Letters to the Editor: January 21, 2020

In Defense of the U.S. Mint

I just finished reading the letters in the Dec. 17 issue of Numismatic News and all the bashing of the mint once again.  I do not always agree with what the mint does all the time but it seems like it is a business no different from any other. I may be wrong but a business can choose to do what it likes and produce as many of an item as it wants.

I have been collecting since I was about 15 when my grandpa would put a quarter in my hand after school and I would take it home and put it in my collection. I got out of collecting for a time when times got tough but never lost my interest in the hobby.  Beginning in 1998, I decided to start collecting again and have since attained all the collection I had before and everything since. I love the hobby but, unfortunately, I cannot collect everything I would like to. This is the case of such coins as the 2019 Reverse Proof or the 1995-W silver eagle. Not everyone will be able to own it.  Not everyone has a 1955 double die cent either.  Get over it.

By the way, I told my son of the sale of the 2019s and we were both logged in at noon when it went on sale. We both had it in our cart. We had to refresh over six times before entering our payment and, yes, we both received one. We do not work for or buy for these premium sellers people talk about. Mine will be in my possession until after I am gone and I doubt if my wife will ever sell because she loves the design more than anything.

Jeff Sims
Fenton, Mo.

 

W-Quarter Find

I just had to share this. I’m a long-time collector and a long-time reader of your publication. Anyway, my wife brought home a roll of Idaho quarters and when I started going through them, I was surprised to see they were all P’s. Living in Montana we get nothing but D’s. As I was going through them I was really surprised to find three W’s. I read the article about the finds in the last issue and figured all were sent east of the Mississippi. Anyway, thanks for letting me vent my excitement.

B. Mock
Address Withheld

 

U.S. Mint Fail

I have ordered mint and proof sets for over 50 years. I was sending in orders by mail up until a couple of years ago. They only take orders by phone or computer now so I had my daughter order me three mint sets that come with free pennies according to the flyer they mailed me. She ordered them online in August to be sent to me. After more than a month, I never received the mint sets or pennies. She checked the order and saw that it was never sent to shipping. She called the mint and they told her they would have to fill out a form for never receiving an order.

After not hearing anything from them or receiving the order, she called them again and received no real explanation. They just sent money back to her account. Needless to say, I will not be ordering anything from the Mint again.

Robert Guenther
Chicago, Ill.

 

Double Date 1992 Lincoln Cent

While looking through a jar of pennies that my sister-in-law accumulated, I came across a 1992 Lincoln cent with a doubled date. I’m wondering if there are others out there.

Randy Wolf
Pennsylvania

 

JFK Medal

I just received the 3 in. bronze JFK medal that I ordered from the U.S. Mint. The designer’s last name and the date at the bottom of the bust are strongly doubled. This may be of interest to others who own an example. The Mint’s 3 in. bronze medals are beautiful works of art.

Dan Bubalo Jr.
Brainerd, Minn.

 

Error Find

I found an error cent about a month ago. I have a good friend that is the CEO of the San Diego Air and Space Museum, (Jim Kidrick). I was at his office a few months ago and they had a large bag of foreign coins that they get from a couple of different places in the museum. One for donations and one of those things that you put a coin in and it circles around while going down the drain.

As I was sorting them out for the museum, I found the error cent featured below. My only guess is that someone from around the world knew that they were going to the states and thought they’d take this with them, and then donated it to the museum.

It’s a weak strike different planchet cent. I guess the Philadelphia mint was minting coins for another country and it somehow got mixed up in there. I’m not sure what to do with it. I suppose I could submit it to a grading service.

Norm Walker
San Diego, Calif.

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