Are "Rotated" dies considered errors?

[Robert]

Here's an interesting site I had bookmarked.

http://www.geocities.com/RodeoDrive/9830/census.html

[GarryN]

I believe a rotated die is an error. The rotation has to be of some significant degree, tho.

[Art]

I don't have even one rotated die coin. Never have as far as I know. So I consider any die rotation to be an error - no matter how small a degree. Just MHO.

[coppercoins]

Yes, they are errors. Some worth much more than others, and I don't know all the specifics on this. The one thing I do remember about them is statehood quarters from 1999 selling for over $100 because they were rotated close to 180 degrees.

[n1tot]

Here's a pic of my 94 Lincoln rotated almost 180 degrees.

[GarryN]

I was at the Glenview IL coin shop rewcently and the owner there has a Conn quarter with the dies rotated 90 degrees. He is asking $125.

[Bob P]

You will find that error coins from this day and age are indeed going for a premium. I have seen other rotated statehood quarters going for around the same amount. Since the mint has supposedly improved their quality control, there are supposed to be less errors. While that hold true with varieties (mainly because of the single squeeze method of hubbing, and the mintmark being included in the master hub), there are some nice error coins being discovered. As long as there is human involvement in the coining process, there will be mistakes made and errors that get out. You never know what you might find out there!

Bob P

[GarryN]

Thanks Bob, check out my post about the Mass quarter with the missing cladding in the Quarters section of "Other US Coins"

[GarryN]

n1tot:

That is a really cool photo of that coin. Did you find that in circulation?

Garry

[mikediamond]

Rotated die errors are most certainly errors, but the question is, what kind? They can arise from several causes:

1. A die can become loose and rotate spontaneously. Equipment malfunction in this case.

2. A die can be installed incorrectly. Human error in this case.

3. A die can have it's "flat" ground in the wrong place, leading to incorrect installation. A die preparation error.

Another thing. Although these errors are often called "rotated reverse" errors, there is no way to tell which die has rotated in any particular case. You can only do this when there are multiple strike with rotation between strikes. Such errors are very rare, and the few that are known indicate rotation of the hammer die (typically the obverse die).