DWLange

I can find no fault with the K man. He was a real gentleman and did so much good for the hobby. I even got a tour of Iola, Wisconsin from the front passenger seat of his 1923 Ford Model T Runabout, though the designated driver was Burnett Anderson, another fine fellow I miss. I believe the board made a very good choice.

To clarify, it's not an omission unless the submitter noted "Micro S" on the submission form.

The Franklin Halves dated 1948-50 have the most hair detail on the Franklin portrait, particularly when the coins were struck with freshly-installed dies. This wore off the master hub with repeated use and was only partially restored with the 1960 edition. The coins dated 1951-59 may have FBL, but they rarely show more than a smooth, undefined mound within Franklin's hair. This is true even of the proofs.

NGC never initiates cutesy names, but if they're already in common use by the hobby it would be pointless to disregard that fact. It started with the Top-100 VAMs, which all seem to have them.

Actually, you are incorrect. NGC holders coins with named die cracks also.. In some cases NGC does acknowledge popular monikers. An example is the 1840-O half dollar with a shattered die known as the "Baseball Reverse," because the pattern of cracks suggests the stitching on a baseball.

Here a suggestion for NGC. STOP PUTTING MODERN CENTS SHIELD SIDE UP. I don't get it myself. Putting the new reverse up made some sense the first year of issue, but the novelty wore off a long time ago.

As noted above, VAM stands for Van Allen & Mallis. They had no interest in other dollar coins, so that's why there are no VAMs for other series and never will be. It seems pretty straightforward.

For varieties where the verbal description clearly identifies the nature of the variety NGC sometimes omits the FS number, though this is included as a cross reference at the VarietyPlus website. Other examples of this are the 1937-D 3-Legged nickel and the 1942/41 dimes.

1934-D is the only silver dollar manufactured and released by the Denver Mint. I believe you are so focused on the dollar coinage of 1934-35 that you don't see the error of the above statement. Denver struck silver dollars 1921-23 and 1926-27, as well. There was also the abortive coinage of 1964-D dollars and then last year's centennial edition.

State quarters are holdered state side up by NGC's default, but you may certainly request that the obverse be featured instead, especially since it has the die crack. With the wrong mintmark, you are perfectly entitled to return it as a "mechanical error" at no cost. Specify "heads up" at the same time.

VAM varieties apply only to Morgan and Peace Dollars, 1878-1935.

I think it's one of these Capital Holders. That's Capital's Comet line of lower-priced holders. The inserts are cardboard rather than acrylic, and I believe the plastic is polystyrene.

The original post states that "first" applies specifically to the 1934 edition.

That's a very interesting document. The resumption of silver dollar coinage after the Pittman Act silver ran out in 1928 was made possible by the Thomas Amendment to the Agricultural Adjustment Act. The AAA was one of FDR's host of "alphabet soup" roster of bills to revive the American economy and bring relief to the unemployed. Not all were successful, but the mere fact that someone was doing something was encouraging after his predecessor's reluctance to interfere with the natural order of things during a time of unprecedented crisis. The Thomas Amendment was tacked on o the larger AAA legislation to provide for the purchase of silver above market value. FDR directed that the metal be coined into silver dollars, perhaps to make the effect of such purchases more visible, but the coining mandate was removed in 1935. Thereafter, silver bars stood in for dollar coins, and the text on the silver certificate notes was amended accordingly.

This question arose several years ago, and I consulted with James Wiles (VarietyVista) about the MS striking of the Type 1 Reverse. He told me that it's not rare. In fact, the proof edition is not rare either, but it forms a minority of the proofs and is popular. The same can't be said for the MS version.

I'll file away that information, should this ever happen again.

As long as there's no other condition that would call for Details grading NGC would give it a numeric grade. The die erosion would not be noted, but your coin may not be worth enough to justify the lowest fee for which it's eligible---Modern Tier, $19. You should check the values assigned at various grades in NGC Price Guide: https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide/united-states/

As some of you know I teach a class at the ANA's Summer Seminar titled "Collecting United States Type Coins." It seems that this year enrollment at the seminar is lagging, perhaps due to lingering concerns over travel following the pandemic. I'm informed that my class presently is shy a few students of the number needed to go forward with it. I believe that may be true of other classes, as well. If you've ever thought of attending the Summer Seminar now would be an ideal time to give it a try. I'm pasting an ad for my class below, should you consider it worthwhile.

The irony of this thread is that BWI is one of two U.S. airports, (more soon) along with EWR, that has a direct Amtrak connection at the airport. If the train went to Sarasota that might have worked for us, but I seem to recall that the closest it gets is Sanford, which is somewhere around Orlando. That would be an expensive Uber ride home.

It looks like an ordinary Philadelphia Mint cent with some circulation marks.

That is not a DDO. The coin has some die erosion doubling, and this condition is aggravated by the brass plating over a zinc base.

I'm sure everyone has heard about the meltdown in airline flights over the weekend. This affected the NGC team as it left the Whitman Baltimore show Saturday afternoon. Our direct flight from BWI to Sarasota was cancelled, and we were redirected to Columbus, Ohio with a connecting flight to Sarasota. After boarding the Columbus flight, we were then told that there would be no connecting flight before Tuesday night! The six of us elected to instead rent a van at BWI and drive the entire way, rotating stints at the wheel. It took us 18 hours to get home.

Here's a complete explanation of the "shipwreck effect" designations: https://www.ngccoin.com/specialty-services/shipwreck-coin-certification/effect-designation.aspx

I have some tokens that were used by employees of the San Francisco Mint during the 1980s. The reasoning was the same---that coins could not be taken inside the facility. These pieces are generic in nature and do not mention the mint by name. They are sized to replicate nickels, dimes and quarters.

I used to own three Seated Halves with chopmarks---1862-S, 1864-S and 1865-S. These were sold off many years ago.