This Unique 3 Piece Ike Dollar "Clover Leaf" Set was Consigned by Mike Byers Inc and Sold For $105,000 In A Recent Heritage Auction |
From the Heritage Auction Listing:
Undated Three-Piece "Clover Leaf" Eisenhower Dollar -- Struck on Clad Dime Planchets -- PR68 Ultra Cameo NGC.
The word unique is used perhaps too often by error coin catalogers, but it is the single word that best describes the present lot. Three clad dime planchets were simultaneously struck by a pair of Ike dollar dies.
The planchets touched but did not overlap, and formed a "clover leaf" pattern with the top planchet centered above the remaining two planchets.
Only the 1 in the date is present, and the mintmark is absent, but Earth is complete, and confirms the reverse is Type Two, struck in proof format only during 1971 and 1972. A showstopper mint error on a popular obsolete type.
Intentional ErrorsIn the early 2000's, a group of several hundred U.S. error coins were found in a safe-deposit box. Fred Weinberg purchased this group which included coins struck for proof sets and also coins struck for circulation. This group was auctioned by the California State Controller's Office of Unclaimed Property. The U.S. Secret Service inspected and released this collection to the State of California determining that it was legal to own. The State of California then auctioned the collection and the rest is history. Another example of U.S. error coins escaping the Mint occurred in the 1970's. A hoard of proof error coins were smuggled out of the San Francisco Mint inside the oil pans of forklifts that were being serviced outside of the Mint. This topic was discussed in the June 6, 2022 Issue of Coin World, which covered Fred Weinberg's account of this story. The Coin World Managing Editor concluded: Obviously, the marketplace accepts these coins, and some collectors are happy paying thousands of dollars for coins that show every indication of having been created through illegal means. In Episode 11 of the PCGS video series Slab Lab, Seth Chandler interviews Fred Weinberg. In part 2 of the interview, Fred explains in detail why mint errors that are decades old are not recovered by the U.S. Mint. Fred's recollection of conversations in his office with the Chief of the U.S. Mint Police are extremely insightful and explain why the Mint doesn't attempt to recover error coins from decades ago. |