Rare Reagan plain edge dollar error in sale

A plain edge error 2016 Ronald Reagan Presidential dollar coin is featured in an online auction being called by GreatCollections.com.

It is the only one known.

Closing date is Jan. 20.

What do you think it might be worth?

Current bid is $2,200.

Potential buyers have nearly two weeks to think about making a higher bid.

Will they?

Plain edge errors are wonderful things because they are easily explained to coin collectors and non coin collectors alike.

Either the edge lettering is there or it isn’t.

You don’t need a microscope or other special equipment to figure out that the date, mintmark, and “E Pluribus Unum” motto are missing.

In this case, Ian Russell, owner and president of GreatCollections, said, “This coin was recently discovered by a coin dealer on the East Coast while searching through mint sets, and it was found in the Denver folder of the set.

“Since the mintmark is part of the inscription on the edge of the coin, without this information, we would not know where the coin was minted.”

Plain edge errors have been found since the very first Presidential dollar honoring George Washington came off the coining presses in 2007.

Edge lettering is applied with a special collar on dollar planchets before they go to the coining press.

A few somehow skip this step in the production sequence.

“Missing edge lettering dollars have been very popular over the past decade. We expect spirited bidding on this coin, since it is the first and only known (Reagan) example in the series,” Russell said.

This particular coin is graded MS-65 by the Professional Coin Grading Service.

You might think that the only known error of this kind would not need to be professionally graded and slabbed.

But third-party grading is an absolute essential in the present market, not only to attest to grade but as a guarantee it is a genuine Mint product and not a fantasy creation by a Chinese counterfeiter.

The Reagan dollar is the final design in the Presidential set.

This is the first such plain edge error found for this design.

Russell pointed out that the Mint got better and better at preventing the creation and release of plain edge dollar errors over the years.

Collectors who will attend the Florida United Numismatists convention Jan. 11-13 in Orlando will be able to see the coin.

It will be displayed at the GreatCollections table, which is 938/940.

Count me among those who will want to take a look.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog for the third time in 2017. He is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."

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