RWB

How about a list of dealers who didn't get robbed....or...maybe one of dealers who cheated customers, or bounce checks, or....... Robberies and thefts are nothing unusual, and rates are much lower now than way back when. Crooks change with the times and opportunities; honest people have to do the same.

Moral ---- If you are a coin dealer, do not drive a car.

It's a casual emotional observation of little value. To test this theory, a broad selection of identical coins (meaning the SAME coins) would have to be submitted by several "anonymous" collectors and several "well known" dealers. Once the coin-by-coin results were compared, a more rigorous experimental design could be prepared.

It's a casual emotional observation of little value. To test this theory, a broad selection of identical coins (meaning the SAME coins) would have to be submitted by several "anonymous" collectors and several "well known" dealers. Once the coin-by-coin results were compared, a more rigorous experimental design could be prepared.

In reality, VKurtB is incorrect. I know many astute collectors who follow my overall description. The difference between them and run-of-the-mill "VKurtB-types" is that these folks don't care about money, profit, greed (at least not in their hobbies), or the circular hype infesting coin collecting. Their holdings include accurate coin and medal grades combined with their personal preferences for other, subjective, factors.

Consistent, reliable coin grading is not difficult. (Although nearly everyone else posting message will disagree.) A "grade" is simply a combination of the amount of wear/abrasion on the coin, plus external damage such as bumps, scrapes, scratches and so forth. Both these can be determined using standards accepted long ago, or with degraded versions shown in the ANA Grading guide. (With the exception of Uncirculated coins, where these are not well defined.)
It gets complicated, confusing and largely worthless, when subjective factors such as luster, strike, tarnish, "look" and other uncontrollable conditions get layered on top of, or in between largely objective criteria.
Today's collectors and dealers have largely handed off grading to independent for-profit companies owned by buy-out companies, and thereby given up meaningful control over quality. It is all about the money - nothing else.

Hmmmm...something's gotten confused.
Usual procedure was to anneal planchets before striking. Every mint uses something similar today, or buys planchets pre-softened.
MCMVII DE were annealed between blows to bring out the detail as quickly as possible.
US Mints once had a "Whitening room" for silver and a "Cleaning room" for copper and nickel. The final step was a quick dip in weak sulfuric or nitric acid to brighten the surface just before striking. For silver coins, this resulted in a surface on newly struck coins that was higher in silver than in the bulk alloy. This made the coins look "white" rather than the slightly yellow color of 0.900 silver coin alloy.
Clad coin surface alloy is ugly regardless of what is done to it.

The original plan was to use one design for all gold denominations and a separate one for the cent. All of this is explained and illustrated in RAC 1905-1908.
TR liked the cent obverse and wanted it tested on the DE - one pattern piece known. SG convinced him to keep the striding Liberty figure on the DE and use the Cent obv, with a rather silly Native American chief's headress added, on the Eagle as ordered by TR. (TR's stint as a cattle rancher in the Dakotas might have produced a fetish for native headdresses.) Both the striding and portrait Liberty were adapted from the SG's Sherman Memorial in NYC - just with individual names/titles.
At beginning of 1908 the adopted DE design was to be used for HE and QE coins. (Edge lettering was not really a problem on these smaller coins. The Philadelphia Mint was doing that on Mexican 10-peso gold pieces.)

The defect was, evidently, not noticed until some of the coins made it to HQ -- possibly in routine Special Assay samples from each delivery. This had happened previously, and was the responsibility of the production mint to catch during routine inspection. As we can readily see from a long history of cracks, cuds, and clips, employees did not get them all -- and still don't.

The director was a presidential appointee, and responsible for the quality and legal compliance of all coins. Any mint-produced defect, such as the lumps described, would reflect badly on national coinage, and the authenticity of coins.

Heritage has hundreds in the auction database.

Has anyone seen a 1910-P Eagle matching this description?

This letter, written long before William Bigelow became involved in half eagle coin design, suggests that no Saint-Gaudens half eagles were struck for circulation because of Congress' debate about requiring "In God We Trust" on the new coin designs.

Consistent, reliable coin grading is not difficult. (Although nearly everyone else posting message will disagree.) A "grade" is simply a combination of the amount of wear/abrasion on the coin, plus external damage such as bumps, scrapes, scratches and so forth. Both these can be determined using standards accepted long ago, or with degraded versions shown in the ANA Grading guide. (With the exception of Uncirculated coins, where these are not well defined.)
It gets complicated, confusing and largely worthless, when subjective factors such as luster, strike, tarnish, "look" and other uncontrollable conditions get layered on top of, or in between largely objective criteria.
Today's collectors and dealers have largely handed off grading to independent for-profit companies owned by buy-out companies, and thereby given up meaningful control over quality. It is all about the money - nothing else.

Each time a modern imitation coin, proof, or other novelty is removed from its original packaging, you expose its surface to contamination. The effects are cumulative each time a holder is opened, and increase as unprotected time increases. The effects might not become visible for a year or more.
You can be smart, and leave it in the original plastic capsule, or take your chances after spending $50.

Please show the sources of your information and XRF test results, if available.

Proportion of the population is the critical value.
The second is our current definition of "collector."
Third is the product mix availability.

Well, that is cheaper than Ozempic. How much did the dime lose? Were there side effects? (or front, back or top effects....can you add beans and get sound effects?)
Sorry -- Last slept Sat afternoon. Jet lag can get nasty.

Try listening to what members are telling you. They are trying to help you "learn sumn."
Please show the sources of your information and XRF test results, if available.

Your coin has developed hypopigmentation due to a bad case of "die surface eczema." This can be cured with our special all natural composition of natural ingredients from all natural sources including natural vitamin D, natural donkey sweat, and other healthy natural ingredients mixed in a gentle emulsion of bath tub scum and all natural roadkill extract. A large, family-size bottle is only $2,995 for a one-month supply. We guarantee your dime will be cured in 6-months or your money cheerfully refunded -- (if you can find us...)

The die was over-polished during normal repair, that acc9unts for the floating leaves. The mintmark is damaged in the center so the "O" looks filled.
(In future, please post photos not these awful screen grabs.)

The die was over-polished during normal repair, that acc9unts for the floating leaves. The mintmark is damaged in the center so the "O" looks filled.
(In future, please post photos not these awful screen grabs.)

Your coin has developed hypopigmentation due to a bad case of "die surface eczema." This can be cured with our special all natural composition of natural ingredients from all natural sources including natural vitamin D, natural donkey sweat, and other healthy natural ingredients mixed in a gentle emulsion of bath tub scum and all natural roadkill extract. A large, family-size bottle is only $2,995 for a one-month supply. We guarantee your dime will be cured in 6-months or your money cheerfully refunded -- (if you can find us...)

Not sure what you are reacting so negatively to. The cent is simply worn from years of circulation. Nothing more. Some corrections:
Striking pressure for Lincoln cents of about 1915 was 40 tons (approx 90 per sq inch). Here's a table from the Engraving Dept.

Cents were struck at the rate of 175 per minute on a single press or 250 per minute on a dual press.
Toggle presses in use in 1915 had an electric interlock (invented at the Philadelphia Mint in 1910 by Leslie Lambert) that shut off the press within 5 strokes of there was a misfeed.

Why someday moderns will be hot:
Global warming....