I find myself today pondering another season of FREAK SHOW 1968 and frankly I am not quite finding myself in the spirit.� Not to say it has not been a good year for finding new members to join my crew of FREAKS.� Though many were the rarest of oddities found in the guise of Proof, and attributed more often than not to the house of Weinberg.� I did throw my hand up on a few of these though sadly they were destine to reside with larger groups that my little menagerie.� Lamenting those that got away is easy as I have no proof oddities at the moment so no need to pursue more.� If you do not understand my last statement I will just refer you to an excellent book on this, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.� Yes it is a children’s book, but I believe it taps into the inner MONSTER in most of us bitten by the collecting bug.� I have to say biggest reason for my lack of enthusiasm is it has just been plain hot this summer in Texas. Yes I know I live in Texas so stop your whining kid for, THE SHOW MUST GO ON!�

So today I lift the curtains to reveal another one of my precious FREAKS who tried to escape the confines of his rather scuffed planchet.� To those looking upon this piece you may wonder why I chose him to open this season as it seems by all appearance to be a rather ordinary off center quarter.� Right you are, but then I am sure being rather astute collectors you are familiar with the term condition rarity.� Well let me introduce you to another, maybe unique to the error community, denomination rarity.� I had search for quite a few years, maybe even a decade, looking for a simple off-center two bit piece dated 1968.� I had probably seen a dozen or more dated 1776-1976, yes I am a sucker for a bicentennial quarter, over the same time period but not a single 1968 piece.� The best specimen I had been able to obtain up until this fellow was a straight clip off center which I suspect was stuck off center due to the irregularity of the planchet rather than a simple miss feeding of the planchet into the coining chamber, but that is a FREAK for another time.� So I was naturally delighted when I saw this one come up for sale and more so when mine was the winning bid.

So here for your viewing is Washington, well everything below his nostril and ear, with the required legend of Liberty nowhere to be seen.� The IN GOD WE TRUST, of course is present and that all important date I had been looking for 1968.� I am equally impressed with the wonderful striations within the field impressed by the die as I am with the nicks received in the preparation process visible on the area not so impressed.� Then to add a little of the MACABRE there is a small bit of green corrosion directly above the 6 on the base of Washington giving, at least to me, the impression of an open wound at the neck . �The flip side reveals the eagle, less his tail and claws grasping as if a quiver 13 arrows, with the denomination and most of America and part of United absent.� Unlike the front with the slightly grotesque green spot there is a wonderful bit of copper at the fringe to highlight the remaining feather tips.� It brings to mind a vision of a phoenix in lieu of a lowly eagle, trust me if you have been to Alaska they are everywhere like crows.� Likewise the reverse shows the abrasions received by the planchet during cleaning an upsetting. There is not much field to work with on the reverse die of a quarter but you do see the radiance of metal flowing away from NITED, with the remainder being slightly grainy in appearance.

As for stats this latest member has been encapsulated by PCGS and despite the obvious corrosion received a middle of the road grade of MS63.� The slab label itself describes the coin as a 1968 Mint Error 25C, PCGS MS63, STRUCK 60% Off Center.� Like I said not much fan fair if you just look at it as an off center quarter but I challenge you to find another!

Until next time……………………happy collecting!