Are off center coins worth buying? 1 1

[Halbrook Family]

Do you think buying off center coins worth buying? And how about wrong planchet coins? Clipped planchet coins? 

[Greenstang]

It all depends on what you want to collect, it is up to the individual.
There are people who collect error coins and have accumulated quite a nice collection.  
Others such as myself ( although I do have a couple) would not pay a premium for an error coin.  
There are some purists who consider errors as damage.

[Just Bob]

I did a quick search of sold items on Ebay, and found that off-center broad struck cents are selling for $10-$30 on average. Blank cent planchets are going for around $3. Better pics are needed to see if that is actually a clipped planchet error (do some reading on the "Blakesley Effect.) It is hard to get a feel for what a real one might bring, because a lot of the ones listed on Ebay, including the ones that have sold, do not look like actual clipped planchet errors. Most look homemade, to me. That being said, it looks like you might could get $5-$10 or so for yours, if it is real.

(For the record, I am not implying that you made the clipped planchet. Just saying that I can't tell if it is a genuine mint error or not from just that one picture of the obverse.)

[Coinbuf]

A very individual question that will resonate with each collector differently.   Also, it would be useful if you would define what you consider the term "worth buying" means to you in the context of this discussion.   Are you defining worth as in hoping for increased value in the future, or worth as in for the enjoyment of collecting those items.   If you like those types of things and want to collect them by all means do so, just be careful not to be overpaying for them.

For myself errors and varieties are not a focus of any kind for my collection, I enjoy studying them to understand how those things happen, but I have almost zero desire to own them.   That is not to say that I have none in my collection, I do have a few clips, DDO's, overdates and over mintmarks, I do not own any errors as I consider them damaged and I do not usually want damaged coins in my collection.   However almost all of those that I have I acquired many years ago when these types of coins were far less expensive than in todays market.

Overall I see the error and variety market as a thin market that seems very easily manipulated, not that the overall coin market cannot also be manipulated, but the thinner the slice of the market the easier it is to manipulate.   That manipulation can come from both inside and outside of the hobby, as an example; over the years I have seen many dealers (and collectors) use the "pump and dump" method to move inventory that might otherwise be difficult to sell.   I honestly cannot count the number of times I have seen this done on coin forums, and the TPG registries have also given traction to items that would otherwise be very obscure.

Another thing to consider is what resource to use in determining which errors or varieties to collect.   Just this past week the PCGS registry deleted several varieties from lots of different coin series/sets.   This seems (I say seems as there has been no direct communication from the folks at PCGS yet) to be in response to the new CPG which is what PCGS uses as their registry reference.   There are a couple of threads on the PCGS forum with a few collectors that are very upset over the paper value losses they perceive to have suffered due to this sudden and unannounced change.

[EagleRJO]

As noted error and variety coins is a niche area of collecting that is very subjective based on what you like.  I find them very interesting and collect some, but I wouldn't say it's a specialty area I focus my collection on.

Significant error coins are very difficult to find in circulation, usually have to be purchased, and can be expensive for very prominent and unusual ones.  Preferably buy slabbed ones as there are countless fakes and coins misrepresented as errors being offered for sale particularly on sites like ebay.

I would first read up on coins in general (see pinned topics at the top of this sub-forum) as well as the coin production process (errors only occur during production), and read up on errors from reputable sites such as error-ref.com.  Forget YouTube.

Also read articles from TPG sites (e.g. https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/7765/learn-grading-mint-errors-part-1/) and other articles like the following on clipped planchet errors (which discusses the "Blakesley Effect" noted).  I would also research prices for sold error coins (not list prices) on auction house sites and ebay, and possibly obtain a recent copy of the attached price guide for mint errors book for some ballpark pricing.

https://www.error-ref.com/

https://www.australian-coins.com/error-coins/how-to-determine-if-a-clipped-planchet-error-is-real/

Note that with off-center strikes the more desireable and valuable ones have a large offset, but one where the date and mark are still visible to identify the coin, like the attached.

Edited October 10, 2023 by EagleRJO

[Halbrook Family]

I kind of just wanted maybe one off center coin. I didn't want to spend more than say $10. I don't look for error coins in my own coins. The cud ones I don't get at all. Those don't interest me one bit. I thought I might just add a single off center. Just as a oddity. 

[Halbrook Family]

Not that interested in it if it's like a investment but if I do sell it i'd like to get my same money back maybe. I don't plan on selling them however.  

[Halbrook Family]

The clipped planchets are something that don't interest me. Unless you have the coin where the clipped planchet is on then maybe. Otherwise they seem kind of fake. This one for example. It don't look like anything but a damaged coin to me. 

 

This dime here... Wouldn't one think that the coin that was struck after this one would be messed up as well? 

Here is a picture of a waffle. I don't think this should have even been graded. It's really just scrap metal. The company should have sent it back without a grade. 

[powermad5000]

Well, "worth" is a subjective term in this discussion. I am not an error collector as I am a coin collector. I am making that distinction as to me they are both coins, but they are in two different worlds. I do not recommend someone entering the hobby to begin by collecting error coins until the basics of collecting normal business strike and proof strike coins is fully understood as well as the entire minting process from beginning to end.

