So does anybody know how to obtain major mistrike's? 1 1

[pigeonman333rd]

The reason I ask is I was looking over a friends collection of 1930'-1970's major mistrikes and I noticed most if not all were MS coins but does that mean you got to get them from the mint because that would make the condition make sense! Keep in mind my friend wants to get at least one of her coins certified at a coin show it's a 1955 double headed steel cent with one set of two 5's on the obverse with regular bust showing with no 19 and a reverse with reversed direction bust with backward set of 5's on it also missing 19. I love this coin fake or genuine the goast like appearance of the reverse is stunning.

[Sandon]

On 1/19/2023 at 3:19 PM, pigeonman333rd said:

it's a 1955 double headed steel cent with one set of two 5's on the obverse with regular bust showing with no 19 and a reverse with reversed direction bust with backward set of 5's on it also missing 19.

   While this sounds like it could be a "brockage", which results from a struck coin adhering to the reverse die and creating spread out incuse reverse images on subsequently struck coins, I don't know how it could be "steel", as no steel planchets had been produced since 1943.  It's likely a fake.  Can you get pictures?

   It is my understanding that most major striking errors that weren't clandestinely produced by mint employees are found in mint bags.  In over fifty years of searching through my change and my relatives' change, the only significant errors I've found are a blank cent planchet and a couple of broadstruck quarters. However, a collector I know received a few years ago at a supermarket an uncirculated Lincoln cent that had been overstruck with Jefferson nickel dies!  It has been certified by NGC.

[Coinbuf]

Sounds like your friend has a vice job coin, but all anyone can do is guess without pics.

[pigeonman333rd]

On 1/19/2023 at 12:42 PM, Sandon said:

   While this sounds like it could be a "brockage", which results from a struck coin adhering to the reverse die and creating spread out incuse reverse images on subsequently struck coins, I don't know how it could be "steel", as no steel planchets had been produced since 1943.  It's likely a fake.  Can you get pictures?

   It is my understanding that most major striking errors that weren't clandestinely produced by mint employees are found in mint bags.  In over fifty years of searching through my change and my relatives' change, the only significant errors I've found are a blank cent planchet and a couple of broadstruck quarters. However, a collector I know received a few years ago at a supermarket an uncirculated Lincoln cent that had been overstruck with Jefferson nickel dies!  It has been certified by NGC.

I will try to borrow the one coin and put it on a scale and show you with a magnet but her great Grand Father asked her before he died not to handle the coins but I will explain why and get back to you! Thank you Always!

[RWB]

RE: "Major Mistrike"

I looked up Major Mistake in old Army records (not CDs -- real vinyl records). He was with the 3rd Armored Division of the 2nd Cavalry and served in the Mexican War in 1847 under Gen. Scott. He was with the Catering Corps so he mostly served beans and salt pork belly. I guess that's pretty close to today's canned "Pork & Beans." In one incident he was awarded the Flaming Flame Thrower tin star with bumblebee cluster for extinguishing a fire that erupted in a tent housing a dozen solders. The various privates had eaten 2nd helpings of the Major's signature dish. Methane gas built up in the closed tent, and a spark from a passing lightning bug set off an explosion and fire. Most of the soldiers were saved, but one horse was lost -- and later found in the General's tent.

I don't know who to obtain more information about Major Mistake. Could someone try getting a job at one of those Pork&Bean sorting places where they put coins into rolls -- and biscuits...?

[VKurtB]

On 1/19/2023 at 2:19 PM, pigeonman333rd said:

The reason I ask is I was looking over a friends collection of 1930'-1970's major mistrikes and I noticed most if not all were MS coins but does that mean you got to get them from the mint because that would make the condition make sense! Keep in mind my friend wants to get at least one of her coins certified at a coin show it's a 1955 double headed steel cent with one set of two 5's on the obverse with regular bust showing with no 19 and a reverse with reversed direction bust with backward set of 5's on it also missing 19. I love this coin fake or genuine the goast like appearance of the reverse is stunning.

