powermad5000

Other than it being crooked, am I the only one seeing in the closeup at the top right side of the mintmark (about 3 o'clock) a raised line as if it could be a D/D? I looked at varieties for this date there are a few but none match the OP's mintmark for a D/D. I do see a hit right across the mintmark that displaced some of the metal, but I am asking others if they notice the area around 3 o'clock?

@Sandon I'm confused. Where is there a photo of a Kennedy half in this thread? Oh, I missed the second page. Ignore my question......LOL!

I did not get very far into the article before rolling my eyes and closing it out. It should amaze me but it does not : the sheer stupidity of some people. Reminds me of crypto. Sure, I will invest into a created digital currency and dump a bunch of money into some kind of online account so when I get to my account page, I can see digital digits on my screen that say 100. But there is nothing physical to hold. Just a digital number on a screen. Hmmm....100 100 100 100 100 why not 1000 10000 100000.....gee, I could not only look at it on my screen but type it in for FREE! 1000000000000 This is different as you can buy a physical coin or check, but is akin to someone you don't know, some stranger, saying if you hand me $10, I'll come back in a year and give you $100 back. Because, SURE, I'll see you back in a year with my $100, right? I might as well invest in coins made in some guys garage... I'll invest my $10 in US Treasury coins, thank you.

I know very little about these coins, but I do know it is a popular coin for counterfeits and there were modern replicas made. According to the University of Notre Dame there was a Robinson replica produced back in 1861. Wikipedia lists the weight of one of the originals as 26.6 grams. Also, from reading on there the prices realized for genuine doubloons are in the millions of dollars, so I would say the one you have I am about 99.9% sure is a counterfeit. I will put the photos of an original provided by Wikipedia as following :

Hello and welcome to the forum! I have a few ancients in my collection and I can share some of my very limited knowledge on them (I only bought slabbed ancients). The little basic I know is they are graded on strike and surface when the coin is above VF grade. I have not seen an ancients slab with the term "environmental damage" on it (possibly someone else has?) As for value, what I have noticed is that the ancients that command value in the marketplace are those of well known historic figures (think Caeser, Cleopatra, Romulus, etc.) Many of the rest to me it seems regardless of age or of the figure depicted are worth anywhere in a range of $60-$200 with only prime unworn specimens getting premium dollar. The ancients market since the pandemic began has seem to have seen a significant increase in demand so prices have steadily rose for the last few years. And that's about all I know about ancients. I am sure someone else on here will be much more helpful than myself.

Hello and welcome to the forum! I would think you would want to get the basics of coin collecting down first before venturing off into the world of errors. As stated by @Greenstang, only true errors happen during the striking process. Another thing I will relay to you as you are new to this, DDO, DDR, RPM, RPD, cuds, die chips, die cracks, and VAM's are NOT errors! Also, since you mentioned paper money, star notes are NOT errors. Star notes are the replacement bill for the actual error that the Treasury caught in the first place, but still needs to print the replacement note to keep the serial number sequence intact and be accountable for that serial number. Bill errors are even harder to find than coin errors. In my lifetime of collecting (45+ years), I have found three coin errors in change but no bill errors. This is most likely because coins are individually struck whereas bills are printed on sheets with other bills and the sheets are inspected before being cut. With the high speed coin presses, unless there is an actual striking problem, Mint employees only spot check the occasional coin as the presses are simply too fast to check every single coin. If you are going to continue in you endeavor, I suggest getting the book ANA Grading Standards (they are on the 7th edition but you can get the 6th edition very cheaply on eBay) and become familiar with the basics of inspecting and self grading coins.

Being the steel is a hard metal, it is not just a ding. Your steel cent could also have been polished (that is what the surface looks like to me) and it would be hard to tell now (either plating or polished) if the "dent" was actually a spot of rust that someone carefully ground off the coin to keep it from spreading. The steel cents were prone to developing rust spots if stored improperly. Either way, I think it would get a details grade in which it really would not be worth the cost of submitting it.