That said, I do own about 20 mint errors in my collection. I do not seek out these error coins. Rather, they find me. The thing is, I absolutely will not buy an error coin unless it is reasonably priced. Now we are back to your "worth" in this discussion. Error coins are only "worth" what someone is willing to pay for them. If you watch the end of auctions on eBay, you will see what I am talking about. Each error coin is unique, but some are similar. Believe it or not, there are many off center Lincoln cents in the marketplace (I have about half a dozen and I am not an error collector). Some auctions you watch you will see the price go up and up and up, and others for a similar piece will just remain somewhat stagnant the whole way through. The thing is, when you go to try to sell error coins, you can never tell what it will sell for. There are infinite factors for this. The particular time and day of the week the auction ends. The coin itself. The money buyers have to spend at the time, also tied to the economy in general. Where the coin is offered for sale. There is more, but you get the idea. Some people pay a lot for an error coin only for it to end up selling for way less than the purchase price. If you are looking to error coins as a potential investment, I say you should stay away from them all together. If you are looking at them as something neat and that interests you, then by all means, go ahead and purchase them, but I warn that you get up to speed on the education end of how errors occur, and what certain errors go for as a "base" or "reference" price in the marketplace before you spend a single cent to acquire one. Nothing is worse than buying an error type coin for hundreds of dollars, only to see a similar one sell for a low ball $30 a month later. Some sellers try to manipulate the error market by charging ridiculously high prices for some such errors which by general standards, are not worth that kind of money as the type of error is more common in the error market.

I don't typically segregrate errors by the type of error it is. To me an error is an error whether it is a clip, broadstrike, capped die, lamination, etc....to me they are all errors however they happened. That is just me, though, and I am sure there are many who collect errors strictly by error type. That is entirely up to you. A few things that affect overall prices...the main being the more colossal of an error it is, generally the more expensive the purchase price will be. A 5% or 10% off center error is simply not going to garner as much error collector interest as will say a Washington quarter struck on a Sacagawea dollar planchet, or a fold over nickel strike, or a Lincoln Wheat Cent struck on a Mexican peso planchet, or a completely visible on both sides full brockage. Typically, error collectors want to see the entire date and mintmark (if there is a MM) and those with cutoff dates as there is in one of your photos, will typically sell for less than the same error showing the full date and mintmark. The condition of the error is also a factor in its market price. Severely worn or corroded errors which are still able to be identified will be worth much less than the same kind of error on a coin in the high MS range. Also, the rarity of errors occurring on the series of coin affects the price. There is not too many Morgan Dollar or Peace Dollar errors available. There are many Lincoln Wheat Cent errors in the marketplace. There are a lot of these Lincoln Memorial Cent off center strikes available. Finding an error on say a Twenty Cent Piece or a Flying Eagle cent where the series only lasted a couple years say and there weren't that many minted to begin with would be very hard to find errors. Also, it is very difficult to find errors in general pocket change and you could go down a rabbit hole looking for any. In my 45+ years of collecting, I have only found three. None of them have been very spectacular, thus not worth any big premium. All three were struck thru. Beware of ridiculously high prices for non error damaged coins being sold on eBay for prices in the $1,000-$4,000 range. These are scam sellers trying to scam an unsuspecting buyer with a merely damaged coin. Also, do not watch YouTube videos for learning about errors. I would spend the time to read everything on the site error-ref.com. That site pretty much covers things not even found in the NGC four part series on Learning Grading - What is a Mint Error, although I would also read that entire four part series.

I apologize if this is a long response to your question, but I think I covered most of the basics of error collecting (pretty good for me not being an actual error collector but a 45+ year coin collector with a percentage of errors in the collection).

 

[EagleRJO]

On 10/9/2023 at 11:01 PM, edhalbrook said:

I kind of just wanted maybe one off center coin

If you just want one off center strike error something like the attached 2000 cent might work if you could scoop one for around $10 or so.

Reasonable condition with a decent offset, and the date is still fully visible.  No need to authenticate really as it's pretty obvious what happened.

Edited October 10, 2023 by EagleRJO

[Halbrook Family]

Thank you! Powermad that was a great response. I kind of like to have one or two. I really like collecting nickels also started in on pennys. I do like the off center ones. Kind of like having a oddity with the collection. I think i'll bid but won't go crazy. 

 No I won't spend much on them. I was thinking maybe $10 to $20 max. The coins on the wrong planchet sell for far too much then I would want to spend. No I didn't care about the investment part of it. More like a little extra item with my nickel collection for example. 

[powermad5000]

You're welcome @edhalbrook. That being your goal, then these early 2000's Lincoln Memorial Cent struck off center errors should fit the bill for you. You can find some in really good condition in your price range. There are some broadstruck Nickels as well from the late 1990's and early 2000's that would also be in that price range. I think you will be able to accomplish your goal by taking some time to look around on eBay with a search for "error coin cents". Examples already slabbed will probably be more expensive than raw ungraded ones.