powermad5000

I have a hard time with the answer to this question being what do we define as a collector? Is not someone who bought a Whitman album when the statehood quarters were released and filled such said album as they were released, now having a full statehood quarter album not a collector even if they have collected no other coins? I think they would be considered a "casual" collector. It would be difficult to pin down a number on these people as they will never submit a single coin to a TPG, nor will they ever attend a coin show, but by technical definition are still a collector. You also have amateur collectors, experienced collectors, and advanced collectors. These would comprise a number that could possibly be pinned down through submissions (but not all collectors submit and I am sure there are still many collectors with extensive collections that are raw). I would say there is a high percentage of casual collectors which outnumber greatly the amateur, experienced, and advanced combined. To me, it would be impossible to accurately assign a specific number to the posted question.

Back to the question at hand and topic of this thread, I will throw out a different tack. I put this back at 1960. By 1960, the cent had firmly established mintage numbers in the billions and combined P and D nickels, dimes, and quarters were all in the hundreds of millions. Even the Franklin half was in the tens of millions combined P and D. To me this puts numbers so high that basically anyone could have a great specimen of each denomination and obtained at face value, thus where I think I would call it the beginning of the era of moderns.

Yes. It is bad. NEVER clean your coins! Also understand that while you may have received a coin, any coin can be cleaned and any coin with a number of decades of circulation has a chance of it being cleaned long before you obtained it. I personally don't think the coin in this thread was cleaned. The copper plating doesn't necessarily turn chocolate brown all at once.

Stick around here. You will learn a lot! I enjoy learning here.

It is quite relevant. Once a coin has achieved MS status, it is considered as not having any wear. MS is where the number of bag marks, scratches, hits, and other imperfections are scrutinized and counted. And it also depends on the series once again. Take Morgan dollars for example. There are none graded MS 70. There is a few dozen or so graded MS 69. There is a few hundred or so graded at MS 68. For most collectors MS 67 is all they will be able to afford to collect and at that grade level they are fantastic. MS 66 of any coin will be only a few minor scratches and MS 67 will maybe only have two very minor imperfections or typically only one. MS 68 will probably not have any visible imperfections in the fields or main details with a small scratch hiding somewhere on the coin and literally comes down to the quality of the strike (and I am sure some will say mint luster). ALL grading has to take into account the entire coin. That is the obverse, reverse, details, fields, and the rim and edge. A coin with a reeded edge with a crushed reed should appropriately get lowered a grade point. Rim dings must be taken into account as coins with significant rim dings or dents in the rim or edge can end up with a Details grade for Rim Damage. When I am self grading coins, I always try to keep in mind all the things that earn a coin a Details grade. Mostly because I try to avoid buying impaired specimens, but it helps me to check all aspects of the coin including the rims and edge. Not an exhaustive list, but a list of the more common issues that get a coin Details graded are whizzed, polished, wheel mark, rim damage, bent, scratched, corrosion, cleaned, spot removed, environmental damage, repaired, tooled, holed, altered color, and less common would be mount removed. Plated and altered surface will get returned in a body bag along with authenticity unverifiable or not genuine (counterfeit). When self grading any coin, everything is important and everything needs to be taken into consideration.

Hello and welcome to the forum! It looks to me like it possibly had some plating blisters to begin with that actually broke open exposing the zinc core to rot in agreeance with @Just Bob as is common with these cents having years in circulation and questionable history with exposure to environmental damage.

I think you have a VAM 5 which is a Micro O and is typically scarce for this year and mintmark. I appreciate the collage and full photos. Much better than most people post!

Hello and welcome to the forum! I think it is an impaired proof. Looks like maybe it has some environmental damage since it is just plain loose and not even in a cardboard flip. There were over 1.2 million proofs made for this year and I think you could locate a much better example already graded for probably less than you will spend to submit this coin to have it slabbed. On the scale of proofs, this would be on the low end as it is not even Cameo or Ultra Cameo. And if you submitted this coin and it returns as Proof Details, basically all of its value will have gone out the window and your grading costs will all be a loss.

The Lord was trying to tell you that you need to repent!

Hello and welcome to the forum! I simply cannot provide comment on your coin based on the uncropped and too blurry photos. I don't want to jump on the S bandwagon when it could be a filled D from a broken post. The photos are too far away and too blurry for me to be able to tell.

No need to apologize. Questions from the simplistic to the complex need answers as they are questions. One thing I recommend to you is to get a copy of the book titled ANA Grading Standards for United States Coins, 7th Edition. This book covers most series with photos of each typical grade in the Sheldon Scale (MS 60, AU 50, XF 45, XF 40, etc.). This can help when you are undecided about a specific coin. What cannot be replaced in my opinion, however, is looking at TONS of coins already graded. This takes time. And I agree with @The Neophyte Numismatist that you need to become familiar with the nuances of each specific series of coin to be able to recognize specimens weakly struck which is different from wear and what pieces that are sharply struck and are gem BU. One thing I have used over the years to help me is to compare the coin I am wondering what the grade is to either a known gem BU or a Proof if that is all that there is to go on. Granted proofs are produced differently and should have superior details, but they can be used to refer to the image on the coin and what it is supposed to look like. Sometimes on that comparison it becomes evident the coin in question is a much lower grade than initially thought. I also don't refer to luster in and of itself when determining grade. While high grade coins usually have nice white color on silver coins, I have also seen some Morgans and some Mercury Dimes and some Franklin Halves with heavy blue or black toning that have amazing grades. Grade to me is about the original surface, how pristine and mark and scratch free it is for the MS grades. Once a coin has wear, to me it becomes a little easier to determine grade when observing the typical spots of wear on the highest points of the design. Hopefully this answer helps some.

I agree with both of these statements. Monticello almost seems like some of it got chewed off. On the first one, it is MAD, but just be aware it is not misaligned enough to grade as an error. NGC won't classify a coin as MAD unless it is far enough off that parts of the design are missing or incomplete such as half of some lettering or missing lettering or date numbers. I like it though!

The additional pics were helpful. I don't think I need to elaborate more as the reply from @Sandon covers much more than I would have delved into. Also I noted, the back of the slab looks like it is covered with some ick. It would probably be good to clean that off.

I would contact the seller directly and explain the situation and inquire about the status of the item and make it known you are willing to buy.

I wonder if the seller blocked you for the "trouble" on his end having to cancel the order. Some people would rather block than make a sale. I just signed out of there and checked an non numismatic order I made on Sunday. My address is ok. I wonder exactly how that happened. I know to change it yourself you have to go through many different tabs and pages just to get there. I'd be demanding an answer from their customer service. Sorry to hear this happened to you. Especially if you lose a coin because of it. I know how that feels just from getting outbid. I think it would feel even worse over some mechanical/computer error.