ERROR COINS: "California Dreamin"

[cpm9ball]

I have to chuckle at some of the eBay sellers. I just don't know how their minds work! Someone finds an error coin, and they immediately put it up for auction thinking they will hit the mother lode.

 

Is it really necessary to be the "first kid on the block with...."? What is gained by it? A free lifetime membership in the ANA? Free submissions to a TPG? Induction into the "Numismatic Hall of Fame"? Take, for example, the person credited with finding the Wisconsin "Extra Leaf" quarter. I heard that the coin was sold at the FUN Show for $150. Now that the price has settled to a mere $300-$400 per coin, he's probably having second thoughts about his rash decision.

 

In another thread, I mentioned that I found a Kennedy half dollar that was missing the clad layer on the reverse. I wanted to know more about this kind of error, how it could happen and its rarity. Yes, I read the definition of a I-D-5 in Official Price Guide to Mint Errors . I guess to some, that would be enough. "Who'll bid $500? How could it happen? So, I read about the minting process. What about its rarity? I asked some of you; I read about the PDS System; I even asked Alan Herbert. Alan told me that it is VERY RARE, which means that there are probably fewer than 100 like it. I've already been offered a substantial sum for it. Am I going to sell? Unlikely! I'm proud of that coin. It is the first one that I have ever found like it, and I'll probably never find another. It will remain a permanent part of my collection.

 

My point is, I believe that the true collector has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, an appreciation for history and art, and a glowing pride of their numismatic possessions. That doesn't necessarily mean that they wouldn't sell any part of their collection, but I'd be willing to bet if they did they already had another purchase in mind to add to their collection.

 

Some of you may have already seen the California States Quarters errors that are being sold on eBay. Those sellers just have no clue! Filled die chips are being called cuds simply because someone doesn't want to take the time to read a book or even go through the entire alphabetical listing of an Index. That takes too much time, and it's too much like work. "I've got to hurry and put it on eBay before someone beats me to it!" Ruminants have cuds! Does that give anyone a clue?

 

From the six $25 Bags of California States Quarters that I purchased from the U.S. Mint, I've classified eleven different errors in three categories: "filled die chips" , "tilted hub doubling" and "die gouges" . I've found twenty-seven different combinations of these errors on one hundred and twenty coins.

 

Here comes the fun part! I'm putting together a storyboard of sorts, California Dreamin. You can actually tell from the different combinations, the order in which some of the errors occurred during the minting process. This will be another of my prized possessions.

 

There is an ironical side to this story. I must give credit to some of those overzealous, eBay sellers for giving me cause to reexamine my California States Quarters.

 

By the way, does anyone know if NGC has a slab that holds twenty-seven coins?

 

Chris

[HaydenTubbs]

By the way, does anyone know if NGC has a slab that holds twenty-seven coins?

I had a feeling there would be a bit of humor from Mr.

 

-Hayden

[cpm9ball]

By the way, does anyone know if NGC has a slab that holds twenty-seven coins?

I had a feeling there would be a bit of humor from Mr.

 

-Hayden

 

See! I told you! When everyone thinks you're CRAZY, nobody takes you seriously!!!!!!!!!!

 

C H R I S