Mohawk

No problem....and you're fine. Those letters are inconspicuous, which is exactly what they wanted back in 1918......it's easy to miss them.

Hi Thomas, Yes, they are. They are V.D.B. the initials of Victor D. Brenner, the designer of the Lincoln Wheat Cent. On the first 1909 issues, the initials were prominently placed on the reverse and then removed later in 1909. In 1918, the V.D.B reappeared where you see them on your 2020 cent and have been there ever since then. Your cent is completely normal. I hope that this helps!

Once I get into Faustina the Younger's posthumous series, I likely will, too!!! Many of those are TOUGH in any grade, let alone for something I would normally consider presentable. There is a variety of sestertius in her posthumous series which has dancing girls on the reverse....that sucker is over $500 in what would be considered PO-1 for more modern coinage!!!

I actually did have a coin graded for resale that was a PO-1. It was a 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter. But that was the only PO-1 I've ever graded.

Indeed. I think that was one of the key ingredients in the success of the Loonie in Canada. They just ditched the one dollar note and made everyone use the Loonie. And the Loonie is still working just fine in Canada to this very day. It's even become a point of national pride with Canadians and a part of their identity.....they're proud of the Loonie.

Well.....the environmental damage makes it really hard to see the details of the coin in the photos but based on Photograde and accounting for the environmental damage that makes see the details difficult, I'm going to say XF Details-Environmental Damage.

As someone who took entire college level courses on the Byzantine Empire and the Medieval Caliphates, trust me, you do not want that.

But it served its purpose as a medium of exchange. I think there's something to be said for that.

Another great entry, Don! I love that even though you're tending to other things currently, you're still keeping your finger on the pulse in your collecting area. As for me, with what I collect, I haven't experienced anything like this and I probably won't for a couple of reasons. The first is that most of Faustina the Younger's coins are very, very common. Even 1,891 years after she was born, her coins remain extremely common. I think I said this in another of your entries but I'll repeat it here....Faustina the Younger coinage is almost like the 1980's baseball cards of Second Century CE coinage. Secondly, most people who collect Roman coins aren't collecting them the way that I do. I only know of a couple of other people trying to build a comprehensive collection of the coinage of a single ruler and none of them are chasing Faustina. As far as I know, I'm the only one collecting her coinage with the goal of a full set, or rather, as much of a full set as we know of. You can never be sure you have everything with ancients and, likely, you don't and never will. So, most people buy a single Faustina and move onto another person whose coin they do not have yet. As a result, my little numismatic world hasn't changed much with the rising prices. I'm actually very happy about that. I don't chase Faustina for money. I chase her out of love. But, for you guys who are collecting in areas that are crazy, I do hope things settle down some for you. I can imagine that this price craziness has been something of a drag for many of you. ~Tom

I, for one, think there's a lot to be said for simplicity. After years of pursuing graded coins and winning two big NGC Registry awards, I found myself feeling dissatisfied with the hobby a bit. So, I tried a new project (my Faustina the Younger project) and I decided to go very simple with it.....just me, the raw coins, 2x2 holders and a nice Whitman stock book. I love it and it completely rejuvenated me collecting-wise. This was in 2019, and I'm still loving the project and working on it. I like simple....getting back to the raw coins and everything and I like seeing another collector simplify. And, judging by your Flying Eagle there, you're having more hits than misses and you said you're having fun. That's the most important part right there.....this is a hobby. It should be fun

Very cool, Mike!! It sounds like you're off to a great start and you're getting involved in the hobby for all of the right reasons. If you keep going like you have been so far, asking good questions and taking the answers you receive to heart, you're going to do very well. If you have questions about your other coins, take some photos and post them up on the boards. A good rule of thumb is to post each coin in it's own individual post. Otherwise, it can get confusing. But, if you do that, I'm sure that we could help you out!

Nope. Looks like a normal circulated 1982-D Washington Quarter with some environmental damage.

Tell me about it, Jason. There was this one guy here when I first joined NGC in 2010. He had no ability to grade nor censor himself when he would submit coins to NGC. This led to this guy grading things like 1969-D dimes in MS 63 and 2000-P State Quarters in MS 64. His crowning achievement was submitting an AU 55 Bicentennial half dollar. Any time anyone tried to give him advice, he'd just turn into a belligerent a**. The funny thing is he left a few years later because he said collecting coins was a hobby that he was constantly losing money at.

Hi Jaynh, Roger and Oldhoopster got this one just right.

All I see are some perfectly normal copper-plated zinc Lincoln Cents with plating blisters. As Kurt said, plating blisters are very common on 1980's cents.

