Coinbuf

The coin has what is known as split plate doubling. This happens on the copper plated zinc core cents very often. When the dies strike the coin the copper plating is stretched, at some point it breaks and then you see the zinc core showing thru as it does on your coin. Sometimes the copper plating just bunches up next to the lettering or devices and gives the appearance of doubling. This is nothing of importance and falls within the mint's production tolerance for circulation coinage. It does however confuse new collectors and fortune hunters who are not aware of this effect.

It is worth $.25, nothing special, no errors, just a beat up coin.

Putting together a display of such coins is easy, we have a plethora of examples that have been posted here alone. Getting a newbie or fortune seeker to read and accept such a concept is quite a different thing.

You nailed it without any help.

I have never sent in an ASE for grading because I see no reason to do that, like you I prefer to leave the few I have in the og packaging. The release is your okie dokke for NGC to remove the coin. And indemnifing NGC against accidental damage. Those mint capsules are very tight and can be difficult to open. If signing the release bothers a submitter, they have the option to remove the coin themselves and skip the release.

Everything you see on your quarter is damage after it left the mint.

Yes, you have to sign the release that authorizes NGC to remove any coins from the mint capsule.

Looks like a die chip plus damage from a hit.

Too much corrosion and damage to even take a guess.

If you have not figured it out yet we are not big on guessing what it is you think you see, if there is something that you have a question about please specify what it is you are unsure about.

It appears that your coin exhibits some minor strike doubling. This is common and has no numismatic value.

You cannot, and that is ok, hopefully someone else can also learn from your post.

Once you've seen one in person you know right away, a photo from PCGS coinfacts.

Just MD.

Interesting results with two downgrades, good to hear that you are happy with the results. As to the certs, no neither NGC or PCGS notifies each other when coins are crossed over, it is up to the person that attempts the crossover to send the certs back to the original TPG. I do not know if this is still true but I believe that PCGS did pay a small bounty, like $.50 per cert returned to them. Do not know if this is still true. Did you cross these for registry slots?

Grading should be more of an objective science, however, that is not the case especially under the current market grading system. Grading is now highly subjective and it is not unusual for a coin to get different grades or strike designations if submitted multiple times. As a collector or buyer it is up to you to decide if you agree with the grade or strike designation on any slab. As to the PCGS coin you posted I would not call that FS (not even close imo) nor would I pay FS money for it, but there are collectors that might. And it is also important to note that we are viewing a photo not the coin itself, perhaps the photo is not fully representative of the steps when viewed in person. Edited to add: as to your coin, it to is not FS (imo) as there is a disturbance under the third column at the bottom of the steps.

In theory NGC would have recommended conservation to whomever submitted the coin if they felt it would be helpful. Now that submitter may have declined any conservation recommended, so we cannot say for 100% if NCS was or was not offered. You could try and contact customer service and see if they can provide any information on if NCS services were offered when the coin was last seen. No guarantee that they can or will provide such information, but it only costs you a bit of time to inquire before you incur the shipping costs. NCS will only perform conservation services if they feel, after evaluating the coin, that the services will remove any surface contamination without damaging the coin any further than it already is. Other than the shipping costs it will not hurt to send both coins in for evaluation by NCS, keeping in mind that NCS may decline to do anything. Make sure that you notify NCS what it is (and where) you see on the coin surface, I guess the raw coin is fairly obvious, but if the verdigris on the constellatio needs magnification to see it could be missed if not pointed out. The constellatio certainly is a cool and historic coin, congrats on having it in your collection.

Yes either plated or dipped in mercury, both were popular high school chemistry experiments before regulating agencies stopped such activities.

No one can undo environmental damage, no amount of conservation can make a damaged coin undamaged. Unless there is active corrosion happening on the constellatio there is nothing NCS can or will do. The other coin might be able to be conserved, but again it will still always be environmentally damaged. But if there is active corrosion on the coin, getting that off will stop further progressing of the corrosion.

Nope, I never travel to shows, takes too much money for airfare, hotel, food, and miscellaneous. I wish I could as it would be nice to meet a few of the east coast dealers that skip the west coast shows. Besides ANA took all the coin money budget, will be awhile before I reload the piggy bank. 🙂 Hope you have a great time if you do go neo!

Some coins are better left raw, this may be one of those times.

The worst that can happen if you put them on the BST is they don't sell and then you ship them off to GC. You lose a little bit of time while they sit on the BST but that is the only downside, of course this is a very small community with limited eyeballs on the BST. Still not a huge number of people, but if you have signed up for the forum on PCGS that BST is more active than here, slightly better chance of finding a buyer.

Not every collector want random strangers contacting them asking to buy something from their collection. I think it's a good thing that privacy be respected.