Coinbuf

Early copper is a tough area to collect as many of these were cleaned and recolored as that was an acceptable practice to many collectors in the 18th century. You might find it useful to find a dealer that specializes in this area to help you find a quality coin considering the amount of money you are looking to spend. As to your questions the pitting on the first coin likely was caused by some form of corrosion, which might have been the result of spending time in the ground or as simple as PVC. The early minting process was crude and the planchets were not always as smooth and uniform as they are today so its also possible that some of those pits may have been there at the time of coining, I cannot tell either way. I would never consider the second coin with the active corrosion, that will need to be conserved or it will continue to eat away at the coin. Already the surfaces under that green gunk are most likely damaged and its very unfortunate that the coin received a straight grade. Maybe NGC would conserve it under their guarantee but that is something that I would consult with NGC on before I ever consider bidding on. Recoloring is something that usually can be seen well after the job was done as the surfaces change over time. This is something that you have to study and see enough examples of so that when you see it you know it. This is the earliest copper piece that I own, I think this is a good piece that has not been badly molested; or at least not that I can tell. Its a raw coin that is in my 7070 album and I doubt that it would straight grade due to the rim hits and is a perfect album coin in my mind.

Grading is an opinion given at one point in time, it is not a completely repeatable science but more of an art form under todays market grading structure. When comparing coins and grades you have to take both sides of the coin into account, as yo have only provided one side we can only give feedback on that side not the coin in total. Also you have two different coins with photos that were taken by two different individuals under different lighting conditions which also affects the outcome. So with all that in mind here are my thoughts on your coin, the obv fields are very clean with good luster, there are some heavy bag marks in the prime focal areas. The strike is good but not completely full, noting some weakness in the cotton balls and the cheek is not fully struck up. This date is usually seen well struck with great luster, I would score the obv as an MS64 and perhaps the rev of your coin brought down the grade. For your reference this is my example and it is graded MS65, note how much cleaner (less marks) the devices are on my example than yours. I can certainly sympathize with your feelings as I thought this would go MS66 when I sent it in, but that is the grading game.

I had never heard of these coins so I had to do a google search, kind of interesting design and an unusual reason for the coining of these.

You can let it soak for as long as you want it has no effect on the coin itself. I have a pair of plastic tongs that I can hold the coin by the sides with and then gently move the coin side to side in the acetone to help agitate and loosen any organic matter. Give it another hour soak then run warm water over the coin to wash off the material that the acetone has loosened, rinse and repeat as many times as needed. Remember to dry off the coin between each cycle with a soft cloth, patting dry not rubbing. After the last cycle use new clean acetone and just a quick dip of the coin and air dry.

In no specific order: Official Guide to Coin Grading and Counterfeit Detection from PCGS Cherrypickers Guide by Bill Fivaz and JT Stanton This is an excellent reference to replace all that bogus youtube garbage Official ANA Grading Standards for United States Coins This is somewhat out dated with todays TPG market grading but provides an excellent grading base. New Photograde by James F Ruddy Also somewhat older but still relevant. From Mine to Mint by our own Rodger W Burdette aka RWB Indian Gold Coins of the 20th Century by Mike Fuljenz History of the United States Mint and its Coinage by David W Lange A Collectors Guide to Indian Head Quarter Eagles by Mike Fuljenz The complete Guide to Liberty seated dimes by Brian Greer a fantastic web resource for seated dimes: http://www.seateddimevarieties.com/index.htm The Flying Eagle and Indian Cent Attribution Guide by Richard Snow These are some that come to mind right off, I will add that if you are interested in seated coinage joining the Liberty Seated Collectors Club is well worth the fee and I would also suggest that you look over Gerry Fortin's website which I linked above.

Thanksgiving copper!

Happy Thanksgiving to all the NGC family, may everyone have a safe and blessed day.

Sweet sounds like a nice newp for your set, yes family first although this year will be much less family. My oldest daughter is pregnant and is staying away from everyone due to the C19 and youngest is working in another state. So this will be a very small turkey day gathering, you and your family have a happy thanksgiving!!

A good Idea, one thought is to pm JKK and see if he would be willing to insert some of this info into his thread that the NGC team recently pinned at the top of this section.

@Revenant I have found that it depends on if your on the new or old registry, I recently asked Ali a question about a problem I was seeing with inventory on the old system and she informed me that they are aware of it but as they are not really spending time maintaining the old system that some issues were popping up. I have noticed that if I update photos and descriptions on the old system that most of the time those will populate the new system. However if I make those changes on the new system they do not seem to be reflected in the old system, so far I have been making most of my changes to the new system as I expect that is what the registry team will be looking at when they do their review. But I will also go in and update the old system too just in case. If you view that set on the new registry all the photos are there and it also includes my custom set photo that you see at the top of the set. I plan to spend some time this weekend trying to finish up all the descriptions but there is a ton of info I still need to add and I may run out of time unfortunately.

Moving out of your comfort zone is not always easy but can help you to learn to grade better in all series so kudos there. My impression is that this Peace is AU 53 to 55 max, the top of the bun shows a definite color change in the top photo that is a good sign of wear. The eagle's feathers at the top of the wing also look blended as do the leg feathers, also the fields of both sides have that "lived-in" look(my own made up phrase) and subdued luster that indicates the coin spent some time in circulation. That is my assessment from these photos, with an in hand look or different photos I might have a different view. I will say that I find the Peace Dollar a very tough series to judge from photos many times.

