I bought this coin over a four month period and very anxiously waited for its arrival.

This coin not only would have been a great addition to my Lincoln sets but fit very nicely into my younger brother's 1968 mint set, moving me closer in my #2 spot to #1.

I opened the package and as I do for every coin I buy got out my 30x glass and began inspecting it. Now before that I could notice something a little strange with my naked eye but I couldn't exactly tell what it was. When I inspected it with the 30 loop I was horrified.

To make sure I was seeing this correctly I brought out my Celestron microscope and confirmed what I thought was on the coin. I couldn't believe I had paid what I paid for this coin and not a single mention of it from the seller. I fully expected this to be a truly pristine coin with virtually no flaws whatsoever. I was SHOCKED!

I sent snapshot taken with my Celestron scope to another collector here on the CS and asked for an opinion. "Wow, what and ugly coin" was the response. Of course I whole heartedly agreed.

I contacted the seller (whose name will remain anonymous because my friend has successfully dealt with him many times) and was told it would not be a problem to swap the coin for another they had on eBay. So I sent the coin back and waited for the other coin to arrive. No coin after what I thought was a reasonable time so I contacted the seller again. I was told they did not have another in inventory and they questioned me as to why I was bothering them about the coin that NGC graded.

Now don't get me wrong, I know he had nothing to do with grading the coin. However, as the authorized NGC agent responsible for selling the coin, I believe they had everything to do with selling the coin at max price with no disclosure to the problems within. The only resolution was keep the coin or ask for a refund, which I did.

Now missing a chance to own one of the 16 graded examples the search goes on. I have found a coin of different date and MM to replace this with the funds I used for the 1968 D Lincoln in MS67RD. Hopefully, it will be here soon and I can brag about it instead.

Here is a picture of what I found with the Celestron microscope. What do my fellow members think of my decision to return the coin?

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