error coin collectors of the world unite. you stand to gain. i would suggest that if you collect errors, indicate that in your profile. that way others would get to know that you are an error collector and might offer you swaps of error coins.
I also collect errors. But I have only a few. And none for swap so no need to mention. So Pjthayil, what is your opinion about the 2rupees cross coins of 2005 and 2007 having small and big cross? Do you consider them die varieties or mules??
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I think from the very lukewarm response to the post on error coins, the general interest in error coins is rather low. In india, there are a number of collectors who bother about error coins, who spend a lot of time identifying mules, die variations etc. Seems the world trend as reflected on Numista is different.
This is both an opportunity and threat. Threat in that people generally do not appreciate error coins and that it is just a fad for some crazy minority. Opportunity lies in the fact that error collectors can swap their regular coins from collectors generally who do not want errors to spoil their collection.
I got a coin off mr.nightingale in a swap a silver shilling from British easy Africa which has a die crack on it, it's rather strange :S as you can still see the design through the crack. I wouldn't say I collect them but an error coin wouldn't put me off in a swap.
I regard them as flawed coins. As my dear friend Mark will confirm I made sure he was aware of the die crack before concluding the swap. It was a rather pretty coin though. I had two, the die crack one was the better grade and had more pleasant toning but I opted to keep the lower grade one. Yup, we hates them.
I have a few, some regular old die cracks, planchet errors and a UK 1913 penny which has the date quite clearly showing as 3913. I've never been able to decide whether it's very valuable or junk. I don't think it qualifies as an error because of the way dies are constructed. I was told by someone knowledgeable in these matters that modern coin dies are not made from a single piece but are composed of several hubs to allow parts to be changed without having to make a new die. The most obvious example is the date which changes...... well, every year! As the date is made of a single hub the 3/1 therefore must be post mint damage.
If anyone is interested in swapping error coins I'm open to sane suggestions as I really have no use for them. I ship only by regular mail though so I tend to swap with people from the lower 48 with a few exceptions.
Back to the subject of error collecting..... is there any truth in the stories circulating that employees in the Indian mint have been deliberately mass producing errors for unscrupulous dealers? There was a similar story here in the US of an employee who stole over 2 million presidential dollar coins with the edge lettering missing and sold them to a dealer. It's alarming to think that had he just spent them he would probably have got away with it.
