Tag Archives: tiktok-coin-videos

“L” on rim of cent hoax

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Let’s make this as simple as possible for the thousands of posts by novice collectors who get their numismatic education from social media. Repeat after me: “There is no ‘L’ on rim error.”

Indeed, there are thousands of examples of the “L” on “Liberty” being close to the rim. The cause is a worn out working die at the U.S. Mint. Dies wear out regularly. Hundreds are used in the manufacture of a modern coin. Sometimes Mint operators do not replace the dies when they should.

Worn rims on tires are common. Same with U.S. mint dies.

But the case of “L” close to rim on cents is disturbing because newbies on eBay, Etsy, TikTok and YouTube simply fabricated the error. They saw something, gave it a label, and posted a video about their “unique” discoveries.

The “L” on rim began with a 1944 cent. Suddenly everyone was finding them. The 2.1 billion mintage of the 1944 cent makes it one of the most common wheat cents and the first cent to have a mintage over one billion. The mint manufactured so many to replace the 1943 steel cents, which the public disliked.

TikTok, a Chinese company, is primarily responsible for the “1944 cent ‘L’ close to rim no mint mark error”:

Then the hoax went viral on YouTube.

As you might guess, novice collectors bit the clickbait and started finding “L” close to rim on any date Lincoln cents, asking astronomical prices:

Since then, members of Facebook coin groups continue to believe their cents struck from worn dies are valuable errors. Fact is, those coins are easy to find and hard to sell. All it takes is to go to eBay and check the “sold” filter to see that few people are willing to buy examples.

If you want to collect errors that have any value, you should know what holdering companies and the U.S. Mint actually acknowledge as mistakes. You need two types of directories for that, both found on the tab menu of Proxiblog:

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Proxiblog also has thousands of followers on Facebook Coin Groups, YouTube and social media. To get the latest discussion and commentary, be sure to friend us by clicking here.

You can find more information about types, varieties, errors, grading, bidding and buying in Coin News Updated: The Essential Guide to Online Bidding. Please consider buying or gifting the work for a friend, as it underwrites this hobbyist blog. Thank you.

Facebook Groups Inundated with Click-Bait Coins

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For years expert hobbyists and coin dealers were used to giving the non-collector or amateur the bad news about their face- or low-value coins. They would check the Greysheet or Red Book for values and show the person or customer the true worth of their lots.

Rarely would people argue when given the bad news.

But now, in the digital era, content creators and sellers on eBay, TikTok, Etsy and more have hyped common face value coins to such extent that non-collectors scoff at or even argue when told the real value of their so-called errors or faux varieties.

Facebook top contributors say the same things each day: No value. Face value. Buy a Red Book. Or worse, give a snarky reply because, simply, they are exhausted answering the same questions about value.

And here is the kicker: The value of the hobby is the hobby, not the value. Non-collectors on social media are all about the value.

TikTok Click Bait

Videos like this are immensely misleading, showcasing a mule dime/cent as if we can find one in pocket change. You’d have better odds with lighting striking you twice.

@thecoinchannel

Getting rich on U.S mint mistakes. (Episode 6) penny errorcoin pennydime coin foryou

♬ Epic News – DM Production
Click Bait

eBay Inflated Listings

All of these thousand-dollar “best offer” coins either have face value, damage, or cuds.

Etsy Exaggerations

Here are three sample scam listings. One has a filled mint mark, another an uncirculated modern S mint mark cent, and another a few grams of weight above 3.11 for the denomination.

Folks who think they have struck it rich should check the “sold” and “Buy It Now” listings for such coins. Let’s just do that for the eBay listings above:

Non-collectors elevating worth over hobby should do the same process as I did above to learn the true value (or face value) of their misleading strike-it-rich coins.

If you like posts like this, subscribe so you can be informed whenever there is a new article or column.

Proxiblog also has thousands of followers on Facebook Coin Groups. To get the latest discussion and commentary, be sure to friend us by clicking here.

You can find more information about types, varieties, errors, grading, bidding and buying in Coin News Updated: The Essential Guide to Online Bidding. Please consider buying or gifting the work for a friend, as it underwrites this hobbyist blog. Thank you.