Regarding his question about the definition of coin varieties,Bill Eckberg wrote:

Brad Karoleff writes:

With reference to what is a variety and what is an error, I accumulated many contradictions and errors for my Error & Variety Seminars that dominate the "informational" websites on the Internet. Here are a few examples:

The Coins of the Year Club (COTY) of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, published the following:

I don't know about you, but I never had difficulty identifying 7 over 8, double mint marks or double dies. And I never thought that rarity determined what the error is.

COTY also published the following:

Millions of cuds and dings or marks on a die would indeed be very common!

The Coin Community Forum carried on a discussion about die axis. The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Coins lists the axis of the Canadian 1992 New Brunswick commemorative quarter two arrows up (normal medallic setup), one arrow up and one down (error 180 degree die rotation set-up), and one arrow up and one sideways (error 90 degree rotation).

To the question from one of their members if these are errors, the response is: "Yes, but the error is so plentiful, it is termed a variety."

I never thought that the number available of a particular inconsistency from normal determines if something is an error or a variety!

Hans Zoell's explanation of why we should not blame the equipment for producing errors would be laughable if he was not serious. Zoel published a number of booklets in the 1960s containing illustrations of errors and varieties with very minimal explanation.

One rant he published in one of his booklets, under the heading "What is an Error?," stated:

Zoell's unique reasoning is: "Would you be able to correct the faults by giving a machine a 'good talking to' to make it understand its wrong doings? I guess not. Why then blame a machine for inefficient production?"

Huh?

With such misinformation out there, no wonder that many collectors have a problem deciding what is an error and what is a variety!

I found the best simple explanation on minterrornews.com about the difference between a variety and error because it included exceptions. For example, although die cracks and brockages could appear on hundreds of coins, there are generally minute differences between strikes due to expansion of the die crack or flattening of the design and are therefore considered errors, not die varieties.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
WHAT CONSTITUTES A DIE VARIETY?(https://www.coinbooks.org/v24/esylum_v24n15a11.html)