Hello and welcome to the forum! I have never put additional information on my submission forms. If I submit a coin that I know is a listed variety in VarietyPlus, I just check the VarietyPlus box on that line (as well as the box at the top of the page for add on services). All of my variety coins came back fully labelled (whether description 78 rev. of 79, or specific VAM). The graders know what to look for when you check the boxes. @Sandon I have still checked the box when no fee is required and they didn't charge a fee (if it is listed in VarietyPlus as NO FEE) to make sure attention is paid to the coin on that line that I am looking for the specific variety to be listed on the label in the slab. You will only be charged a fee if it is listed in VarietyPlus and does not say NO FEE for the listed variety. Basically if you send in an 1878 Morgan with VarietyPlus services check boxes checked off, the graders know all the varieties for that year, and are going to attribute the coin accordingly to which particular variety the coin you sent them actually is. I have never listed the specific VAMs for the Morgans I have sent in and they all returned with the correct VAM I was seeking.

Hello and welcome to the forum! As stated by others, error coin prices are as unique as the error itself. It depends on what someone is willing to pay for it. Full brockages with complete details are quite rare and error collectors would be willing to pay premium dollars for such an error. Yours is quite spectacular with the complete image viewable on both sides of the coin. I do note on your coin, to me it also appears to have been broadstruck. If that is officially the case, your coin would command top dollar. I would definitely have this coin graded by NGC to get an official description as well as a numeric grade. I would submit this under the Standard tier at a minimum (this tier is for coins valued between $300 and $3,000) Once you get the coin back, you have your choice to sell it at auction, but I would recommend Sullivan Numismatics. I would think they would buy the coin outright without you having to lose a percentage that an auction house would take from the sale. I have not sold any coins to them but I did buy a Gold Eagle Lamination error from them. Most of what they have in their inventory is high dollar. If you do send the coin to NGC, come back and visit us with the results. I am sure many of us on here would be interested to see it officially graded.

To answer your question about why, counterfeiters (specifically the Chinese) will literally counterfeit anything and some counterfeiters on occasion do use some silver in the mix of the counterfeit to make the weight and appearance more realistic and less detectable. As you have already sent this out, I don't think there needs to be an expanded discussion of this piece, so please get back to us with the results. My only other reservation is you mentioned you watched a video about this and then started checking. I could only guess it was a YouTube video.............(rant supression activated)......

I am in agreeance with what the others have posted. Outside of the varieties mentioned, these coins have not increased in values since they were minted. There were significant mintage numbers of each year (no low mintage years to make a specific year desirable). The series never caught on with collectors or the general public as try putting twenty Ike's in your pocket, or simply folding up one twenty dollar bill. They were big (comparatively speaking) and the clang clang and weight in your pocket was not appealing to the public. Also, most vending type machines did not take them so there was little practical use for them in circulation. Outside of the varieties, grades need to be graded MS 69 before they have any substantial value and the census numbers of those graded that high (at least by NGC) are very low so if your coins (sans photos) are not basically pristine perfect, they would not be worth the cost of sending them to have them graded as it would likely cause you substantial loss at the time you go to sell them. I had 4 1974 Clad Ike's that were AU in grade and I put them out on eBay to sell them. The most I got for any single one was $5, the rest selling a $4, and one at $3 (it was a little rougher than the rest). But each of these were listed individually and it took almost a year to sell all four of them even at the prices they sold at. Selling that many you might be better off selling them as rolls or as a lot of all the coins together.

I notice a piece of whatever it is on the reverse has already broken off. Possibly soldered or brazed. Whatever it is, it is post mint damage (as well as the polishing job on it).

I liked the way my Pixel 3 took coin pics (until the phone had a meltdown). I have had difficulty getting the Pixel 6 to take good coin pics. It is almost as if the phone is trying too hard to take a perfect picture that either the details are "too sharp" or the color literally looks like the "juiced up" photos I see on eBay (which infuriate me) and know the coin in hand does not look like that. I have had some better success with it by placing the coin I want to shoot on a black background instead of a white background. It seems to help lessen some of the light reflecting back at the lens and the coins looked a little more natural. I have noticed on coins that are borderline prooflike (or PL), that too much light is reflected back at the lens and the angle needs to be a little off dead center to get a good shot. I didn't with the Pixel 3, but with the 6 I have to sit down after and use the editing and adjusting tools in the photos app to try to get the pics a little more like what the coin looks like naturally. I am definitely not a photo pro, but maybe some of what I posted here could help.

I agree with @J P M. That looks like a piece of cloth was covering the coin. Maybe it was just put in a cloth by the owner to protect it. Or it was stored in a cloth bag of some type.

