RWB

If the OP is referring to this (arrows): it appears to be incuse and divided by the relief at the water line.If correct, it is probably damage to the coin. A second, identical specimen, would change that assessment. PS: Please use real digital images and not screen grabs. The photo has much more detail than the screen.

Cause of weakness on the 1944-S is more likely a partial die collapse. That moved the inscription slightly farther from the planchet than the rest of the coin, creating localized weakness.

This seems reasonable, although they were not issued by the Federal government. They were authorized by the Confederation government as legal coinage and should be considered part of the standard U.S. series....or have I misunderstood?

Correctly marked copies. Enjoy.

There is no "1910 VDB" cent. Your source article is both way out of date and wrong in nearly everything it says. A new reverse master die and hub were prepared in August 1909 after Treasury Secretary McVeagh approved removal of the designer's initials. The initials V.D.B. were never part of the hub. This new hub also had slightly lower relief, according to mint documents. All of the details and a lot more are in my book Renaissance of American Coinage 1909-1915. Your can borrow from your local library under Interlibrary Loan (ILL), or from the ANA if you're a member, or purchase from a book seller.

Our snowplows and salt trucks are not kind to coins, mail boxes, or the family cat.

Woods is on the nose with that one!

Like the bent clock hands.

You'll have to ask the "grading" company. Computer aided systems could help a lot in grade consistency, but they are not well utilized.

HPA applies it to all things used as money, ancient and modern, foreign or domestic. Also applies to political buttons, pins and similar.

Why should the mintmark stand in the way....after all, all dies have "first stricken" coins....

Impossible to know until one is presented for careful, full examination. The planchets were tracked by weight and that means a change of the third decimal place alters the number of pieces melted. With no physical count, the quantities produced or melted will be forever unknown.

No. If a thing is in the likeness or similitude of a coin, or includes a legal tender denomination and country of origin, it is a counterfeit. The making of it is prima facie fraudulent intent. Nothing else matters. Go read the US Code. It is so clear even a colorado counterfeiter can understand it. The HPA provides a legal exemption by REQUIRING the word copy be added, which converts it into a legitimate reproduction. Note: It does not matter if the item existed as a legal coin or not. A vending machine slug is a counterfeit just as much as a fake Jefferson nickel or colorado fake half dollar, or Chinese Morgan dollar made in scrap steel. ANA has legal standing to sue the pants off any counterfeiter, but they have neither spine nor testicles to do so....And collectors get ripped off every day.

With someone already having lost their shirt on slabbing, it's probably worth more if left alone in the slab.

Unless they all include the word "COPY" they are all counterfeit coins.

I thought "Etsy" was some goop you took if you had "the runs?"

I think is was just the way "master hub" was used at the beginning that was confusing. So that members are clear: Working dies (incuse) to make coins are struck from an annual master hub (relief). An annual master hub is pressed from an annual master die (incuse) into which any date changes have been cut. [In most instances, modern die making no longer follows this sequence.]

Paquet might have made a set of 2-cent punches for the Mint. He made other sets at different times.

It's almost "Full Steps" too -- as in, all the steps are fully filled and perfect for sliding down on a snowy morning.

Unusually straight for a crack or break. Resembles a deliberate chisel cut.

I recall there being a web site devoted to these. Great souvenirs of the PPIE.

AU. Lots of field chatter, although limited luster disturbance.

The hub has raised relief. One cannot "grind off" the date on a hub, then replace it. If a digit is removed from the hub, then it must be used to make a new master die, then the replacement digit cut into the master die. This, is then used to create a new hub with the changed digit -- as in 1968.

Very nice sets! I hope each enjoyed the search "just the right coin" to complete them.

Morgan and Peace dollar varieties by VAM numbers is a somewhat idiosyncratic approach. Hopefully, with attribution and decisions now moved to a small management team, the whole thing can get back to first principles and identify varieties more clearly. As Mr. Lange pointed out, the VAMworld site is regularly updated. That is also be best place to post photos for specialists' opinions.