By Charles D. Daughtrey on Numismaster

Reports of new doubled dies in Lincoln cents happen frequently, but very seldom does it occur that a major doubled die sees its first publication a quarter century after it was minted.

That was the case when collector and roll searcher Richard J. Ziegler of Quincy, Massachusetts sorted through a roll he had purchased at the bank in July and found something special; a 1982 small date zinc cent with major doubling on the reverse of the coin.

It took Ziegler nearly two months to find the equipment to properly image the coin, but as soon as he had photos to use, he promptly posted his find on the Coin Community Family forum (www.coincommunity.com) asking for help in its identification. Numismatists and die variety enthusiasts Charles D. Daughtrey and Bill O’Rourke quickly responded positively that Ziegler had scored a very nice find, and that this doubled die had never been listed by any of the major sources to their knowledge.

Arrangements were made to send the coin to Daughtrey, attributor of www.coppercoins.com, for photography and inclusion in as many major publications as possible to get the word out of its existence. Photographs of Ziegler’s coin were published on Daughtrey’s website on September 15th.

When a previously unknown, historically important coin comes up for auction, collectors, dealers and even auctioneers are prone to a little over-excitement. When four such coins are involved in a single lot the anticipation can go off the Richter scale.

Such a scenario is possible in the London auction rooms of Spink on Thursday, Sept. 27, when a unique 1868 Hong Kong proof set is to be offered for sale. It consists of a proof dollar, half-dollar, 20, 10 and 5 cents struck at the defunct Hong Kong Mint.

The set of five silver coins was acquired over 100 years ago by the present owner’s family in the former British Colony. The set has never previously been offered on the market. Until now there was not even a hint of a rumor that such a set existed. Its appearance is both remarkable and totally unexpected being struck at a time the mint was scheduled to close.

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. – For over thirty years, I have handled many unique rarities and new discoveries from the U.S. Mint and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. My rarities and discoveries have been featured on the front page of Coin World and numerous other publications including CoinLink, Numismatic News, Mint Error News and others. Some of these discoveries were numismatic rarities, unique mint errors, die trials, test pieces and U.S. currency errors. I’m proud to present my latest discovery, which is front page news and has never been reported or featured anywhere else. It is a complete set of unique Specimen Silver Certificates certified by PCGS. It was just purchased via private treaty and originated from The Bank of Poland.

The Silver Certificates featured in this unique set have the word SPECIMEN printed in red ink on both sides by the BEP. These notes are the only known Silver Certificates of this type in private hands. Every note has a solid non-zero serial number indicating it was legally issued. Specimen notes of solid zeros are subject to confiscation but Specimen notes with a serial number are not the subject of Government confiscation. Banks are not State owned and therefore their contents can be bought and sold. The Bank of Poland sold these notes which were originally obtained from the U.S. Government. (more…)