RWB

The second coin appears to be real -- but also a "real dog." Cleaned, scrubbed and not really worth buying even at a big discount - it will be tough to resell later.

Here's a sequence of quarters from 2008, 2009, and 2010. 2008 frosting was made by polishing a size of the coin, then making a frisket (a protective mask) on the field and sandblasting the relief. In 2009 the manual frisket was not used. A computer controlled laser popped little depressions in the relief but was supposed to avoid the field. By 1910 the mint had further refined the incompetence by using a larger size laser spot and more aggressive abrasion. This last result proved that management at that time didn't care are anything except "cheap and ugly." It took a decade to reach the current state of frosting that remains inferior to the "old fashioned" way. (I used photos of 900% silver proofs so that the results could be compared to traditional proofs where the frost came from routine acid treatment of new dies.)

AU. Abrasion on wings and hair, etc. A keepsake keeper. Mark's comment is reasonable.

Ah! EdG_Ohio --- Thanks for the reminder! (I rarely search for myself,,,)

I remember them being awful looking things, but can't remember when they started.

Nothing from the OP. Maybe he passed them on as dimes...?

What! Were you using that magnificent bronze rooster as a door stop and stumbled over it? Shame....for shame. Where is your Roman sensibility for cuckoldry?

Coins are non-standard, thinly traded commodities with a very large proportion of unreported exchanges. A "price guide" is merely that - barely.

...and this has taken decades to sink into the minds of many.

Consider the option that is consistent with your ethical values, both as you expect them and as you present them.

Nope. The trend is for governments to ensure all segments of society have access to physical currency. Without that, one would destroy access to basic necessities for a significant portion of people -- people who work hard and participate in the overall economy to a much greater personal extent than wealthy. Many corporations, however, would gladly stop accepting cash. That would cut expenses --- maybe more than ending the obnoxious background "music" they buy for their business locations.

The answer to your 1936 proof coin question in in my book United States Proof Coins - 1936-1942. In many respects it is more detailed than the SG book.

I'm preparing a small article about how "proof" coins are made. It begins with the first US Mint products and ends about 1969 with the new Lincoln cent obverse. This is not about individual coins, but concerns "How" and not "Why." If members have specific questions about proof coin manufacture, please drop me a note or post here. I will attempt to incorporate answers into the article.

In the past, a coinage die took two to seven blows (squeezes is a better term) from the hub to fully transfer the design. Between each blow the die had to be heated and softened to relieve work hardening. If any blow were misaligned with any other blow, a "doubled" or "tripled die" could result. (Morgan silver dollars took 7 blows; DE 6; Indian cents 2 or 3; MCMVII double eagles took three from a hydraulic press, etc.) The success of transfer was supposed to have been carefully inspected, but with the Philadelphia Mint making thousands of dies per year, things occasionally slipped through quality control.

Yeah....but they were all found in that nasty well in Fargo, ND, so could there be water damage or maybe algae?

I have it on mediocre authority that FUN is also having a new class this year: "Sexing Iguanas When They Fall on Your Head." This now goes with the new class last year - which was postponed - called "Iguanas: Kebabs or Nuggets?"

Well, it really makes little difference to know what "VAM" abbreviates. Criteria for a VAM variety can be a little "strange." Strong clash marks would get listed if a letter, or fragment thereof, were transferred to the opposite coin face, but not if letters were absent. Lots of things are called "rust" when they are not, etc. But all that is immaterial if collectors can find additional pleasure in this hobby specialty.

My opinion was informed by the letters in US Treasury Dept files relating to Zerbe, the PPIE commemorative fiasco, questions about his honesty, etc. I was not initially aware of his other problems relating to ANA, but they seem to fit his overall self-promotion attitude.

The VAM database can be helpful in identifying counterfeits through mismatched false dies, and in identifying genuine coins with unusual die combinations. I recall that for 1893-S there are two reverse dies - one is seen on nearly all coins and the other on just a few. Some genuine coins have been rejected because the "authenticator" (a business not to be named) did not know about the 2nd variety until privately informed.

Humidity - not lavender - does the trick. A cheap ultrasonic humidifier and a bottle of common lavender oil will do the same -- or squeeze an peach into the humidifier.

It's a free market, or should be. If people lose money on their speculations, that's their responsibility and nobody should suggest they be "bailed out" of their sinking row boat.

Nice find! Great to "wow" non collectors, too!

"FMTM" is also a book you can skip around in, and read in any order your like. The accompanying free CD lets you search by any word or phrase. Original sources are noted so readers know where material comes from.

Sorry, but that's the result from atomizing "essential oils" inside your ( "HER" ) house. Droplets fall on everything and, since most are mixed with a carrier oil, they form the same kind of surface coating as cooking oil, bacon fat, etc. Water-based products do not do that and evaporatative air fresheners usually dissipate quickly. (Note to husbands: "Essential oils" are not oils. They are chemicals, usually water-based, that carry the aromatic essences of plants. These are distilled from real plants and concentrated, mostly for commercial food processing where the "strawberry" essence is added back to the product after it has been "gunked up" for consumption. For nice-smelling "aroma therapy," the aroma essence is homogenized with a volatile oil and sold at outrageous prices to consumers who squirt to about the house (or bedroom) thinking it has some mysterious benefit. Channel #5 would do much the same -- and likely cheaper.)

I don't know that anyone has found all of them - and most are crushingly trivial. But, it is possibly of interest to many because of the extensive ( ! ) database of varieties and photos, and the abundance of unsearched Morgan and Peace dollars floating about. (There's a nice 1922 variety in a "newby post.")