Coinbuf

You do what you want, I have a beautiful 1946 already so I don't need to see this one. In fact here is what beautiful uncleaned details looks like, just for you.

How do you define "good". From your photos it would appear to be an environmentally damaged 1946 Lincoln wheat cent and my red book shows that 991,655,000 were coined in Philly in 1946, certainly not rare by any definition. Yes some collectors will be amazed to find a coin this old and consider that a good find, others would not give it a second look due to the poor condition of the coin. Cleaning coins, unless done by someone very knowledgeable with experience using various chemicals, is more than likely to damage a coin as opposed to helping it. There is no law against cleaning coins, if you want to clean a coin you purchased or found that is your choice.

People are batsh!t crazy.

I am in the same boat, that MS68 quarter really emptied the piggy bank and then some! But as I studied the pops and the points it was one of the best bang for the buck opportunities so I went ahead and swung for it. While some coins in both our sets are maxed out at the current top pop, there are still some coins that can be upgraded. But as you noted most of those upgrades, especially the 40-S Walker in 67 and the MS68 quarters are big money.

Yes I agree that it is very nice that NGC is thinking collector first rather than exclusion first. Perhaps this is true in some limited situations, say world coins and a few US coin outliers. But in the overall US coin market PCGS coins more often than not sell for more than NGC, like it or not that is the reality of the market. Personally this works in my favor many times, one example. I spent over a year looking for a nice 1940-S Lincoln in MS67+, I had the opportunity to purchase a couple of PCGS graded CAC approved examples but at prices near or over 1K. I was patient and eventually was able to find and purchase my NGC example for less than half those PCGS graded examples and then sent to CAC where it was approved.

Welcome to the forum! Good to hear that you are happy with the courses and feel that you gained knowledge from them.

This is labeled as NGC 2.1 in Conder's book, it is worth noting that this slab actually precedes the gen 2.0 holder. You can tell the difference between a gen 2.0 and a gen 2.1 by the reverse hologram, on a 2.0 you will see a shadow under the hologram but not with a 2.1. That is because on the 2.1 the hologram was printed on the insert inside of the holder the same way the gen 1 holder was, while on a 2.0 (and gen 3) it was printed on the outside of the holder and thus will cast a shadow onto the white insert.

Welcome to the forum! There are no rules on doing an introduction, However, we would be happy to read about your story and see some of the coins you collect. So if you want to feel free to start an introduction thread, you will get the most views and engagement if you post it in the newbie or US/world coin sections of the forum. In the newbie section there is a pinned thread with tips on what/how to post questions if or when you have any, those tips are good guidelines for posting in any section of the forum. This is a very good forum with many knowledgeable collectors that are willing to help and share their knowledge, however this forum has a somewhat small number of members that participate on a regular basis, so don't be surprised if you do not see activity on threads quickly.

Because a 1916 Philly dime in this condition is worth $1ish depending on silver melt values, however, a 16-D even in a low grade like this is worth around 1K if in a top TPG slab. That is plenty of incentive for counterfeiters to create as many fake 16-D's as they can. While I am no expert on the series the mintmark does look off to me, I think the dealer is being honest with you on his assessment. But if real this is a valuable coin, it may be worth it to send it to one of the less expensive TPG services for authentication. ANACS offers some very budget friendly options and might be worth taking a look at if you want to be sure about this coin's authenticity. Of course NGC is a top TPG for coins and if you want to send to our hosts that is a slightly more expensive but solid option as well.

Agreed you have a well known counterfeit, however, it is not totally without value as there are collectors and dealers that like to collect counterfeits like this.

Do you have the ability to post nice clear in focus cropped photos of each side of the 16-D dime along with a clear closeup of the mintmark? Getting a second opinion is a smart idea and with good photos we may be able to confirm if you have a counterfeit. As you said your father-in-law sold all his coins in slabs previously, that could indicate that he may have known that this coin was not genuine. While it may look bad for the dealer to offer you what may seem like a low ball offer for it, some collectors and dealers like to collect counterfeits, so without any other information to go on I will stop short of condemning the dealers actions. As to prices, the first order of business is are you confident that you can assess and accurately grade the coins you have. Because in order to price a coin you have to know what the grade is in order to do any research. Once you have it graded then you can search through a retail site like Ebay as @JKK suggested, be sure to only search completed listings to see what coins in the same grade have actually sold for. Another resource is a publication called "The Gray Sheet", this is a paid subscription service so you would need to weigh the cost vs the benefit, and again you would need to know the grades for the publication to be of any use.

