Error in Proof coin. How rare?

I have a very complicated case    , maybe you could help me to find answers.

I have a commemorative silver 5 Euro coin issued this year in original round plastic capsule. Coin was issued by national bank in Proof (!) quality and issue limit was 10 000 coins.
National bank informed collectors that design of this coin will contain 3 national flags that will be in colours. There are no other designs- just this one with 3 flags in colours.

Coin I bought from national bank was with error in its design- 2/3 of colours in 3rd flag were missing (colour is missing on 22.2% of surface where it should have been)...



It is 100% sure that there are no pieces of fell-off colour in the round plastic capsule and this capsule is for 100% in the same condition national bank sold it to me. Nobody has ever opened or made any changes to it or coin!
At the place, where should be colours of 3rd flag, there is nothing: no dots of colour, no scratches, no dust, no traces of chemicals (cleaners or something), nothing. Just silver.
I think this error was made in mint and somehow passed all quality tests for coin to be called Proof (!) in mint and national bank and was sold to collector- me. (Sometime people don't see simple things that are in front of their eyes...)

I informed national bank about this situation and they gave me an answer that this is an error and there should not be coins with 2/3 of colours in 3rd flag missing. National bank also confirmed that this is the only case known.

Due to the fact that none of the collectors I know have ever seen or heard anything about this type of error, I started to search on internet. I wasn't able to find any information about this kind of errors...

I hope you can give me some ideas about my case. I wanted to understand:

1) Is this kind of error (not fully coloured elements in Proof (!) coins) considered to be rare between Proof (!) dollars, euros, pounds, rubles etc.?
2) Is this kind of error collectable?
3) Is this kind of error considered to be more valuable than typical errors (broadstrikes, off-centers, double strikes in collars, off-metals etc.)?
4) Are there known worldwide examples between Proof (!) dollars, euros, pounds, rubles etc. with this kind of mint error? (for example- coin with American flag missing blue colour; coin with colibri bird with wings left silver white etc.)

All this situation is something completely new for me. I have never ever before read so many articles about coin errors than during last 7 days.


Thank you very much for your time and answers!
Have a good day!

Depends on the size of country. i also have proof coin with errors but its from aruba so nobody cares.

Quote: MuenzenhamsterDepends on the size of country. i also have proof coin with errors but its from aruba so nobody cares.

Coin is Latvian.
Latvia is approx. 1.9 million people.

Coin theme is 25 years since Baltic Way (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania).
Estonia is approx. 1.4 million people.
Lithuania is approx 3.0 million people.

Currency is Euro.
Euro zone is approx. 332.9 million people.

Of course, not everybody are collectors. :)

For 99% it is the only one between those 10 000 and for 99% it is the only one between Proof (!) coins with colours ever issued by Bank of Latvia. The question remains- are there known worldwide examples between Proof (!) dollars, euros, pounds, rubles etc. with this kind of mint error?

Is your proof coin with errors in mint coloured image?

OK I see your error. Hard to tell, most numismatiks consider painted coins as crap. I also only have one as an example. If there are many collectors in lituania and this fairly new coin is popular,  it should have its value.

Mine is missstamped, I sadly cant provide pictures because its in the banksafe.

Mine is even 500 mintage but like I told nobody collects Aruba proofs

Quote: MuenzenhamsterMine is even 500 mintage but like I told nobody collects Aruba proofs

Sorry for my English,

What is material of  flag colours?   if it is  hot or cold enamel, your coin is very nice error ! . but if   colour  is  sticked on metall (  plastic,  paper composite material and so on, which is easy to    take off from coin) , it could not consider as interesting error.   Now there are a lot of coins, which consist of different parts, - for example  coin-sectant and compass. So if you will  buy   that coin and   willnot find compass or sektant,  it will be error, but not interesting error.
   but ! - if you like  it, and consider as an error, and nobody  have  coin with this type of error, you can proud of your   collectible  item !  
best regards, and,
happy collecting !

Quote: Dato Mikeladze

Quote: MuenzenhamsterMine is even 500 mintage but like I told nobody collects Aruba proofs

Sorry for my English,

What is material of  flag colours?   if it is  hot or cold enamel, your coin is very nice error ! . but if   colour  is  sticked on metall (  plastic,  paper composite material and so on, which is easy to    take off from coin) , it could not consider as interesting error.   Now there are a lot of coins, which consist of different parts, - for example  coin-sectant and compass. So if you will  buy   that coin and   willnot find compass or sektant,  it will be error, but not interesting error.
   but ! - if you like  it, and consider as an error, and nobody  have  coin with this type of error, you can proud of your   collectible  item !  
best regards, and,
happy collecting !

My proof is misstamped from the machine, dealerantiques coin had the colourerror. I say it depends if his coin will be popular or not if there is value to his kind of error. But coloured coins are not very aprreciated at the moment by the majority of collectors

To help other collectors with similar cases, I have started to make a small blog about this type of error:
http://errorcoin.wordpress.com/latvian-proof-error-coin/
My research still goes on, so I will continue to develop this blog.
Enjoy!

Good luck with selling it, put it on ebay with a very high amount or best offer but I doubt many are into coloured coins from baltic states. It would be completly other price if it was Russia or China.

I also think its not that valueable because it can be forged quite easy. I didnt try but dumping a coloured coin in aceton could maybe discolour it too.

Quote: MuenzenhamsterGood luck with selling it, put it on ebay with a very high amount or best offer but I doubt many are into coloured coins from baltic states. It would be completly other price if it was Russia or China.

At the moment I am more into research.
Latvia now is part of Eurozone and it is Euro coin, so this isn't a story about small local currency anymore...

Quote: MuenzenhamsterI also think its not that valueable because it can be forged quite easy. I didnt try but dumping a coloured coin in aceton could maybe discolour it too.

Due to the fact that I know- it is 100% genuine (because it was bought directly from Bank of Latvia), there are no problems to go to grading companies or other experts.
About the value- offers, I have received so far, are high... ;)

Nice to hear. I didnt expect that.

Hi all,  

:D    
Great marketing, congratulations  

As I read once on this forum, rarity is a quality of coins we can't do anything about, price we make !  

Best regards, André

As for how much it might be worth, hard to say.  Depends on the error and the demand.  There's definitely a niche of error collectors.  DO NOT TAKE IT OUT OF THE HOLDER. I'd get it graded and slabbed as that might improve the value having it official like that. At this point, as is, I'd say 10% over its cost.  Again, it's all about demand.

I'd contact PCGS (http://www.pcgs.com) and check their fees.  Talk to one of their reps, etc. Get it slabbeb and enjoy it for a few years to see if others pop up.  Who knows.

Nice find!