RWB

Brad adams - Sorry, it's a damaged 1942 dime and worth only its silver value. The photos posted by Just Bob are excellent and clearly show the two doubled dies for this date. This error occurred when someone in the Engraving Department was preparing working dies for 1942 and accidentally used a hub with the "1941" date to make one of the several impressions required to complete a working die. Evidently, two dies were involved, although we don't know when this occurred, and one was sent to the Denver Mint to be paired with a normal reverse. Most members here will be happy to help and answer any questions you might have.

As "Just Bob" suggested, use one ordinary light, and slowly rotate the coin. Any doubling - mechanical or die - will become apparent. Don't expect to find any doubled die coins - they are unusual and not nearly as common (or valuable) as social media hacks claim.

"Hello, I'm a coin collector from India. Please could anyone tell me whether my Lincoln penny of 1944 has an error on the date or is it just a damage. Also the first 4 on the date is somewhat ..like a double impression. What would be the coins worth?" Hydnumis - Your 1944 Lincoln cent is damaged and worth approximately 2-cents in bronze. Sending it to NGC, PCGS or any other certification and grading company is a total waste of time and money. PS: Most members here will be happy to answer your questions as directly and honestly as possible.

Your perception is good. Damaged and jewelry coins get melted - not coins on which there is a collector premium. Holders of these coins are not - in general - stupid.

If the misspelled name is pronounced phonetically, it suggests a difficulty encountered by native speaker of Japanese. Styling and execution of the portrait and reverse clouds also remind me of Japanese art work. TR won the Nobel Peace prize for negotiating an end to the Russo-Japanese War, so this might be some sort of medal honoring him...?

But DO NOT stay at the copycat ROSIN PLAZA ! Very abrasive staff and their soap is --- well -- rough !

The real "value" of either coin is from their association with the OP's ancestors. Absent that, they are worth a little over melt provided you could find anyone interested in such common coins in common condition.

RE: "...then take off....eventually, they stop for food and that's when a trailing car can usually hit the car or van which may have lots of valuable stuff." I've seen a lot of dealers who don't need to stop for food -- they can just lick their shirt !

"Type" is commonly defined by design, and "design" is defined by the collector. Think of Indian cents.

Are they the same coin in the OP's two photos? One is in a 2x2 and the other is not. Might have been in a compression-type bezel. Agree with others on authenticity and value.

If these "errors" are unseen, how can they be "seen?" Now, where did the rabbit go....?

RE: "...dealers have been followed leaving the OCCC..." Question - If a dealer is followed on Facebook do they have to keep looking over their shoulder? :)

GoldFinger1969 - You'd have to ask Heritage about distribution. I have no role in that.

Damage.

"1964 SMS" is marketing hype for an early strike off new dies. No objective meaning, and reported "authentications" are strictly male bovine excrement. Your coin is a normal 1964 cent - nothing else.

Pareidolia. No value.

Appears to be an off-center strike. Readily available, especially without the date visible.They sell for a dollar or two.

No.

There are a couple of candidates, but not confirmed to my satisfaction. The total of Eagle dies used was a lot less than DE so there are likely fewer varieties.

Same concept and treatment, although there is much less background material than in the DE book and fewer varieties.

Yes. There's a rough draft of a volume covering both small gold denominations. Mintages and varieties are too small to justify individual books. All of Pratt's work was confined to the half eagle so the quarter eagle was just a reduction from that. I also have to consider if there is enough new material to justify the book. Allan Schein's 2016 book, The $2½ & $5 Gold Indians of Bela Lyon Pratt, has to be considered in planning. I.e.: is the work justified if there is limited new material?

For collectors of gold Eagles, here is a peek at part of a book on Saint-Gaudens Eagles. Content, style and format will be familiar to readers of the companion double eagle book. Publication is a year away - maybe longer.

The first striking ceremony of the Kennedy half dollar was held February 11, 1964. The first public release was March 24, 1964. All of this was carefully planed and organized by the Federal Reserve, Treasury and Mint.

Although I cannot afford to collect DE - by variety or otherwise - I feel it's important to look closely at the approach that has evolved in collecting Morgan and Peace dollars by VanAllen-Mallis varieties. There are many good things to be said and learned, and also many things to be avoided. This is particularly important since DE's have a very low survival rate compared to quantities struck and dies used. Possibly the most important guideline is: simplicity. Morgan variety collecting, initially a clear list of variety numbers for each year, has descended into a multilayered jumble of suffix upon suffix and assumed "die states." This confuses all but the most deeply involved and discourages newcomers. While DE are less subject to this due to low survival from each die (except for 1908 Type I, and some P dates in the 20s), it remains a problem of imposed complexity. A second guideline is: establish and understand the cause of varieties. Original VAM books and supplements are treated by many as some sort of sacred text of immutable wisdom. This relegates modern, more objective research into Mint operations and equipment to ephemera, and perpetuates misunderstanding of cause-effect relationships. However, it will be up to others to do this.

Thanks for the interesting comments. Neither book was written in competition with the other. The Whitman "Red Book" series are all intended as introductory volumes and are therefore limited in scope. I have no page limit or other restraint of that kind. The only constraints are availability of original, documented material, and editing to produce an even treatment and text. The large number of photos are, in part, a response to my own frustrations in trying to make sense of Overton, Sheldon and others' descriptions without having many specimens available to examine.