powermad5000

Hello and welcome to the forum! As an advisement, there was a lot of NGC reps here in the US at the Central States coin show from April 26-April 30. This does not mean NGC is closed down for that time period, but it does mean a significant amount of representatives were at the coin show and not in Sarasota so I can only assume that will be a further delay in the processing of your shipment. I submitted 38 coins at the show and just got an email today that they have been accepted (not heading to the graders yet, just accepted). I can only also assume that coins coming from the UK will take some time to arrive there and due to the volume of coins submitted at the show, could cause further delay in NGC getting around to accepting your submission. I do know from experience that NGC does maintain the "pecking order" as they process submissions in the order they are received as I once had my coins sitting in their vault for about one month before they were accepted because NGC was very busy at the time with several bulk submissions. The key word here is patience.

At first look I started to question whether the coin is a counterfeit. The shape of the date didn't look right to me. Upon further analysis of the photo provided by NGC on NGC Coin Explorer, makes me question the authenticity even more. The numerals don't look right, especially the 2, and the lips of Liberty do not seem to match the photo of an authentic 1921 D. I have provided the photo below for others to view and comment.

@Walter Holmes Thanks for coming back and letting us know!!!! Well, you should feel good that the dealer you bought it from under graded it and the 55 is a good grade for it! Congrats! I always like a grading success story!

I was wondering if this wasn't part of it. I am unaware if there is any real data on the current number of collectors and how many have just come into the hobby or if there are just educated guesses.

@Sandon I forgot about those. I agree. Those are some I look for in the slabs to see if they are "generically" labeled and if the seller did not catch on as they have different values.

@Sandon You mean like the $18 fee for a 1955 Franklin Half Bugs Bunny where you can actually tilt the coin and see the "teeth" with the naked eye in proper light?

Agreed @Teddy R. And there were a handful of sellers with cases between 1/2 and 3/4 empty. I posed this question to the forum as I have gone to Central States for the past about six years in a row and always left walking to my car and lamenting that I just don't have enough money to buy everything I wanted in there. And I did quite well in years past and made some good deals with some of the sellers. This year, I was walking to my car lamenting that I didn't find much that I wanted to buy and I guess I will just save the cash I didn't spend and bring it to the Worlds Fair of Money.

I like the backstory @BBrown75! That will be a very cool set when you get it completed. I wish you the best in putting it together! I have a couple seated liberty dimes but so far none of a solid numerical grade. I did come upon a Top 100 and despite it being cleaned and "bent" (I never did see a bend in it), it is worn but to me one not too common as you don't see it on dealers tables.

Just because a coin gets put in a slab by a TPG, it is still an opinion. Regrades have gotten mixed results sometimes because of different TPG graders opinions of the same coin. One of the rules for posting on this forum is you publicly post soliciting other people's opinions regarding a subject and while you may not agree with the opinions you get on here, you should respect those who volunteer to take the time to share their knowledge and years of combined expertise. If you choose not to take such said advice, you are still free to make your own choices in regards to your subject. As far as your bubble getting burst by an opinion, I've had mine burst many times by a slab returning from NGC. I look at the coin carefully and 99% of the time find where my self grading failed me. I don't take offense to the graders. According to the rules for posting on here, @bobbyboshay, you were way out of line with respect to @Coinbuf.

I went on Thursday, the first day open to the public and I hit the bourse floor as soon as it opened. I would think as a dealer you would want all your inventory out on the first day for people like me who are going to come to the first day only.

Since "whatever" can be posted here, I am looking for some opinions on what I feel was a "weak" level of inventory at the Central States coin show this week. I noticed several tables that were empty as it seemed some sellers decided to back out of the show, and the ones that were there, seemed to have a lot of empty spaces in the cases on day one. Even those sellers that I visit every time at the show had little in the cases to garner my interest. I didn't make many purchases this year. I was wondering if anyone else attended noticed this and if not, what would explain why the inventories of the sellers may have been low??

Sorry but it is fake. If the 5 in the date didn't stick out enough, the details of the hair are mushy. The reeding is not full and crisp. The denticles are mushy. And the S mintmark does not look right to me.

Knowledge is power. The 1955 is an easy one to do your homework on as the true DDO is quite spectacular. In agreement with the others, your coin has die erosion doubling only.

