Mint Error News #23 is Published

I have to be absolutely frank with you and say that I am stunned that this magazine is free! Mike Byers has published yet another amazing issue of his wildly popular Mint Error News Magazine, devoted to error and variety coins. The current issue, number 23 in the series, has more 200 pages cram-packed with information, photos, and price lists relating to error coins! Even the advertisements are fascinating!

Although all of the magazine is interesting and informative, the error coin price guides painstakingly compiled by Al Levy are the only frequently-updated price guides of this type that can be found anywhere on the Web. Levy scans eBay, the widest-reaching coin market in the world, for the closing prices of hundreds of different types, dates, and combinations of errors. For example, on the page containing prices for the "Speared Bison" Nickels and "Extra Leaf" Wisconsin Quarters, we learn that prices are way down, partly due to new material coming on the market. Levy warns us about the do-it-yourself coin-wrapping equipment that allows people to wrap and crimp their own rolls of coins, so one should be very wary bidding on supposedly unsearched rolls that show an error coin on the end.

The cover story is about a Proof Utah State Quarter which was struck on an elliptical clip. (An elliptical clip is a coin blank that was erroneously punched into an oval, rather than round, shape. Such blanks are extremely rare, but for a Proof coin to have such a blank, with all of the careful handling and multiple inspections that Proof coins go through at the Mint, it's downright newsworthy!)

Mint Error News #23 also has a generous section of photos of world coin major errors. I think world coins are vastly under-rated by U.S. error-variety collectors. I buy unsorted world coins by the kilo and almost always manage to find some great doubled dies and repunched dates/mint marks in these batches. If you're tired of searching U.S. rolls of coins because you never find any major doubled dies, try world coins!

Another great feature in Mint Error News #23 is a multi-page article about Presidential Dollar errors, written by Dave Camire of NGC. Camire describes several important Presidential Dollar errors that NGC has certified, along with providing photos of each. For the values of Presidential Dollar errors, Al Levy has you covered in his price charts. And there's an engaging account written by one of my major sources during the initial Washington Plain Edge (Godless Dollar) frenzy days of late February/early March 2007. Eric Dennis, who found more than 3,000 Godless Dollars at Amsouth (bank) branches in Florida, tells his fascinating story of bribing bank tellers with cookies and cheesecakes on his way to amassing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of profit, thanks to Washington Dollar error coins!

This latest issue of Mint Error News is easily one of the most interesting in recent months, so don't miss this one! Be sure to save your free copy to your own computer, not only to make sure you'll always have it for reference, but because it is just good netiquette to save the generous publisher some bandwidth should you ever want to view this issue again. Plus, by saving it your computer, you will cause it to load and scroll more quickly when you read it.

• Mint Error News Magazine Web site

Photo courtesy of Mike Byers and Mint Error News Magazine.