I added a novelty to my collection.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I won two lots in Heritage auctions over the past week. The first of the two is involved in an ongoing story, so this post will be about the second.

In addition to my current focus on half dimes, I still look for upgrades to my large cents, and maybe a type coin here and there. I have also gotten a few Mercury dimes and Walking Liberty half dollars lately. While looking in the Sunday internet-only auction listings, there was an NGC certified MS67 1945 Walker that caught my attention. It is actually a 1943 dated coin, but listed as 1945. The 3 is strongly doubled, but does not really resemble a 5. I thought it would be a nice novelty to have a certification error coin, so I entered a bid. I was the only bidder, getting the coin for the reserve that was set.

So it seems to me that a few possibilities exist regarding the initial certification error:

1) An owner mislabeled the coin when submitting to NGC, and NGC did not notice;

2) NGC simply made a typographical error on the label;

3) NGC got coins & labels mixed up on this and at least one other coin.

Then, there are some possibilities when the coin was consigned with Heritage:

1) The consignor may or may not have been aware of the error;

2) If unaware, it would have been listed as 1945 on the submission form, and Heritage did not notice;

3) If aware, the consignor may have submitted it as either 1943 or 1945;

4) If 1943, Heritage cataloged it according to NGC label and not the coin itself;

5) If 1945, Heritage did not notice.

I can believe that NGC and Heritage occasionally make honest mistakes. But I have a hard time with the idea of an owner not being aware of the certification error. Given that a 1945 half in high grade is a little more expensive than a 1943, I can believe that some might submit it to Heritage as 1945 hoping no one would notice and pay the 1945 price. But if a buyer noticed later, I would be surprised if Heritage would not take it back.

This coin is now in a new Walker set getting more points than it deserves. And for you hockey fans, here's the slab shot. (Sorry)

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