Greg Bennick compiled these remembrances about error coin specialist Mike Chambers of California, who passed away recently. -Editor

I was sad to hear of the recent passing of Mike Chambers. He was a legend in the error hobby both for his knowledge and his ability to find some of the rarest and most desirable error coins for his collection. Mike always had a story to tell you about a coin he'd owned, or some detailed history of a particular mint error. He taught me a lot over the years.

If you asked Mike a question about a rare mint error, he usually knew not only the answer, but had deep insights into the coin's background, who owned it, when it came to market, what it sold for years ago, and so on. I thoroughly enjoyed talking errors with him when I was out in California visiting shows. Mike would consistently awe me with what he had in his collection, or coins he'd owned in the past.

One of his favorite things to do would be to make a comment such as, "Hey, have you ever seen an 85c piece?" and proceed to hand you some wild double-denomination that the viewer certainly had never seen before. My condolences to his family and friends, and he will be missed in the hobby by those who knew him.

Mike was an extraordinary collector of error coins. We bought and sold errors from each other many times. I was amazed at some of the coins in his collection and his energetic personality. One of my favorite pieces I purchased from Mike was this 40% Off Center Standing Liberty Quarter. When I had it graded, it came back MS64. Mike was one of the early pioneers of this hobby going back to the 1960's. He will be missed.

Mike Chambers was one of the original old-time collectors of mint errors. He assembled one of the greatest collections of all time. His timing was perfect since most of his purchases were in the 60's, 70's and 80's, before prices and demand exploded in the 90's. Mike attended many coin shows throughout the decades buying and selling mint errors with his favorite dealers and collectors.

One of my fondest memories of a transaction with Mike Chambers occurred in 1975 when he purchased one of the most expensive mint errors from my 1975 catalog. John Devine, aka "Lonesome John," had just published my catalog and Mike immediately contacted me and purchased the unique $20 1851 struck on a Large Cent planchet. I had just purchased this mint error and other mint errors from Fred Weinberg. Fred had just bought the Bolt Collection of mint errors and this $20 Liberty off-metal originated from it.

Mike and I also did several large deals in the early 2000s when I purchased his Walking Liberty Half on a Dime planchet, his double struck Peace Dollar, (3) 1944 Steel Cents, and a large group of proof errors. But the $20 Liberty off-metal was both my favorite and Mike's, and has become one of the most famous and valuable mint errors of all time.

I met Mike at a Long Beach Show in the late 1960's, but really didn't get to know him until I got into the coin business full-time in 1972. 

Mike was an incredibly enthusiastic major mint error collector, becoming one of the most serious error collectors. Over the decades, he chased and purchased some of the best error coins which appeared on the market.

He only collected major mechanical errors - Off Centers, Double Strikes, but his main love and focus was on Off Metals/Wrong Planchet errors - he collected all of them by both date and type - and had one of the most extensive collections of these types of coins ever assembled.

Starting in 1972, I saw him at almost every single Long Beach Coin show. Until about five or six years ago, he would drive to shows in California, and hated to fly. I think he only flew to one or maybe at most two ANA Conventions over the decades.

I always looked forward to seeing him, as he would bring a large amount of his errors coins to show, and compare to what I or others had to offer. He was seeing if he needed that date or type, and trying to get a better example. He was always fun to talk to and interact with regarding both mint errors, and what he did outside of the hobby (he was a landlord for his apartment buildings in Modesto, CA). 

His old green ‘backpack' would always be with him, packed with his errors, and he would often leave it or forget it, at my table, or someone else's! He would then run back and find it! I don't think he ever lost it at a show for long though, as far as I know.

His sweet wife Rose would come down with him, most of the time, and she would bring me a sweet treat or something: chocolate (she knew I loved dark chocolate!).  

Over the past ten years or so, he slowly sold major areas of his collection, but never really stopped buying anything he thought was rare or dramatic. He was always looking for coins he might have still needed.

Although he kept a low profile nationally, he dealt with other error dealers and collectors on a one-to-one basis.

I'll miss him as a friend, a fellow mint error collector/dealer, and as a genuinely nice guy.  I wish I got a chance to see him again and talk like we used to, before he passed away.

I am so sorry to hear this news.  Mike has been part of my life since I was about 16 years old.  In the early days, Len and I would joke about how Mike would call us at all hours of the day, sometimes multiple times a day, to see if we had errors to sell.  Occasionally he would even sell some himself.  Later in life I was fortunate to purchase quite a lot from him.  He always had a crazy story from his youth or a story about how he purchased some insanely cool error for $600....40 years ago!  Since I purchased the store in 2003, we spoke on the phone more, sometimes frequently, sometimes not, although not much over the past couple years due to his health.

He had an encyclopedic knowledge and memory of error coins, and stories that went along with them.  These stories ranged from him sometimes getting great deals on error coins, and sometimes getting terrible deals. They covered Mike's sharing of historical and technical aspects of error coin collecting, as well as mystical aspects of error coin collecting. I learned and enjoyed a lot from our friendship and dealings, and for that I am deeply grateful. 

My experience with Mike was to me, what coin collecting is all about.  Learning of his passing feels like a closing of an era in my life.  I'm sad that there will be no more crazy phone calls, and also grateful for all the ones we had.

Thanks, everyone! -Editor