DWLange

That's a very obvious fake.

That would have been a worthy commemorative issue, whether as coins or medals. Not surprisingly, Congress let this occasion slip by, as it did again a century later. The closest the government came to honoring our first coinage was authorizing a silver proof set for the Mint's bicentennial in 1992. Then greed took over, and it became an annual obligation on the part of collectors, thus diluting the significance of the 1992 offering.

Greenstang's assessment is correct. It's an eroded die.

That's not a RPM. It appears to be a small chip in the die, which is not a variety.

The gold coin is an obvious fake. The cent seems to be genuine.

Strike doubling only.

No, unless it is very prominent. Such coins may be submitted for mint error attribution.

NGC attributes those VAM varieties included within the Top 100, Hot 50 and Hit List 40 extract lists. It also attributes all 1878 8TF and 7/8TF by VAM numbers under its VarietyPlus service.

The transitional hubs of 1974 are illustrated on page 255 of my book The Complete Guide to Lincoln Cents. The "Large Date" variety appears to have been created for use with the expected switchover to aluminum for the cents of that year and later. When this didn't come to pass, a new "Small Date" hub was introduced that continued in use for the next several years.

The 1940-D nickel appears to display die erosion doubling, rather than a DDO.

Just to prevent any disappointment, NGC does not attribute minor die clashes as mint errors or varieties, unless they are specific ones that have been cataloged by numbers, such as the VAM numbers used for Morgan and Peace dollars.

Your photos aren't the best, but it doesn't look good from what I can see.

NGC did all labels entirely in caps through 2017, and coins certified since that time use upper and lower case, as needed.

It is fake. Clues are the raised bubbles on the reverse and the edge lettering, which is too precise for a vintage coin and too little worn to correspond with the obverse and reverse.

These coins were part of a liberation issue dated 1944-45 and make at U. S. Mints. They did arrive with the American forces when the recapture of the islands commenced. As Alex noted, D-Day was October 20, 1944. The coins remained legal tender in The Philippines until 1967, but the silver pieces had long since been hoarded. They are listed in the Red Book. It was my honor to write that chapter back in the 90s.

That effect is not the effect of die erosion or circulating wear. It has been subjected to some abnormal abrasive action, such as being run through a rock tumbler. Normal wear looks nothing like that.

I would say die erosion doubling rather than strike doubling. The die itself has deformed into a doubled image that was not present when new.

The 1829 is fake, with an incorrect style of date numerals. It's a little harder to tell on the 1800, but it's keeping bad company.

He's pleased that I'm doing something I like. He has a few pieces of historic interest, but he's certainly not an active collector of coins.

A "genuine" Racketeer Nickel would have edge reeding applied. That's still not a guarantee that the alteration dates to 1883, but the lack of reeding easily eliminates any candidate.

Coming from Roger, that's high praise indeed. Thank you. Here's an NGC link to my past columns going back nearly 20 years, should anyone want to catch up: https://www.ngccoin.com/news/series/usa-coin-album/?page=1

I discovered coin collecting from my older brother, who pursued it for about one summer and then lost interest. I was the lucky recipient of his very incomplete folders of Lincoln Cents and Buffalo Nickels. The latter could still be found in circulation then, though most were dateless. After a few years of getting by with pulp coin guides from the supermarket checkout counter, I finally got my first Red Book for Christmas, 1968. It was an eye opener, and I nearly memorized the sections for cents through dollars over the next year or two. Even today, as a professional numismatist, I use the latest Red Book daily. I don't have a favorite numismatic book, but Ol' Red comes close.

Karen, thanks for your kind words about my article. I had no idea that it's circulating far and wide, as my involvement with social media doesn't extend beyond mailing Christmas cards.

It's a 1941-D cent that has had the last numeral pushed aside from passage through a coin counting or rolling machine. This is quite commonly seen on peripheral design elements, as the crimping action of the machines trace a circular path around the coin just inside the rims. Note that the displaced metal is nearly parallel to the rim, a reflection of the crimping action and the rim being concentric circles.

The three columns that won are readily available at the NGC website and don't require Instagram.