No problem. I just didn't want you to get the wrong Emperor for your collecting goals. Tiberius....now I can actually help you with him somewhat. He was the second Roman Emperor, but there were others that had Tiberius as part of their names later on, so you probably want to search for his coins using the term Tiberius I. Now, he's going to be a bit pricey for a nice coin because there are many ancient collectors that seek to build "12 Caesars" sets, or coins of the first 12 Roman Emperors, which puts additional demand on Tiberius' coins. I did a VCoins search for you I hope that this link works and takes you to the listings for Tiberius: https://www.vcoins.com/en/Search.aspx?search=true&searchQuery=Tiberius+I&searchQueryExclude=&searchCategory=0&searchCategoryLevel=2&searchCategoryAncient=True&searchCategoryUs=True&searchCategoryWorld=True&searchCategoryMedieval=False&searchBetween=0&searchBetweenAnd=0&searchDate=&searchUseThesaurus=True&searchDisplayCurrency=&searchDisplay=1&searchIdStore=0&searchQueryAnyWords=&searchExactPhrase=&searchTitleAndDescription=True&searchDateType=0&searchMaxRecords=100&SearchOnSale=False&Unassigned=False And remember the dates of his reign 14 to 37.....that should definitely help avoid later Byzantine Emperors with Tiberius in their names. I think the link will work and you can see what's available for Tiberius. And VCoins sellers are reputable....many of my Faustinas have come from them. I should also mention that anything silver from Tiberius is going to be pricey because it's scarce. You can thank Nero for that because he was the first Emperor to debase the denarius, which led to the melting of many of the older silver pieces, including Tiberius'. Here are a couple of affordable Tiberius coins I wouldn't kick out of bed: https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/london_ancient_coins/89/product/tiberius_1437__as__rome__r_rudder_with_globe/1512654/Default.aspx https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/david_connors/41/product/tiberius_ae27_dupondius_commagene__caduceus_between_crossed_cornucopia/1512560/Default.aspx https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/london_ancient_coins/89/product/tiberius_1437_phrygia_eumeneia___kleon_agapetos_magistrate/1287359/Default.aspx I should mention that I've bought coins from both of those sellers and been very happy in all instances

Bill.....without commenting on any of the other content of the post, I just wanted to let you know that the coin you have pictured is Augustus, the first Roman Emperor, who reigned from 27 BCE-14 CE Tiberius came after him and reigned from 14-37 CE. So, if you're looking for Tiberius, the coin pictured is not him. Augustus was the actual title of all of the Roman Emperors, actually, and the Empresses were referred to by the title Augusta. I know, it's confusing, but if you want a Tiberius, I wanted to save you from buying the wrong Emperor.

Yep.....Mercari is very bad, as is Etsy. eBay is a mixed bag.....there are good sellers and bad sellers. I actually sell coins on eBay myself. But there are some bad guys there, too. If you have any particular place you're looking at buying coins from in the future, let us know what it is and who the seller is before you make a purchase so we can give you some input and try to help you avoid a repeat of this experience.

Without knowing what the coin is, trying to give any advice on it is a fool's errand. Until the secrecy is dropped.......

Hello and Welcome Mikhail!!! Well, since you're planning on keeping your coins for your own personal collection, there's no need to send them off to be graded. Submitting coins to NGC and PCGS is a pricey endeavor and if you don't get a PF 70 on your coins, you could end up losing money. If you want to have them graded by NGC or PCGS for your own reasons, such as wanting to participate on the Registries, then you should go right ahead and do so but if that kind of thing isn't important to you, then the original packaging is just fine. As far as companies go, it's really up to you. Go with whoever's holder and grading you like better between NGC and PCGS if you do decide to grade them. With modern U.S. issues, it really doesn't make much of a difference. But let me reiterate that you certainly do not need to grade them. I have an extensive collection of Roman coins from Empress Faustina the Younger. Not a single one of them is in a third party grading service slab. I don't ever plan to sell them, so I see no need to do so. If you do want to send your reverse proof ASE set in, you don't need to send them in the box that the mint shipped them to you in. You can just send them in the capsules. I sell a lot of modern coins which I do send into NGC for certification and I always just send them in the capsules if they have them. You made a great choice by joining our little community. There is a ton of knowledge here and we're always willing to help a newbie who really wants to learn in any way that we can. I hope you stay with us. I'd love to see where your journey in this great hobby takes you!

Well, compared to all of that fun Medieval stuff you listed, Quintus, the penitentiary system IS a bright point!!! Much more humane for sure!!

That's another nice depiction of a Bald Eagle. I like it, Bill!!!

Yep. What you have is a dryer coin. This is a coin that gets stuck in a clothes dryer and gets worn down by the action of the dryer, which is what has happened to your coin. It's worth face value.

Hello and Welcome Lisae!! I think I can help you here. What you have is a Lincoln Cent which has been plated in a white metal, probably zinc. High school and undergraduate college chemistry classes often plate Lincoln Cents as part of their lessons. I partook in this particular activity in my chemistry class in my junior year of high school and we plated A LOT of cents, as did all of the other sections of that class. Many of these plated cents end up back in circulation once the novelty of a weird colored cent wears off. I hope that this is of some help to you!

I agree with the others. As far as monetary value goes, it's a bullion coin. But, the value to your family as an heirloom is much, much more. You really can't put a price on that kind of thing. I'd definitely hold onto it unless you were in a desperate financial situation. It's been in your family this long, it should stay there if at all possible