RWB

You'll find Lincoln's BVDs UNDER his coat and shirt....not on his chest. "V.D.B." are the designer's initials. They stand for "Victor David Brenner." His original reverse design had "BRENNER" at the bottom reverse. The Mint engraver shortened this to V.D.B., then the Sec of Treasury got over anxious when the Washington Star newspaper claimed - with no authority - that the initials were an advertisement. (If you want all the details and photos look in my book Renaissance of American Coinage 1909-1915.)

Sure. They are also the color of pure gold, not alloyed gold. Your 0.999 bullion pieces will be AU in an instant if touched. Normal US or Sterling gold would show nothing.

Short answer - not likely. Long process, steep learning curve, bribes not accepted.

The coin is EF --- not even close to being Unc. Die cracks are common and might not be considered a die variety by VAM world people.

There are no initials on Lincoln's chest on your coin or any other Lincoln cent mad at the US Mint. After a coin leaves the Mint all kinds of things can happen -- but none of them are of any value or numismatic interest. If you can;t show the written quote from Heritage, then it does not exist as far as anyone else can know. Just some facts. We return you now to Fox "News."

Too busy....A neighbor is fighting for its life.

RE: Gold coin "softness." Experiments and controlled measurements at the Royal Mint in the 1880s established that die struck gold coins had just a hard a surface as silver, and both were a lot better than copper. (See Roberts-Chandler, et al.) Unalloyed gold and most native samples are soft, but coin gold alloy is hard and striking actually increases the surface resistance to abrasion -- that is: a struck coin's surface is harder than that of the blank planchet from which it was made. The heavier a coin and/or the greater the distance it falls from press to receiving box, the greater the number and severity of surface damage.

I was in Poland recently -- but no ANA show there.

This is entirely reasonable for $1 and $3 gold. They were in demand from jewelers, especially in Britain, for ornaments due to design, low cost, and small size. If you look in Renaissance of American Coinage 1909-1915 you can learn about the US Treasurer's private stash of these, and what was done with them.

If you're going to buy/sell coins, you must learn how to evaluate and grade coins, quickly and reliably. Join ANA and take the grading class for starters.

Photos are too fuzzy to help much. These suggest an ordinary 1880-O dollar. Better photos will help a lot.

BBC article. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20201112-the-eye-of-providence-the-symbol-with-a-secret-meaning

You show a 10 Dong coin. Do you have any of the 5 Ding pieces, or the 2-1/2 Ting ?

"Are any of these worth grading?" Nope, also.

On the 50 kopek, the lighter silver coin in your 2nd image seems to be upside down. Turn it over and compare again. Since the two are different issues, I'd expect different edge lettering.

Funf Reichmark. OK...I see my mistake. I looked at incorrectly labeled pieces. The coins are 5 marks and the medals have a different rev inscription. Otherwise coin and medal are nearly identical.

Buy a master pallet and they'll give you 3% off....

I don't see anything of interest on any of those quarters. Agree they seem to be proofs.

For overall utility in striking coins steel alloys are cost effective and easy to work. Steel also adapts well to surface augmentation. Other metals and certain ceramic-metal alloys are better for certain uses.

You have no basis for your ignorant comments. Zero indictments on anything and multiple exonerations.

The piece has a 5 mark denomination on the reverse. Therefore, it is a coin and not a medal.

Don't waste money on "grading." Their value is entirely in silver content. Use the money you were going to spend on grading and take the wife to a nice dinner, and tell her how important she is.

Do you also have a microwave? Problem solved.

Luster is a result of mechanical stress of steel under fore of repeated impact. At it's beginning, and die has little or no luster because its surface has been formed to match that of the hub. Acid dipping contributes to averaging of the metal surface. Under repeated high pressure impacts die steel gradually deforms into a radial pattern (based on planchet metal flow from center to periphery). This is stable for most of the die's coinage life, but eventually the ridges begin to break down and steel particles rapidly etch the die surface. At the beginning of this breakdown, the die should be pulled and condemned. This is completely consistent with what I've seen in documents, especially the Royal Mint in the 1880s, and first hand examination of dies. No. The force used was similar during the Liberty designs and decreased a little with Saint-Gaudens and Pratt designs. Silver dollar-size coins required the Mints largest presses. A bigger press was desirable for DE because it put less stress on the machine, not the dies.

All you need do is reply to your own post. That will allow you to put more photos in the 2nd post, and do it again if needed. All you photos will be in the same thread, and much easier for members to view and comment.