Delaware Quarter Error Modified?

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The coin was struck with a grease or debris filled Die and has little if any value above face value!

Frank

Why no value?? Isn't this a error coin if that is the case?? Error coins Even if minor still command at least a little more than face I would think. Just a question
 

I could not find anything in the books for that error... But the coin does not look worked from the photo. I would have it checked out at dealer and see what they say.

Good Luck...
 

Why no value?? Isn't this a error coin if that is the case?? Error coins Even if minor still command at least a little more than face I would think. Just a question

Missing Letter errors due to grease or debris filled Dies, are fairly common on every denomination and Series of U.S. coinage minted in about the last 50 to 100 years. Due to them being so common, they have little extra value over face value to many Collectors but you will always find a few Collectors willing to shell out a little extra for such a coin. However, most Collectors of these types of error coins, will normally be looking for high grade uncirculated coins. Back when I used to search for Error and Variety coins on a regular basis, I collected hundreds of such coins over the years. When it came time to thin the herd or in this case, the hoard of such coins that I had collected, I was only able to sell the better ones (in respect to condition and the error) at a small premium while the lesser ones were cashed in at the Bank at face value.


Frank
 

If you have a fairly striking example with much of the design missing you can get well over face value. I sold a 1990's zinc penny on ebay like that for $12.
 

Many of the early state quarters were loaded with errors. The state quarter design was so radical and new, featuring a level of detail the mint either (a) never had gone to before or (b) hadn't been to in a long time. The mint was shelling out hundreds of millions of these quarters in such short time frames per quarter that the dies began breaking a lot sooner. Some state quarter errors can be valuable depending on (un)circulation. Also, the more press an error received, the higher the value was. Here are a few of the ones I remember:

1. 1999 Delaware "Spitting Horse": A small pointed die crack protruding from C. Rodney's horse on the reverse
2. 1999 Pennsylvania "Rotation": Some PA quarters were 180° rotated, so the front & back were right side up when flipped laterally
3. 2004 Wisconsin "Extra Leaf": The Denver mint had a few escape with apparent extra corn leaf - 2 varieties, high and low
4. 2005 Minnesota "Extra Tree": Die cracking that gave the appearance of a faint extra tree in the forest
5. 2006 Colorado "Sun": Some CO quarters appeared to have hat doubling that made it look like the sun by the mountain

Not to mention the many state quarters with incised lettering fell victim to die cracking, which led to filled-in letters on Georgia and New Hampshire quarters, and grease, which obliterated letters and details altogether on all of them. And of course the random die cracks between the quarters' rims and nearby details, like the Connecticut reverse, which put the ground so close to the rim cracking was inevitable, just like on Memorial pennies. Such grease and die crack errors weren't quite a dime a dozen but the value increased with the damage showing. And let's not forget doubling, which I truly think the mint intentionally tried to do to reinforce faint lettering, often the state name and obverse wording. I actually once had a South Carolina quarter with such grease filling that more than 60% of the reverse was completely gone. At one point, I set out to build my entire state quarter collection out of errors, but that fell through. It's something I actually regret not doing. EDIT: I have a near-complete collection already. Maybe I'll start it again.

So, as blunt as he was, Frank is probably right. You might get a $0.99 starting bid out of it, which is 4x face value, but not much more than that. The state quarters are novelties in more than one way, anymore, but I think coin collectors are tiring of the endless quarter designs. Old people sure seem to like collecting them "for the grandkids" who, in this generation I'm sad to say will probably just spend them anyway.
 

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cti4sw... That is an extremely good post and good reading! I don't like to be blunt about something such as this but folks need to understand that due to the mintages of some coins, they way that many of these have plummeted in value and because certain errors are so common, that hopes of making much of anything on specific error coins, is almost a fantasy. At one time, I owned more than 15,000 Error and Variety coins, some which were valued in the hundreds and even some valued well into the thousands of dollars. I gave most of this up about 6 years ago when I sold nearly my' entire collection of Error and Variety coins and other coins. I found that I could not compete with volume eBay Sellers who purchase Error and Variety coins by the thousands and hundreds of thousands at a time from Estates, Bankruptcies and Going out of Business sales and then offer the same Error or Variety coin that I have on eBay for $5 to $10 but in reality, the coin is worth $100 each and I paid $25 or more for the one that I had. Combine that with not being able to get a foot in the door per see with Error and Variety Coin Dealers who have their' own little cliche going on and wouldn't give folks like me, the light of day. As you stated, the State Quarters fiasco is a prime example how some folks get rich and others are left holding the bag, literally. I paid as much as $35 to $50 each for certain $25 State Quarter bags to search for errors and varieties. I found some of each in some of the bags but for the most part, the bags were pretty much dry when it came to finding any high valued errors or varieties. Some of the Error and Variety coins that I did find, I made a little money on them but when it came time to sell the uncirculated ones that were not errors and varieties, I could not get more than face value for them. So, instead of selling them to Coin Dealers who would eventually make a pretty good profit at my expense, I started taking the Quarters to my Bank. When I had finally had enough dealing with eBay Sellers who undercut the values of my' coins and with Coin Dealers that wouldn't even pay me a $1 per dozen for my' high valued Error and Variety coins, I sold almost my' entire collection to a Coin Dealer/Variety Expert/Series Expert that I have long known, trust and have much respect for and that Coin Dealer is Larry Briggs. Since Larry is a business man with lots of overhead to pay, I knew that he could not and would not pay me what my' collection was worth. We settled on a price that we both could live with but in reality, I lost between $6,000 and $9,000 on my' collection. When it comes to collecting, buying, selling and trading Error Coins, you must go for the unique errors and mostly Error Coins that were minted before 1900 and especially those minted before 1850 unless they are Morgan Silver Dollars! Morgan Silver Dollars of almost any Date and/or Mint Mark that have significant errors on them or are on the top 50 or top 100 VAM (Van Allen Mallis Varieties) lists will usually make you a lot of money, if you can buy them right and sel them right. The key is to CherryPick these Varieties, not devulge what you found and pay only the price for the coin in it's condition, attribute the coin and re-sell raw or have it certified and grade with the Variety Attribution noted on the label, then re-sell it. VAM Collectors will pay big money for correctly and sometimes even incorrectly attributed Morgan VAM's. Now, find a new and previously unknown VAM, have it attributed and entered into the VAM files by Leroy Van Allen, have it certified and graded with the VAM Discovery Coin designation on the holder, then you have a nice and very valuable coin!