Because NGC is collector friendly and recognizes that not every collector is a kool-aid chugging fool like the PCGS only registry. I buy coins not plastic, if I like a coin and that coin is in an NGC holder great I'll buy it, PCGS holder, great I'm a buyer, ICG, ANACS, whatever the plastic is not the goal. That NGC allows both brands of plastic is a good thing and why I have over 70 registry sets here and just a couple of incomplete sets on the PCGS site.

Here is an illustration clash overlay for a half dime. This photo was created and posted on the maddieclashes website Link http://www.maddieclashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/40523322.jpg

Many, perhaps most of the members of forums like this and the PCGS forum are not your "average" collector. Someone like yourself is not what I would consider an "average" collector, you are very much an outlier as most collectors do not buy coins with significant value and hold for four decades, that is rather rare in general. Many things happen during four decades that preclude holding that long, divorce, illness, and other life events may force the sale of assets before a collector had planned or wanted. To me, and what I see at most local coin shows, the average collector is the guy plugging albums with good to fine merc dimes, Lincoln cents, or similar types of coins. So when he (or his heirs) walk into a coin shop looking to sell the collection (some will say accumulation) of albums with well circulated coins, a mini horde of mint and proof sets, and the random low grade better or key date coin, it is very possible they will see 50 cents on the dollar in return. Timing, composition and type of coins, and luck also play a significant role in how well a collector does when a collection is liquidated. You say that if you sold right now you would do well, are/have you sold right now? Because if you have/are not selling all you have is paper profit. What was your position prior to the last few years of the very unusual bull run that the collectables market has seen? I am willing to bet that your friend would not have realized a 200% gain had he sold in 2018, timing and luck played a big part in his sucess. You did not say but I am guessing that a large portion of your friends collection was in gold coins, a segment of the market that has risen significantly during the past two years. It is not hard to make a 200% gain if he bought when gold was $200-$300 an ounce and sold now when its priced at 2K an ounce. But again some smart buying, some luck timing the market, along with a long holding period can produce such a result even after figuring in the holding and lost opportunities cost. Composition of the collection is a factor, buying gold in the 60's, 70's all the way up to even the late 20 teens and then selling in the past year would result in some very impressive gains. But just because a collector buys and holds is no guaranty of financial sucess. If you had gone all in on classic commemoratives during their price run-up you would still be in the hole, way in the hole after those prices collapsed when you consider the time value and holding cost of the money tied up by those coins. Also, if your collection was comprised mostly of mint products purchased directly from the mint you could very well be in a rather deep financial hole given the premiums the mint has (especially recently) charged and how many of those products have fared in the market after the hype dies down. Just look at the run up and now the decline on the prices for the 2021 Morgan and Peace dollars, if you bought and sold early in the cycle you did well, if you bought and held you are essentially even now and you could end up losing money if you hold for a long time after factoring in the holding costs. Even the grade levels of the coins in the collection can have a big impact, if you were buying MS66 Lincolns (or almost any 19th century series) when they were top pops at the time you have seen a drastic decline in your collection value due to gradeflation and the enormous explosion of MS67, 67+, and 68 coins added to the populations over the past ten+ years. Same is true with gold coins, if you were buying common date bullion type gold coins you have the risk of your collection value falling if the price of gold were to fall. Better date and high grade gold coins are less susceptible to spot price, but are not immune to global events, say like a new world war. I'm happy for you and those you know that your/their collection performed well and provided a nice gain. However what goes up can also fall and if you have not already sold there is always the possibility that your collection value could be reduced in the future. It is easy to cherry pick this moment in time and claim victory when the coin market has seen such a significant increase in values over the past two years, and kudos to those who recognized the opportunity (I'm not one) and sold into this very strong market. The rest of us may get lucky and see our collection value continue to rise, or we may want to kick ourselves for not getting out now. Sadly my crystal ball is always cloudy. But what I do know is that I am not counting on my collection's value to provide for my retirement, while I hope it provides a bit of a gain when I decide to sell I am not counting on that for my golden years.

