Are some things boring?

General discussions about canadian coins.
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JNOD
Posts: 52
Joined: Sat Sep 28, 2019 6:53 pm

Are some things boring?

Post by JNOD » Thu Feb 13, 2020 4:58 am

I collect Newfoundland (1st) and Province of Canada (2nd) coins. As I've contemplated my priorities I've come to view scarcity and eye appeal as two defining points of interest. Eye appeal is relatively easy - a combination of grade and overall balance, surface, etc.... Scarcity is a little more complicated. At the most basic it's just a coin that's graded much higher than most of its peers or a coin that was minted in (or has survived in) especially small numbers.

Against that backdrop there are rare years (e.g. Newfoundland 1888 50c; 20,000 produced) and there are rare varieties (1945 5c, narrow date; est. 1,700 out of >200,000 produced). Those are both high priority coins for me. (I've got one but still looking for the other!).

But there are other varieties that, while rare, I find much harder to get excited about. Little minting boo-boos that are so tiny you can only see them on a digital photograph that's been blown up 20x or more. Some of the variety spectra are so big as to be demotivating: the 1881 and 1882 Canadian 1 c for example - at least 6 varieties *each*, not including die clashes/cracks etc...etc....

I can imagine a white-whale goal of getting all of those varieties but, across the whole span of coinage, I just can't get excited about many of those tiny mutations.

Thoughts?

troubadour
Posts: 385
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 3:46 pm

Re: Are some things boring?

Post by troubadour » Thu Feb 13, 2020 6:58 am

these kind of errors (die cracks, chips,...) aren't popular. they are sometime fun to see or look at but there are so many of them thats why catalogs and books aren't pricing them. this is a niche market and even whales don't care about them when building a set registry or any other collection. errors like full brockage or 180 degrees rotation are much more appealing since you don't need a 200x microscope to see it.

Bill in Burl
Posts: 1469
Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2008 7:41 am
Location: Golden Horseshoe, ONT

Re: Are some things boring?

Post by Bill in Burl » Thu Feb 13, 2020 7:25 am

I have been a true variety collector for a long time, specifically Vicky cents. By a "true variety" I mean a change in the dies dictated by the mintmaster (changes in Monarchs, legends, design, etc). Also changes on the Mint floor that are authorized by the mint through the floor foreman (repunches to correct errors, repairing dies, etc). The more offset in "doublings" the better and more collectible.

I find the teeny error community tedious at best. When it takes 20-40X magnification to see something, then it's really just a "within tolerance" anomaly. Now many errors are quite spectacular ... clashes, clips, caps, etc belong up there with highly collectible varieties, even though they are machine made or caused by machine malfunctions and were never supposed to be there .. varieties were supposed to be there. But everyone has their own niche and more power to anyone that collects anything numismatic .. it's history that you can have in your hands.
Bill in Burl

JNOD
Posts: 52
Joined: Sat Sep 28, 2019 6:53 pm

Re: Are some things boring?

Post by JNOD » Thu Feb 13, 2020 9:07 am

@BillinBurl:
"By a "true variety" I mean a change in the dies dictated by the mintmaster (changes in Monarchs, legends, design, etc)."

This seems to be the gold standard - is there a way to identify such varieties??

troubadour
Posts: 385
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 3:46 pm

Re: Are some things boring?

Post by troubadour » Thu Feb 13, 2020 9:10 am

JNOD wrote:
Thu Feb 13, 2020 9:07 am
This seems to be the gold standard - is there a way to identify such varieties??
Knowledge and research. :Lecture:

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