ll get thousands back on the one you do. Would you spend $200 to make sure you got that coin to sell for a few grand? Seems worth it to me. But like I said, to promote this item would cost a ton in ad fees. But list it as a unicorn and ads pay for themselves. Sure I’d have a couple hundred normal quarters, but I also have the 1… Read more »
Makes it the perfect crime then right? Nah, too many moving parts for a simple mint worker to pull it off. So let’s look elsewhere. Too obvious. Proof coin much easier to do since it is manually placed. Grab a good coin claim it error and toss into recycle bin and palm the error. Or the QA is also part of it and looks for it further down. One thing not clarified was if each coin denomination has its own press or if they swap out dies each time. I’d think that due to amount of each denomination created for… Read more »
In 1998, Perth Mint employee Nigel Simcock was jailed for 18 months after being found guilty of concealing 80 gold coins in his mouth.(ABC Archives)
Maybe. Could have a law where all state gold must be stored in the southern hemisphere.
I copied and pasted from mint the production process and gave credit. Oddly that post is not here. It showed for a while yesterday, and I have checked my posts on this thread several times and do not see it anywhere. But it listed all the steps. I suggest you g00gle coin minting process and look for videos. Should show you the mint page with info, and on the page has videos.
Conspiracy