The best error coins can inspire love at first sight while teaching us lessons at the same time. It is a bit like meeting someone amazing: the right coin can take your breath away and then you're a better person for it. When a coin grabs you with its eye appeal, there is no escaping the feeling that you have to, at the very least, learn more about the coin - or even better - that it has to be yours.

For me, this was one of those coins. I saw it and I fell for it immediately. I've always been of the opinion that when an opportunity presents itself in the coin world, that we have jump in with both feet or we might lose the moment forever.

This is this is a 1971-D Washington quarter with a first strike brockage by a quarter struck on a nickel planchet. The error type itself is fascinating and rare. There are other known examples of coins brockaged by struck coins. But this particular one, in-hand, is a blast white, brilliant gem. It stands out for its eye appeal, and also its strike, condition, and its overall "look." The second I saw it I knew it had to be mine.

To understand a bit about how this error was made. Imagine a tote bin at the mint filled with nickel planchets intended to be struck normally by nickel dies. This would have been back at the time when the same tote bin could have been used for planchets of different denominations. More on that in a bit.

That full bin of nickel planchets would have been dumped out for striking by nickel dies. Imagine that a planchet had been wedged in a lower metal seam of the tote bin and subsequently was left behind when the bin was emptied.

Later, when that same bin was filled with quarter planchets, our stuck nickel planchet was dislodged either by the dumping of blank quarter planchets into that tote bin, or when the full bin full of quarter planchets (and the nickel blank) was dumped into the machinery to then strike quarters.

This is something that happened from time to time across denominations, as tote bins were reused for different denominations in years past. Today the Denver mint has color-coded tote bins and corresponding color-coded die machinery so that the bins for a denomination are matched by color with the dies to strike that denomination. Pennies are red, nickels are blue, dimes are green, quarters are orange... matching the colors of the paper that wrap the same denomination rolls at banks. This prevents this type of error from happening as often.

The nickel planchet in our story went through the quarter striking process. It was struck once on center by the quarter dies. It did not leave the striking chamber, and instead flipped up and over, landing face down, perfectly centered, on an incoming blank quarter planchet. The dies then came together and struck the quarter-on-nickel coin and the quarter planchet together, thus impressing the image of the quarter's obverse on that nickel into this coin. There you have it: a quarter brockaged by a nickel struck by quarter dies.

There are other examples of this error type in existence, and even some where both coins are available. This writer owns four of these rare pairs, purchased over forty years of collecting. I have a silver Canadian quarter struck on a dime blank that was then brockaged into the obverse of a silver quarter planchet. I have both coins. I also own a Canadian modern quarter and nickel mated pair like I've described here. I own a US quarter / dime mated pair exactly like the pair described above. And of course, there is the Shield nickel / three cent nickel multidenominational mated pair that appeared on the market and ended up in my collection. This pair is referenced online in numerous places.

This particular coin, in our story, even without its mate is extraordinary regardless just based on eye appeal alone. I also truly love when coins provide a clear window into the minting process and this example certainly does that. Having used it in my ANA Summer Seminar class which I offer annually in Colorado Springs, I see firsthand how it is both an error coin and an educational piece all in one.

This is a coin that certainly had me at first glance, an example of numismatic love at first sight. Please let me know if you have questions, comments, or more similar coins in your own collection! I can be reached through Mint Error News or via minterrors@gmail.com.