Posted on 02/19/2005 8:44:33 AM PST by bayourod
The correct Wisconsin quarter, bottom, has a few misprints lurking in spare change. Look closely, and you'll find a corn stalk leaf hanging lower in the top and middle photos. Like bird watchers responding to the clarion call of a rare species, coin collectors are on the lookout for an unusual find.
Two misprints of the Wisconsin quarter have stirred up the coin-collecting community.
The first Houston sighting of the unusual coins was reported late Friday morning when Margaret Whalin took one of each specimen to U.S. Coins & Jewelry.
Manager Peter Castro bought Whalin's two quarters for $125 each, far above the prices he was offering earlier this month when the coins were discovered. A San Antonio coin dealer reported purchasing several of them last week.
After waiting impatiently to get his hands on the quarters, he said, "I decided to up the ante."
The Wisconsin quarters feature a cow, a piece of cheese and a stalk of corn.
The faulty ones, from the U.S. Mint in Denver, have an extra leaf on the partially peeled ear of corn. In one print, the extra leaf is higher than in the other.
Whalin, who works at Brookshire Brothers grocery store in Bellville, started searching the store's rolls of quarters after seeing news reports about the misprints.
When she saw the first of the rare quarters Wednesday, with the higher extra leaf, "I just thought it was a scratch."
Two hours later she found a quarter with the lower extra leaf.
"Believe me, we'll continue to look," she said Friday.
Castro will keep the two quarters but plans to sell any others that come into his store. Now that he has a couple on hand, he plans to lower his offering prices to the going rate of between $50 and $75.
The error is the first known mistake in the popular series of quarters that feature each of the 50 states. Five new state quarters are unveiled in each year of the 10-year program, which started in 1999.
Coin collectors differed on whether the misprint was an accident or the work of a renegade U.S. Mint employee, and the Mint referred reporters to an official statement.
The U.S. Mint "is looking into the matter to determine possible causes in the manufacturing process," it said. "It is unknown how many of these specific quarters may have been produced. ... Quality control is a high priority for the United States Mint and will remain so."
Coin collectors said they think the hubbub will broaden the interest in coins.
"People are interested in having things that are scarce and unique," said Jim Lucas, chief operating officer of the American Numismatic Association in Colorado Springs, Colo. "That's the whole mentality of the collector."
Added Castro, "It definitely made a lot of people look through their change."
I can see the extra leaf, but the real crime is that one of the cows looks gay.
You're right, he does look gay.
Reminds me of the Mexican license plates that I see all over....at the bottom, some of them say 'Front'....I thought this was funny seeing them on the rear of the cars, until it dawned on me that 'Front' is an abbreviation for one of their states.
Yes, if you have one thousand nine hundred and ninety six quarters, you have $499.00 worth of them.
They would be very heavy carrying them to the bank though.
Years ago there was an entertainer in Las Vegas (can't remember who...somebody like Jack Jones) who used to ask for his pay to be in silver dollars; he'd go thru 'em one by one and keep the nuggets aside as an added kicker.
Looks the same to me too. Guess I'd make a lousy coin collector.
Whats the big deal with this ???So what ?
Ah, the old days of silver dollars. My granddad had a few, they were beautiful things. Haven't held one in ages.
bump for pics
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