Good luck and the best of wishes in your searches for Error and Variety coins!


Frank
 

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There's two kinds of profiteering people: those who understand how a market / supply & demand work, and those who don't.

Those who understand the market see the value and added profit of selling a valuable item little by little, regardless of what quantity they have. If you keep the supply low, the demand will stay the same or rise. When you flood the market with bulk quantities, each and every additional seller must lower their prices to stay competitive. The diamond market is a perfect example. Diamonds are actually more common than people think; but the diamond consortiums maintain a high logarithmic market value per karat because they control their (and monitor each other's) contributions to the diamond market. This is why those cash-for-gold places pay pennies on the dollar for diamonds. If you want true value in gemstone investment, turn to colored gemstones, although I must say that even emeralds aren't worth nearly as much as they used to be. It's more into the exotic gemstones, like tanzanite, certain opals, rhodochrosites, etc.

Error collecting in regards to die cracks and grease fillers are more a collector's market anymore. Only the rarest of errors have high value anymore: re-punched mint marks & dates, overdates and over-mint marks, definitive doubling (where coins were actually struck twice and not slightly off the pre-strike), planchet errors and heavy rotations. Of course, these errors grow in value as they age, so even state quarter errors will gradually increase their values as time passes and fewer of them are found. Grading offers a sort of professional error verification that also augments error value.

I always wondered what "VAM" stood for. Thanks for sharing that tidbit. And now one of my own: there is a great website for penny errors and varieties. You can read up on them here: The Lincoln Cent Resource
 

There's two kinds of profiteering people: those who understand how a market / supply & demand work, and those who don't.

Those who understand the market see the value and added profit of selling a valuable item little by little, regardless of what quantity they have. If you keep the supply low, the demand will stay the same or rise. When you flood the market with bulk quantities, each and every additional seller must lower their prices to stay competitive. The diamond market is a perfect example. Diamonds are actually more common than people think; but the diamond consortiums maintain a high logarithmic market value per karat because they control their (and monitor each other's) contributions to the diamond market. This is why those cash-for-gold places pay pennies on the dollar for diamonds. If you want true value in gemstone investment, turn to colored gemstones, although I must say that even emeralds aren't worth nearly as much as they used to be. It's more into the exotic gemstones, like tanzanite, certain opals, rhodochrosites, etc.

Error collecting in regards to die cracks and grease fillers are more a collector's market anymore. Only the rarest of errors have high value anymore: re-punched mint marks & dates, overdates and over-mint marks, definitive doubling (where coins were actually struck twice and not slightly off the pre-strike), planchet errors and heavy rotations. Of course, these errors grow in value as they age, so even state quarter errors will gradually increase their values as time passes and fewer of them are found. Grading offers a sort of professional error verification that also augments error value.

I always wondered what "VAM" stood for. Thanks for sharing that tidbit. And now one of my own: there is a great website for penny errors and varieties. You can read up on them here: The Lincoln Cent Resource

cti4sw... I can definitely see that you know how the market works! Have you been able to make it work for you or are you like me, still stuck in the quagmire of BS mud that the big money Coin Dealers somewhat stick us in?

I am very familiar with the Lincoln Cent Resource website! I was once a member of Coin Talk and know the folks that started the website. I know a lot of the big names in the Error and Variety Coin World personally or either through email correspondence or phone conversation. However, I have been out of the loop per see too many years and I am sure that there are many more that have come along that I do not know.

As far as VAM's are concerned. You can view most of the major varieties on www.vamworld.com and it is a great resource for attributing VAM's that you have cherrypicked. However, if you want to be in the loop on VAM news, new discoveries and information on pricing and rarities, you will need to subscribe with them and then they will send you the VAM Newsletter and other information on VAM collecting, buying and selling.


Frank
 

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