There are some out there.

One more item from the Heritage auction at FUN: In the on-line only session Saturday, there was an 1861 half dime that caught my attention. It is in a PCGS OGH, graded MS66, with green CAC sticker. Even in MS66, such a coin is not terribly expensive, (about $1225 retail, typically less at auction) and Heritage relegated it to the Saturday online session.

I recently bought an 1861 in MS64 for different purposes, and still "need" a higher grade example to replace it in my "Route 66" set, hence my interest. But this one looked funny. A little examination of the photos provided, and of other examples, confirmed that this coin was incorrectly certified and cataloged as simply an 1861 half dime. It is, in fact, a 1/0 overdate variety. Such coins have been selling for about $4200, plus or minus a few hundred, at Heritage over the last few years.

Having already put in a strong (and ultimately successful) bid on another half dime, and having to pay for those house upgrades, I didn't feel good about getting up to that $4000 neighborhood, but I did put in a bid of $2500. That would be way more than enough to snag it if no one else noticed the error, and still a great price to pay for what it really is. Alas, at least two others properly identified it, and it sold for close to $4000.

But the point is this: Learn all you can about the coins you collect. Check those listings. Look at lots of coins at shows. The TPGs and auction houses do make occasional mistakes. Busy dealers commonly have some coins in which they don't specialize. Once in a while there's a special one that goes under the radar. If you have the time, you may be the one to pick that cherry!

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