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Do you feel like you know the difference between a mint error and a "damaged" coin? Do you know the difference between an error and a variety? If not, you should take the ANA's correspondence courses ""The Modern Minting Process", and "U.S. Minting Errors & Varieties." They are excellent courses which will teach you all the fundamentals (and more) about errors and varieties. You will then have a s …

For those of you who are not members, CONECA is the no.1 error coin club in the United States. It has approximately 650 members across the U.S. and around the world, with members participating in writing articles for the club journal "Errorscope", and with annual club meetings held in conjunction with the ANA World's Fair of Money. The club also is a excellent way to connect to the "experts" …

Above Image via Coin WorldThe Denver Mint is very concerned about catching any errors before they make it out of the Mint, as this article details. Interestingly, the Mint employs a tool for catching rotated dies, and also for checking the coin's thickness. Additionally, the article shows photos of the Mint employee visually checking coins (which is done every 15 minutes.) The odds of a cud gettin …

There is a lot of talk in the last decade about "gradeflation", and it's effect on the coin market. Dealers and collectors are worried about changing standards, and the effect it has on their coins' value. It is this author's opinion that collectors need to go back to their roots, and stop collecting "grades" and instead start collecting "coins." What does it mean to collect a "coin" as opposed to …

One of the most well known and popular U.S. mint errors just sold: a 2000 Sacagawea dollar/statehood quarter mule. The coin is graded PCGS MS-66 and brought $85,000, and was sold to well known Sacagawea mule collector Tommy Bolack, who now owns and incredible 12 examples. Below is a link to the Coin World article.  http://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/2017/05/collector-now-o …

A pair of the rare and popular 1943 copper cents were recently discovered, and certified by NGC. The coins are worth many hundreds of thousands of dollars each, and are a remarkable discovery! 1943 copper cents are the most valuable mint error for U.S. coins, with the 1943-D being the most valuable of them all. These are not worth as much as the 1943-D, but are still likely to bring well over $250 …

The year is off to a good start in our opinion, with our sales being brisk, major auction results looking relatively strong, and overall good activity in the market. We have been through a number of major coin shows, auctions, and have been able to get a feel for how the error coin market is doing.  There are strong areas and weak areas, with some of the more common (even if expens …

Above: The Baltimore coin show bourse floor. We’re finally catching up after a busy Baltimore coin show last week. The show, located in Baltimore, Maryland, and held 3 times a year, is one of our favorite shows of the years, due to its excellent location, which brings in lots of both customers and dealers from all over. This year we were wondering how good the show would be, since the coin market …

This very short article on coin grading and honesty among coin dealers and collectors. Two of the biggest problems in the coin market, as laid out by Q. David Bowers, are current grading standards and honesty in the hobby. Here is a link to the article: http://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/2017/02/be-honest-when-making-sales-pitches-to-customers.htmlAlthough coin grading does not effect the erro …

Error coin collecting and the error coin market have always had their ups and downs, with both the popularity and prices of errors going up and down. It’s a “seesaw” effect, which is seen in all collectibles and areas of investment just as it is in the error coin market. However, even knowing this, it can be disconcerting to see a coin that was selling for $1,000 drop in price to $700, especially …