Some things don’t change

It is a new month with new challenges. However, some things never change – and that’s a good thing.

I came in bright and early to review my weekend email.

One of the emails pointed out that there were some typos in the Nov. 4 Numismatic News issue’s Coin Market monthly price guide.

Typographical errors are the bain of every editor’s existence, but thanks to sharp-eyed readers, they are kept to a minimum.

This email also allows me to trot out a variation on an old cliche. It goes, “To err is human, but to really screw up requires a computer.” I have loved that since I first became aware of it many years ago.

What was screwed up in this case was the G-4 through AU-50 prices of the common 1909 Indian Head cent.

Somehow, prices that are more appropriate to the rare 1909-S appeared.

The writer wrote, “After looking at several mix-ups (Indian cent 1909, 1909-S) I decided I’m better off not looking at any more listings. Just when I thought I had a good idea of prices in my head, this issue made me think that all price guess are not written in stone.”

What he saw in the November monthly price guide was the G-4 1909 price was changed from the $11 of the Oct. 7 monthly price guide to $465. Other lower prices were similarly jacked up as if by magic until reaching $960 in AU-50.

Then the errors stopped and the reality of the $38 MS-60 price for the 1909 appeared.

What did I do?

Well, I fired off a quick email thanking the reader for catching the errors. I then made sure they were corrected in the database.

The reader is quite correct that price guides are not written in stone.

He also did what I hope all readers will do when they spot something and that is write me to point out the problem.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper is winner of the 2014 Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."