No Quarter for these quarters. . . (p2) - Drummer Boy a bit offset 1 1

[cobymordet]

The obverse is slightly offset.  Is it safe to assume there is only minimal value for a coin that is only slightly offset?

[cobymordet]

[Mr.Bill347]

Minimal at best 

[EagleRJO]

It's not an offset strike as only the obverse looks off center.  It's a minor misaligned die strike that looks less than 5% off and doesn't obliterate any of the design elements.

I dont think it's worth any significant premium, but still a cool find.

Edited September 6, 2023 by EagleRJO

[cobymordet]

yeah, it is a great learning experience to find the outliers as opposed to seeing pictures.  LOL, now I am ready for the million dollar finds!  LOL . . . . aren't we all?

[powermad5000]

I think this is an obverse Misaligned Die error. From what I have seen with NGC is they will not attribute a misaligned die until some part of the design element is missing (denticles, a portion of the rim, half of lettering, etc.). On this coin, especially at the 1776 part, the rim itself is gone and the date is clearly the edge of the coin. You can also see the two divides at the top of the coin (one is the rim, and one is the unstruck planchet).  I think although it is not a colossally misaligned die, I think it would qualify as a mint error under grading. If you want to see some examples to try to decide this for yourself, there are a lot of misaligned die errors for sale on eBay. Type misaligned die error into the search box and then check the box for NGC when the page comes up and I think you will find some that resemble this closely.

[RWB]

As long as the drummer can hit the drum, it's OK. (PS: He's holding the right stick incorrectly.)

[powermad5000]

On 9/6/2023 at 8:33 AM, RWB said:

As long as the drummer can hit the drum, it's OK. (PS: He's holding the right stick incorrectly.)

I have been a drummer for 34 years. There are two grips for the sticks. Matched Grip is both hands on top of the drumsticks, or both palms down (90% of drummers play this way....rock on!). The drummer on these "drummer boy" quarters as I like to call them is using the Traditional Grip where the left hand is played palm up and the right hand palm down. It looks correct on the quarter to me.

Great drummers like Neil Peart (RIP) played at times in both styles of grip depending on the piece he was doing at the time and sometimes the two different grips in the same song. Another great jazz drummer Dave Weckl plays mostly with traditional grip. Many of the older great drummers played totally in traditional grip : Louie Bellson, Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich.

[RWB]

On his right hand, the gap between thumb and first finger it too large to allow both flexibility and the power needed to get full sound out of a colonial-era field drum (no snares). Maybe it's just artistic license on the coin. I taught my HS and college students (and played) only matched grip, except for marching band. Matched was consistent with other percussion techniques - keyboard, timpani, piano etc. - so it was quicker to develop good skills. Also, there was no practical reason of "parade grip" on an concert band or orchestra percussion instrument. (A persistent problem was un-learning snare drum technique from the college freshman who wanted to play timpani --- no bounce roll, and extensive used of back fingers to control the timpani mallets.)

[powermad5000]

On 9/6/2023 at 1:32 PM, RWB said:

On his right hand, the gap between thumb and first finger it too large to allow both flexibility and the power needed to get full sound out of a colonial-era field drum (no snares). Maybe it's just artistic license on the coin.

I wasn't aware this is what you were referring to. I am sure it is just artistic license as if that were the case, he most likely would keep dropping the stick and having to pick it up. LOL