This piece WILL BE FOUND (no doubt whatsoever) to be nothing of the sort of which it has been herein described. Hide and watch. Seriously. The level of ignorance among “casual” collectors is utterly astonishing. 

Edited January 20, 2023 by VKurtB

[VKurtB]

We all know where the vast, incredibly vast, majority of more major errors come from. The now retired “Mac Daddy” of error coins, Fred Weinberg, openly named the source in his Legacy Series Interview with Barb Gregory, then of the ANA. They come from employees of the companies that are hired by the Federal Reserve to put coins into rolls. This includes String & Sons of Harrisburg, PA, which happens to be across the street from my polling site when I lived in Harrisburg. There are a few other firms that do this work as well, but String does it for the geographically smaller Federal Reserve Districts in the northeast. Coins leave the mint in so-called “ballistic bags” the size of a table or some similar object. The major errors get discovered because they don’t go through the rollers. These employees have major error dealers like Weinberg, or whoever took his place, on speed dial. 

Edited January 20, 2023 by VKurtB

[pigeonman333rd]

On 1/20/2023 at 12:05 PM, VKurtB said:

This piece WILL BE FOUND (no doubt whatsoever) to be nothing of the sort of which it has been herein described. Hide and watch. Seriously. The level of ignorance among “casual” collectors is utterly astonishing. 

What do you mean hide and watch she has ADT and lives 90 miles from work, her husband is ex military so I wouldn't say her Great Grand Fathers Piece will be found she owns it and keeps everything but guns locked up! I wouldn't mess with her she is from Texas and is proud to show off her pistol which got my attention and is a good reason to return her property as soon as I checked it out. We plan to go to a coin show and certify her piece the one steel cent but if anybody thinks it will get confiscated please say so! 

[VKurtB]

There are no 1955 steel cents, period. Let’s leave it at that for now. But there’s more to come. 

Edited January 25, 2023 by VKurtB

[pigeonman333rd]

The only unfortunate thing is she is very old I'm guessing early 80's I thought 60's but she talks about the fifties and was a kid in the 1940's so Great Grand Father out lived her father and her Grand father that sucks. I am going to help her sort out the two safes and see what goes to each of her sons and daughters back in Texas. She plans to keep the folder but has no intentions as far as selling his personal stuff like his guns traps and error collection she had a change of heart for some reason. The cool thing is she takes special breakfast requests from me now at work which is cool but no home cooked meals those are reserved for her husband. She is definitely old school but I hope we find some cheap stuff she can sell because she says she sold her place in texas to cheap and doesn't want a mortgage at her age. She did however marry a guy 20 years younger so my guess is he will own that set soon. I just hope I get to keep helping her and don't lose her trust.

[Fenntucky Mike]

All I can say is that if you really consider this person a friend, is that you take the collection to a reputable LCS or dealer and have the coins appraised. I feel that you would be doing your friend a disservice if you try to appraise or authenticate the collection yourself. 

[VKurtB]

On 1/24/2023 at 6:52 PM, pigeonman333rd said:

The only unfortunate thing is she is very old I'm guessing early 80's I thought 60's but she talks about the fifties and was a kid in the 1940's so Great Grand Father out lived her father and her Grand father that sucks. I am going to help her sort out the two safes and see what goes to each of her sons and daughters back in Texas. She plans to keep the folder but has no intentions as far as selling his personal stuff like his guns traps and error collection she had a change of heart for some reason. The cool thing is she takes special breakfast requests from me now at work which is cool but no home cooked meals those are reserved for her husband. She is definitely old school but I hope we find some cheap stuff she can sell because she says she sold her place in texas to cheap and doesn't want a mortgage at her age. She did however marry a guy 20 years younger so my guess is he will own that set soon. I just hope I get to keep helping her and don't lose her trust.

So she’s a sportswoman.