Just from these photos I would think it has a decent chance to bean.

Hanson is a unique situation, remember that he owns a part of DLRC and having all those so-called extras with his name on them is simply a marketing thing. I guess it is/has been working, and I suspect there must be some deal with PCGS to have coins put into his brand of holder/label for less than normal fee. Then those coins are sold using the label as a selling point even though many of the coins were never actually a part of the core collection. Which is actually against the policy as set out on the PCGS website, but it seems there is some flexibility on the rules for the right customers. Personally I don't own any of those slabs, but if I did ever buy one I would figure in the cost to have the coin reslabbed without his name on it. I think savvy collectors are onto this scheme now and see those coins for what they are rather than what they are not. However some people are very easily influenced by a name, be that Hanson or Kardashian, for those folks these items may be highly coveted. And I think that when the core collection is sold many of those items have the potential to set record prices and will be highly desired, not for the name but simply because the coins are incredible. Now will that result in a true profit after all the holding costs and other financial factors are included is another story. But this again is the type of collector that does not have to worry about the price of a meal or a gallon of gas like a normal working person does, so profit or not is really not a big concern I suspect. But back to your original question, sure some coins do sell for a profit even after taking into account things like the holding cost and all. But those situations are not the normal, most collectors (if they are honest) would be happy to recover their original purchase cost, however most will not. Barring some unusual fluke market (somewhat like the past two year covid market) being able to "profit" from a coin sale happens when the coin is bought not when it is sold. And to be fair most hobbies have a zero chance of recouping any of the monies we spend on them. Golf, nope you get the good times and memories but those green fees are gone forever. Travel, again good times and memories but airlines and hotels are not giving money back to travelers. So if you can get 50% or more of your purchase cost back in the future you are doing well, that is why coin collecting should be done with disposable income, not the income you need to live on or retire on. Clearly my comments are geared to collectors and not dealers.

Welcome to the forum, posts to sell coins should be in the coin marketplace section of the forum. Each of the coins you listed are worth $1 or so each on a full retail site like Ebay, although it is possible to see some rip off artists who are looking to gouge people with outrageous prices on sites like etsy, facebook, and other social media sites. Unless these are in exceptional condition, and graded high by a reputable TPG like NGC, it will cost you more to ship them than anyone here would pay for them. My suggestion is to spend them or save them to hand down to family members at some time in the future.

A soft cloth can impart hairlines on coins, just think what a hard rubber eraser repeatedly rubbed over the surface of a coin will do. Acetone is not rubbing or creating friction with the surface of a coin, all it is doing is dissolving any organic matter it come into contact with.

Good way to ruin any numismatic value of a gold coin.

Very often TV photos have a pronounced red shift, my guess is that the coin actually looks somewhere in between the two sets of photos. I personally do not find that coin attractive from either photo, maybe in hand would be different.

These three coins are very nice collectable coins, just not suitable for sending in for slabbing. These are perfect for use raw in an album or coin folder, every coin has its place in the collecting world, few are worth slabbing. There are other options to the expensive service fees at NGC or PCGS, ANACS has a much less expensive option that collectors can use to have coins graded and slabbed. Here is a screen shot of pricing at ANACS, you could also use ICG as I hear their fees are lower also. Keep in mind that you would have to add in the shipping and any handling costs to the grading fees shown in the photo below I cannot stress enough that while these options are less expensive I am in in no way suggesting that you should send these three coins to be graded and slabbed, it will be a waste of your money. As I said these are coins that should be left as they are and used for a purpose that is fitting for the coins, raw in albums or folders.

I would send that back for a refund, it may meet (just meet) the bar for an MS65 but I find that coin to be very unattractive for the grade. If you bought from a large online bullion dealer many of those outfits use stock photos with the disclaimer that the coin you receive may look different than the photo.

Cleaned AU is the best guess I can make from your photos. As already noted there is little else we can say from such poor photos.

There is no way to tell for sure from the photos you have given us, however from what little I can see I'm leaning towards fake.