1998 Silver Eagle (planchet error)? 1 1

[jANDERSON23]

Hello, I am new to coin collecting, as well as this forum and am grateful for any future advice or responses. I have a 1998 Silver Eagle that seems to be an error coin that I can find very little information about. It's a little overwhelming to think that what info I did find is saying this would only be the second coin, so far, found with this error. I don't live close to a coin grading establishment and I'm  really not sure which direction to go.

[VKurtB]

Where are you seeing an error? All I see is an obviously pocket carried piece.

[powermad5000]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

I as well see a "circulated" ASE. I don't think this actually circulated but it seems to have been in heavy contact with other coins as well as shows wear as if someone was rubbing this like a "lucky" coin. I used my phone to properly orient your obverse photo and tried to look for what may be an error and I do not see anything.

Could you describe what you mean by planchet error? Also could you tell us where you found some information that there is only one?

[jANDERSON23]

There is "what looks like" liberty underneath LIBERTY. Give me a few minutes and I will attempt to photograph. Underneath the flowers, behind her helmet is the best example, it's clearly a "B" or an "R"

[jANDERSON23]

There is "what looks like" liberty underneath LIBERTY. Give me a few minutes and I will attempt to photograph. Underneath the flowers, behind her helmet is the best example, it's clearly a "B" or an "R"

[jANDERSON23]

[Coinbuf]

First off an extra letter would not be a planchet error.    Second I see no extra letters in your photos, just some random marks that your brain is tricking you into thinking something is there that is not.   Like when you see a cloud and it reminds you a face or an animal.   This is called pareidolia, you can google it for a more complete definition.

[l.cutler]

I'm seeing nothing at all out of the ordinary.

[Henri Charriere]

There is, to me anyway, one extraordinary aspect to this coin and that is I have never seen one so "circulated" before. Particularly, a bullion coin.  It is interesting to see one like this in a grade that -- I wouldn't know if the Red Book even has a description of.  It's value, particularly now, will always be pegged to silver spot, but I can definitely accept its claim to fame as one of the few around that shall one day qualify as a low-ball super star. Not an ERROR, but scarce in this grade.  Keep up the good work!

[J P M]

It's to bad it is a pocket coin, the 98 is one of the lower mintage ASE so it is a bit scarcer.

[VKurtB]

On 9/18/2024 at 10:32 PM, jANDERSON23 said:

There is "what looks like" liberty underneath LIBERTY. Give me a few minutes and I will attempt to photograph. Underneath the flowers, behind her helmet is the best example, it's clearly a "B" or an "R"

WOW!!!!!! Just…WOW!

[Sandon]

  Welcome to the NGC chat board.

  If you are "new to collecting", there is no doubt that you are confused about "mint errors", as this is an advanced topic in numismatics about which there is a great deal of misinformation on the internet. Please read this recent article by a prominent coin dealer: Jeff Garrett: Fake News and Misinformation in Numismatics | NGC (ngccoin.com).

  American Silver Eagle bullion coins, unlike silver coins intended for circulation, are composed of virtually pure silver, which makes them very soft and susceptible to rapid wear and damage if used as pocket pieces or otherwise mishandled. I see nothing out of the ordinary on your coin. It appears based on the images you provided that what you are seeing are normal design elements present on all pieces of this type and era. The coin is only worth its silver value. For comparison, here are the NGC Coin Explorer images of an uncirculated 1998 ASE:

     Can you show any difference between this coin and yours in the area behind the helmet or underneath the leaves (not "flowers")?

     Why did you post the images of a 1998-S proof Black Revolutionary War Patriots dollar, which is an entirely different issue from an ASE?

[jANDERSON23]

Under the flowers, to the right of her head is a letter. I drew an arrow pointing out the area. When held at certain angles other letters spelling liberty can be seen 

[VKurtB]

On 9/19/2024 at 9:37 AM, jANDERSON23 said:

Under the flowers, to the right of her head is a letter. I drew an arrow pointing out the area. When held at certain angles other letters spelling liberty can be seen 

Oh my gawd. 

[powermad5000]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

I still have the image of your coin in my phone and what I see is a couple of scratches and maybe a sort of gouge next to the E in LIBERTY but this would just be a combination of damage giving the appearance that there is some letter there.

In order for other letters to appear on the obverse of this ASE, we would have to keep in mind that there are very limited ways for this to happen in error. One would be a brockage, one would be a double struck ASE with maybe some faint edge lettering showing from the first strike, one would be a die clash, or you would have varieties such as a doubled die or something added to a die inadvertently (the two latter not being errors). None of these look like your ASE.

You mention there being one other with this condition you believe to be on your coin. Could you point me to the resource where I could view that? When I searched for 1998 ASE errors, I came up with a true planchet error as one was struck on a commemorative half dollar planchet (there is only one known of this), a rim clip, several strike throughs and one even struck through a piece of plastic, but I did not find any with "extra" lettering.

[VKurtB]

When people insist things like this are real, it militates STRONGLY that perhaps coins are the wrong hobby for them. 
 

And before you quip, “You were a beginner once too”, yes, I was, but there was no Internet in 1963 to lead me into multiple delusions as happens nearly daily here now. 

Edited 5 hours ago by VKurtB

[powermad5000]

On 9/19/2024 at 11:57 AM, VKurtB said:

but there was no Internet in 1963 to lead me into multiple delusions as happens nearly daily here now.

This is a very good point. There also was no internet in the 70's when I was a kid. Well, maybe but only to large corporations. The PC (personal computer) had basically just begun and we had a Commodore Vic 20 when I was a kid. Great for playing pong which uses less memory than a single GIF in todays phones. So all the way into the 80's, all we had was books and talking to other collectors and the dealer at the local coin shop. Even back then there was misinformation but it was painfully slow to spread. Now, it spreads faster than Covid.

What we seem to be seeing lately is any difference in a coin and suddenly it is an error. There were plenty of coins when I grew up that looked different but we knew damage from error. What I also see now is this obsessive hunt for errors because I think that peoples mindset is as soon as they find even a minor error coin they are set to retire immediately and it is simply not the case.

I am not saying the OP is any of the above and maybe just not be knowledgeable enough in error collecting.

[Sandon]

 Sorry, but I, like the others, cannot see anything unusual about your coin in the area to which you refer. (By "flowers", I assume that you refer to the leaves on the oak and olive branches held by Liberty.) That some of the "other letters" can only be seen if the coin is held at certain angles strongly suggests that what you are seeing are fine scratches or other damage that occurred after the coin left the mint. Please provide images that clearly show the anomalies to which you refer. The images should be cropped to eliminate the surface surrounding the coin as much as possible.

  The most likely explanation for a coin showing "extra letters" distant from those that should be there would be a double or other multiple strike that occurred after one of the dies had rotated or after the planchet (coin blank) had moved between strikes. (These would be striking errors, not a "planchet error".) Such coins would show clear evidence of the multiple strikes in a number of areas on one or both sides and flattening of portions of the original strike, like these:

Above images from error-ref. com

 

Above images from NGC