Just Bob

Without the desire for change, change will never come. There will always be the question of, "what if..." but it sounds like you did everything you could have done. You were a true friend.

That is the latest trend in the spambot game, apparently. I have seen it happen several times recently.

Those can be purchased directly from the counterfeiters in China for $1.79 US, including shipping.

" My inclination up to this point has been to go for an MS65 to get into the GEM BU range, but I'm also wondering if I should consider a good looking MS64, given the price, and essentially treating it like a nice bullion purchase." I am sort of a "quality snob" when it comes to gold. Gold coins do not appeal to me in any grade under 65, (and usually 66, the way TPG grading runs these days), unless, as you said, I am considering them as bullion. I would definitely hold out for the nicest piece that I could find. Enjoy your time with your wife. You guys deserve a break.

Condition, rarity, demand

I think you are being played.

My brain will not see that as indented. It looks raised to me.

Welcome to the forum. You have a 1972 Lincoln cent minted in Denver, one of over 2.6 billion minted there that year. The composition is brass, the diameter is 19 mm/ 3/4 in, and the average weight is 3.11 grams. The obverse die that struck this particular coin looks to have been heavily resurfaced, possibly to remove damage, which has removed enough of the surface to erase some of the lowest relief of the design, such as the front and back of Lincoln’s neck, the lapel, and tie. It has also affected the lettering near the rim and other parts of the bust and head. It is interesting looking, but not really worth more than a few cents, unless you can find someone who collects coins struck by overpolished dies.

OP, would you mind showing a picture of the reverse of that '29 Lincoln?

Your New Jersey copper appears to be variety W-5310, also known as Maris 56-n. Bowers states that most of these were overstruck on other coins, including Connecticut, Machin’s Mills, Nova Constellatio, Vermont, and others. It is one of the varieties often referred to as a “camel head.” Rarity is URS-13, meaning there are 2000-3999 examples known to exist.

+1

The original post about this coin, showing it in a PCGS details holder, can be found about halfway down the page in this thread: https://boards.ngccoin.com/topic/431781-1982-d-small-date-bronze-penny/#comment-9872540

Click here for a link to a SP61 piece that was sold by Stacks

Definitely worth more than spot in my opinion. Pretty coin.

First of all, welcome to The forum, if I haven't already welcomed you. Tolerance on the brass/bronze Lincoln cents is .13 g so a normal cent could be as light as 2.98 g and still be within tolerance. Your scale only reading to one decimal place means that your coin could actually weigh as much as 2.84 g. That leaves us just over a tenth of a gram underweight, possibly. The wear could account for that, I suppose, or the planchet could have been slightly under weight to begin with. Keep in mind that planchets were not weighed individually, so 3.11 is the average weight of a normal cent. And, this was during the war, so a slightly underweight Lincoln cent was probably way down the list of priorities for the government at that time.