Sadly, some of these modern proofs being not worth much get thrown into circulation which is the opposite intent of the Mint making proofs in the first place. If the Mint wants to cause more attention and excitement to proof coins, they should go back to the proof mintage numbers of Morgan dollars (some 1,100, some 750, some less). People are finding they have nothing "special" when such large numbers of proofs are currently made.

Hopefully this helps you see the 2 better. I could see the bottom of the two faintly in both of the provided photos. The following pic is of a 1942 from NGC Coin Explorer.

I went to the World's Fair of Money last year here in Chicago and I described it as CSNS on steroids. I would say if there was ANYTHING specific that you were looking for to complete a set it was there somewhere. I also found several dealers willing to engage in reasonable bartering and deal making which helped me to complete my mission there reasonably quickly. I will definitely go again.

What do I need to apologize for? I highly respect @Coinbuf @Sandon @EagleRJO @J P M @Hoghead515 @VKurtB @RWB @ldhair @Just Bob and many other highly knowledgeable and well educated members on here who I am learning from despite my 45+ years in this hobby. Because you don't tell us that you do own them. This post began with 1925 S Peace Dollar. No comment. No information. No question. Perhaps it would be better to start the post off with "My 1925 S Peace Dollar". This has never been me. Ever. I would say 100% of people on here and that know me in real life would disagree. I care. ????? I agree. They cannot. And moving forward, I choose to not comment on yours. I wish you the best of luck and many blessings.

Very nice coin!

Dear members of the forum, Do we have time to look at coins with no proposed question on what are possibly random coins that the OP does not even own? I feel like I am being tapped for basic self grading info that I spent the years of time and did the work to hone and learn on my own. A 1925 S Peace Dollar is not a key date in the series. While I have no problem with helping answer a question, I have limited time to be on this forum to answer legitimate questions. I also am aware of a nasty interaction between the OP and @Coinbuf which has me not inclined to comment on the OP's posts.

CSNS is a close drive for me. About an hour. I've gone there almost a decade now to buy raw coins. I typically am able to shop out quality raw coins on a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio of value. Anytime I can buy a coin worth twice what I paid for it is good. One year, I did score a pair of MS 65 FBL Franklins for $12 and $18 respectively so that worked out very well. I have made out on some Peace and Morgans as well as a handful of Washingtons and Mercs. This year, I ventured into the $100-$250 price range on some raw Morgans to fill some holes in the set so I will have to wait to see how those pan out. It was just a letdown that there wasn't much raw worth buying (and I did look but found a lot of cleaned specimens or overpriced flips). I went to the World's Fair of Money for the first time last year, and I didn't make it through the whole show because I had a mission and completed it, but I don't remember seeing much in the raw. It seemed like a slab fest. I will attend again this year and spend more time walking as I will have no specific goal in mind to tend to during the visit. I suppose I would entertain looking at some of the big auction house coins but none of my sets are at that point that I need those last few that might only be found there (plus I am so cheap and will still growl at the buyers premiums). I am going to be very interested in the return box of the roughly 38 coins I submitted at CSNS. This is also the first time I got an email about an extra charge for a tier upgrade for a coin that I apparently severely undergraded as they felt it to be in the next upper grading tier. The box opening is going to be more exciting than the CSNS show...LOL!

The photos I provided were from when I bought the coin raw and it was still in a flip. I sent it in to NGC and it graded MS 62. Following your commentary then, both coins are legit.

I have an 1875-S in MS and looking at the reverse, the coin you presented has the same die crack traveling across and through AMERICA. I am not sure whether a scanned coin would be able to pick up the detail in that die crack, so I am willing to say the coin in question is legit. You might just be seeing the eagle's head as "different" due to the amount of wear on it. I should have pics of my MS to put here so you can compare.

I am in agreement with @EagleRJO. If you got that offer, I would take the $2K and run! For that price, I would let whoever put up the offer deal with trying to get the coin out without damaging it, and you would have the $$$$ in the event the coin isn't genuine to begin with and is maybe just a replica. Assuming the coin cannot be removed without damaging it, I would think you are ahead money wise in the whole deal if you accept the 2K.

It is possible that if freed from the onyx (somehow) (being it is stone I might try to carefully break the stone if you don't care about saving the onyx) if I am not mistaken, NCS could be able to remove the glue residue if it were glued to the stone.