Just Bob

This was in 1986, when they were first issued. No one was grading them then.

That is the most likely explanation, which usually turns out to be the correct one.

From the ad: "The fields on each side of the coin are accented with a lovely iridescent toning representing all the colors of the rainbow and the Liberty and eagle designs are enhanced with a shiny silver foil." Wow. They are selling admittedly AT'd coins at Littleton now. They will look great sitting on your shelf between your gold-plated presidential dollars and your colorized state quarters.

My guess would be upwards of 3 grand in today's market.

Stacks-Bowers auction archive Heritage auction archive

When PCGS and NGC first started grading, common date Morgans like the 1881-s in MS65 sold for upwards of $800. Of course, an MS65 back then was today's MS66 or MS67. Still, it was a lot to pay for a coin that turned out to be common in higher grades. The price has dipped below $100 several times over the years since then. MS65s are selling now on Ebay for $170 - $200. I also remember when the Statue of Liberty $5 gold coins came out. The 500,000 mintage sold out before the coins were issued. Original pre-sale price was $160 for the MS and $165 for the Proof. The MS version was the lower mintage of the two at under 100,000 pieces. At the first major coin show after the release, they were selling for over $700. That price came back down to earth just a few years later. Even now, you can buy a slabbed MS70 for around $600.

That is why I asked the OP about the design. The first pic made it look incuse to my eyes, but if it is raised, then this can't be a hub trial or a transfer die.

Well, you have proven that you are no slouch when it comes to picking out nice coins to send in, so I will be surprised if they come back with low grades. Were the turtle coins Ben's idea?

OP, is the design raised or incuse?

Neither the OP's coin nor the Photograde example posted by Jim had a chain on the reverse that was "worn down". They have a wreath on the reverse. That is why they are called "wreath cents." There was a cent minted in 1793 that had a chain on the reverse. It was called a "chain cent."

If you get high enough grades to win back the top spot, will you wait until the last minute to enter them into your set?

The fact that they would have created a new master hub that year to recess the date was what gave me the idea that this might be a trial. But as I said, I don't want to get anyone's hopes up, because you are probably right about trial strikes not being necessary. Someone familiar with mint practices at the time would be better able to answer that question than I am.

I don't want to create false hope, but is there any chance that this could be a uniface hub trial?

I believe there may have been a misunderstanding about what Sandon was saying caused the spot on your coin. Your first picture made it look as though the spot was raised above the surface - a lump, if you will - which would have been the result of a gouge in the die that was used to make your coin. Your response sounded las though you thought he was talking about a gouge in the coin itself. I believe he was talking about a die gouge. A relatively minor issue, but I felt it may be helpful to clear it up for future readers of this thread.

That is way too young. So sad for his family and friends.

My thoughts exactly. Thank you.

Welcome to the forum. As you probably know, the Lincoln cent design was changed in 2009 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth and the 100th anniversary of the introduction of the Lincoln cent. Four different reverse designs were used: "Birth & Childhood" featuring a log cabin, "Formative Years" showing Lincoln reading while sitting on a log he apparently had been splitting, "Professional Life" (the design of your coin) showing Lincoln as he was in the state legislature, and "Presidency," featuring the Capitol building with the dome under construction. As is usually the case with new issues, these coins were (and still are) pulled from circulation and put away as keepsakes by the millions. There were over 600 million of the "Professional Life" design minted, and since millions were saved, they are not rare. They are only worth face value unless they are in pristine condition. In coin grading terms, that would be MS65 or better. Yours appear to be lightly circulated, so they are worth one cent.

If I were going to collect store cards, this is exactly the kind of token I would go for. Interesting, ornate, or unusual pictures, designs, or lettering are very appealing and can form a collection that anyone would enjoy viewing.

Defend spam posters all you want. I will continue to call them out. And, no "dues" have to be paid to post here. Membership is free. And seriously, did you even read his post before he edited it and removed the spam?

Go ahead and get a copy of The Standard Catalogue of United States Tokens 1700-1900 by Russel Rulau (Whitman Publishing). If you start collecting and researching store cards, you will eventually need to look up something that isn't in the Fuld book. A 4th edition (2004) will set you back about $200 or so, but you can find a 3rd edition (1991 I think) for around $15. (Yes, $15. That is not a typo.) It has over 1000 pages of pictures and information.

Looks like it was supposed to resemble a Byzantine solidus or similar, but it was probably something sold at one of the tourist traps in Turkey.

Good to see you back on this side of the street.

You can play innocent if you want to, but you intentionally hid a Spam link that was totally unrelated to the subject of the thread, and you knew full well what you were doing. And, what's worse is that it's one of those sites that apparently (I did not click the link ) will write your dissertation for you. How dishonest is that? So, how does that work? Do you get paid every time somebody clicks that link? You don't have to worry about removing it. I'm sure the moderators will take care of that.

Very sneaky! I have to hand it to you, that is the best job of hiding spam in a post that I have seen so far. But, it did not work. You have been reported to the moderators, and you will likely be banned. Bye bye!

Those look like fingerprints. I have a feeling that what Powermad said is correct. You may be able to change the appearance, but I doubt you can get rid of it entirely without severely altering the look and color of the coin. Anything that would completely remove the spots would almost certainly make the coin look unnatural and cleaned.