Expert: Dmitry Livshits - 3/20/2010

Question
I have 2 coins from South Africa a R5 1994 inauguration coin and a R5 2000 mandela coin that has a rotation of 50 and 60 degrees (my measurement). Will they be classified as rotated coins. I can send pictures of them. Haven't graded them yet.

Answer
Hi Abe,
These certainly sound like coins with a rotated die mint error. This is not all that uncommon with modern South Africa coins actually. Something like this really does not affect the value enough to be worth spending the money to have them graded by a reputable grading company (my personal opinion). If you did want to certify them as error coins your best bet is a US based society called CONECA. They will not grade the coin, but certify the exact error and degree of error. Their fee for this service is $15, which is a lot lower than the fee to have the coin graded by any of the companies that are generally accepted among coin collectors.
If the coins were more valuable on their own (for example, I recently had a questioner with a couple of South African gold krugerrands that had a rotated die error) then the grading fee would be worth it. An error like this is pretty obvious to the eye, it's really not something that you would need a certification for.
However, if you were to sell the coins at a live auction that specializes in error coins, the certification would be recommended. It really depends on what you plan on doing with the coins.
Let me know if you need any more information.
Thanks for the question! =)