I think what the author is saying and what I see sometimes is where someone references a coin that is a variant to the one being attributed or the entire series. As Joe said above, that is not always clear if you cannot see all other variants to compare. This highlights the importance of having access to the right references. Also, mistakes can sometimes be made - we are all human. But you can always revisit and refine your attributions over time as you improve your skill and gain access to more references. I am going through such an exercise myself at the moment.
To illustrate the point about variants with an example:
I received the below coin recently. I discovered it was incorrectly attributed due to a
field mark in lower left being read by the Vendor as an "O" (omicron) instead of
(theta).
Had I relied upon online sources I would unlikely have discovered it:
wildwinds does not have the variant with a theta; and I would not have found it on
acsearch as I was searching for "O"
per the vendor's description.
However each of
SNG ANS and
SNG Cop.
had examples with theta. Comparing them to the ones with "O" I saw that
legend break was in a different location. Then looking at the coin under m magnification I could see the dot in the centre of the
circle making it a theta but the outer
rim of the
circle has been worn or squashed inwards obscuring the centre dot . I would not have picked that up unless I
had the physical references showing me the different variants and then prompting me to look for evidence of it being a theta. Even then, it is possible someone might come along and say "actually that is an "O" not a theta and there are such coins with a
legend break likes yours but those variants are listed in a different reference to the ones you have.".
Peter