Yes I guess it would be asking/expecting too much of you that you just grow up and act like an adult. Yes seeing and answering the same questions over and over can get a little dull and boring, but everyone was new at some time and asking questions is one way of learning. Most of the time those of us who do respond to these questions also provide a link to the resource so that in the future the newbie can refer to the resource first. Granted that does not always work, and its easy to figure out the ones that are not here to learn and simply dismiss those threads. However sarcastic and but hurt replies only turn new people away and in the end do not help the hobby, even I have been guilty of this a time or two.

Thank you sir Honestly I think about it all the time, but deep at heart I'm a coin collector and the coin itself is what is important more so than the grade. And I just really like the look of those old holders like the rattler so I really don't think I'll ever send it in. Lol, However this way I have set myself up for a triple dose of disappointment. I have been looking for the past few months for the three coins I need in NGC plastic but just did not find the right coins at a price I was ok spending. I could have filled the slots with any ho-hum example just to have the slot filled with an NGC example but I just will not do that anymore. So while not absolutely necessary I did the math and figured that removing the three coins will be the best way to reach the end goal, it stings a bit though as I really hate to have the set appear incomplete. Anyhow thank you all, while winning awards is not the reason I participate in the registry I thought to myself that if I am going to participate it would be nice to at least be able to have a chance for one of the major awards.

You are fine using NGC as opposed to writing out the full name Numismatic Guarantee Company, note that you still need to fill out the full address. I have found that the postal service is all over the place when it comes to supplying the tape. Per the USPS they will not supply the paper tape you must supply it yourself, in practice I have heard of some postal stations that will/have supplied tape to some customers. But I would suggest that rather than taking that chance you should get a roll of the proper paper tape and have the package ready to go when you arrive at your postal location. For what its worth I have found that using FedEx 2 day saver rate coupled with an external private insurance provider (I use Ship and Insure) is faster, more cost effective, and you don't have to mess with the paper tape issue. Something you can consider looking into for future shipments.

Ok down you animals I'm already spoken for, no what I'm referring to here is that this year for the first time ever I will have a registry set (multiple sets in fact) that are eligible for NGC major awards. My 1936 mint set has 10 of the fifteen slots filled and all the coins are NGC certified, yep not one PCGS coin in this set. And I expect that I will have high quality photos and descriptions for all of the current ten coins in the set by Dec 4th. I have set a goal for myself to have this set 100% complete by 2023 so that will be one of my collecting areas of focus going forward. My 1940 set is the one I'm most proud of as this set was put together to celebrate my mothers birth year. The 1940 set does have three of the 14 slots filled with PCGS coins and while it would be nice to have this set also all NGC it would be impossible to replace my 1940s dime, while only graded as MS65FB this coin has been awarded a gold CAC bean and I believe that it would at least grade as an MS67FB coin today. Also this year I have restructured my 1909-1958 Lincoln set in order to meet the 75% rule, sadly I had to reduce the overall score with some under graded coins. And while this set is actually 100% complete I will also have to remove three of the PCGS coins to meet the 75% rule so for this years competition it will appear as though it is not complete. However my set is the only set to have 100% nice high quality photos; and 100% full complete descriptions (well it will as I am finishing up the last of the photos now). There is not another set in this category that can even come close to this claim, most have a few of the stock NGC photos and a handful of comments; and most of those comments are a word or two at best. This is not hold the press crazy amazing news, but for the first time ever a few of my sets are over the 75% NGC coins in the set rule and the at least 50% complete rule. While I do not expect to win any major awards its nice that at least I have something that can be considered.

Welcome to the forum, yes it is very possible that conservation will fix the issue, however the cost to conserve the three coin set will indeed cost more than it will to simply replace the set. On ebay there are several of these sets selling for between $18 to $22, it will cost you more than that to conserve just one coin. Its your choice and your set, but financially speaking it will be cheaper to sell the one you have and replace it with a haze free set. Best to you on your coin journey.

Bucking for another time out?

Neither appear to be but a closeup of the mintmarks would be needed to say for sure; have you attempted to match these to known examples of 1957 D RPM's?

An acetone bath will not hurt silver and will remove most organic substances. Remember that acetone is very flammable so use a glass container and use in a well ventilated area away from heat and flame.

1938P Thanks for the chance, you must have had one heck of a headache after sorting all those.

No no numismatic premium for a coin with some missing detail due to a grease filled die, its very very common. As to the set again no not unless one of the coins were to grade at the MS68 level or better and from your photos I do not see that as a possibility.

Welcome to the forum, that looks like the die had accumulated some grease on it which will often result in some part of the design or lettering being soft or missing.

Back on the sauce? Did you bring any rabbit stew back with you??

This is an effect that is very often seen on the zinc core copper plated modern cents and is called split plate doubling. The name implies that this is a type of double die however that is not at all true as this is not a result of any sort of doubling at all. This quote from Lincoln Cents Online does a good job of explaining this; " Split plate doubling usually occurs on the side of the devices facing the rim. It is most commonly found on the mint mark but it can affect any of the raised areas of the coins design. It is caused by the thin Copper plating being stretched and torn as the coin is struck. Sometimes the edges of the die will catch on the plating, causing it to over stretch." So when viewing the modern zinc Lincolns anytime you see the silver ghosting around the devices this is what causes that effect.