Ah, November. Time to turn the clocks back an hour, get settled into autumn, and get ready for the Whitman Baltimore Winter Expo! The Stack’s Bowers Galleries Official Auctions are always a highlight of the Expo, and this November promises to be no different.
Coin Update News showcases a few of the offerings:
The first lot we will examine is offered as lot 20013. At first glance, this looks like an ordinary 1983 cent just as might be in your pocket right now; in reality, it is an extremely rare error coin. Graded AU-58 by PCGS, the coin was struck on a copper planchet, the metallic composition of which had been discontinued in August of 1982, when the mints switched to a copper-plated zinc composition (1982 coins were struck on both varieties). Called a transitional error, the coin must have been struck on a leftover planchet that inadvertently made its way into the production process. Very few of these errors have been found in circulation, and it is unclear exactly how many were struck. The physical appearance of the coin is virtually identical to a regular zinc 1983 Lincoln cent, but the weight is different, weighing the old standard of 3.1 grams versus the 2.5 grams zinc cents are supposed to weigh. This is a fascinating error piece that no doubt will attract considerable attention from error specialists.
Lot 20013: 1983 Lincoln cent, struck on a copper alloy planchet.