Hello and welcome to the forum! I have made this same post in almost the same language many times on this forum (as I buy a lot of coins on eBay and see it on there constantly and it is quite annoying as it is misused) so I will post it again as a reference for you in the future of your collecting. I apologize if it sounds blunt, but I am trying to expand your knowledge as you are new to this great hobby. Die cracks, die chips, cuds, DDO, DDR, RPM, and RPD are NOT errors! They are varieties! While some are recognized and attributed varieties, most are not and are just a part of the normal minting process and well within the tolerances set by the Mint. Of those that are attributed, only some have substantial values and most have modest to little extra values. While roll hunting can feel exciting as you don't know what you are going to find, I would like to pass along to you that there is basically no roll that is "unsearched" unless it is sealed in US Treasury paper. What that means is someone before you went through all the coins in that roll and cherrypicked the quality coins or the more rare pieces. There are a lot of sellers on eBay selling "unsearched" rolls, but that in reality is not possible. They were searched and cherrypicked and put back into paper rolls. I myself tried to buy some rolls and met with a lot of disappointment and have since stopped wasting my money on doing so. I am only passing this information along to you because I have learned this in my 45+ years of coin collecting and having started more serious high end collecting in the last ten years. It has been educational and enhancing for me. As you stated above, sure, we ALL collect in our own way. Some of us are Morgan guys, others are nickel nuts, Roosy fans, copper heads, and everything in between. I just wanted to pass that along about roll hunting not to tell you not to do it, but to do it wisely and with proper intent.

There are some graded high end 1943 S Steel Wheat Cents that graded as PL (proof like), but the main difference is that proof likes have frosty devices to go with a shinier field. If the whole surface is "shiny", that tells me it is either polished or plated. Only modern clad non proof coinage that gets a proof like grade has a uniform shiny surface.

Hard to slip one by Bob! It is a fake. I had to take a good hard look at the reverse to find it but there it is. @EagleRJO, scroll back up to the over/under way back at the top of the thread where you have the one in question above the PCGS AU53. Go to the reverse. It is subtle but it is there. The two S's in States are not the right shape and the center of the E in AMERICA is shaped wrong. Top cred guys!

Hello and welcome to the forum! I immediately noticed the scratches on this coin on both sides and figure that is from a poor cleaning job. Being this coin is at the end of the series which ended in 1947, with its mintage number of 9,769,000, even specimens that grade solid at MS 64 are only worth about $60-65 depending on overall eye appeal. I am also leaning that it would get AU details and for its present condition, you would most surely lose money on having it graded.

@EagleRJO The one thing I am not sure about is what the graders would do as far as those large gouges are concerned. I don't know if that would knock it down to an XF, but I try to think of one of the large cents I have that has a very good amount of corrosion on both sides and it graded as XF details when I had it pegged for VF because of the corrosion. I can only assume that they still grade based upon the existing details as far as any damage is concerned including scratches, cleaning, corrosion, environmental damage, etc. Are you considering purchasing this coin? If so, I would be curious to know what the offering price is. I guess I would be curious to know regardless of your intent to purchase. Btw, no offense was taken. I was just a little confused by your response based upon your asking for opinions. I do highly respect your knowledge which typically exceeds mine but I am slowly catching up. I just dove head first into Trade Dollars as an aside to Morgans, and learned much quickly from shifting to collecting only uncirculated specimens. @RWB, I know it won't get a numerical grade, as I stated in my first response, and I am only referring to "grade" as AU details, XF details, etc.

With all due respect @EagleRJO, as I know you are quite knowledgeable and I have very much respect for you, if you know what the coin's grade is why did you ask? You asked, and I gave you my assessment with some attached photos of graded coins that I own to back up my assessment. AU 50 is a grade and that is where I would put the coin at because there is a bigger jump in wear to call it at XF 45, and despite that coin's uneven wear spots, there are spots with details remaining that have to be accounted for, such as the eagle's left claw which still has some of the details on the claw itself, that would not be on an XF coin. I also don't think the details of the stars (actually not being flat as is with XF), has to be accounted for. And the eagles breast feathers are not as heavily worn as would be on an XF coin and must be accounted for. Also, the part of the crown is made up of individual dots and some of these dots are still visible which would not be visible on an XF coin, and must also be accounted for. I got the XF coin I posted because you wouldn't believe what I paid for it and it straight graded so I kept it, but I quickly went to collecting Trade Dollars only in Uncirculated state, and in my assessment, I am throwing out all the points I look at when I am actually trying to avoid GETTING an AU grade. I still have a few in AU that were my "mistakes" before being able to properly shop out UNC specimens.

I am not sure if it is the white balance or the amount of light (possibly too much) combined with that, but all the coins in the photos look to have a very unnatural color. Especially the 2022, I am sure in hand that coin does not have that color to it. I also agree that the mag seems to be literally washing out some of the details. On here, we usually tell people who post their photos to use clear, cropped photos not using any magnification, but then if they have a specific area in question then to use mag on just that area, but not the whole coin. The only other thing I can think of is the actual background the coin is sitting on. Sometimes when I use whiteboard as the background, it reflects too much light back at the lens. I have experimented with using a black backdrop recently and I seem to be happier with my photos on that. Keep trying different things, and if you post under the heading Testing.....1......2......3, you can make as many posts without having members on here having to view and comment on what may be many attempts to get things just right.

I am not sure what to tell you when it comes to this except to buy the coin that you find most attractive in the price range you are set in. I am going to post a few photos here of differing grades but both of these coins have few marks and different eye appeals and neither of them have a *, +, PL, or DPL, but they to me are still very attractive and each in their own way. The dilemma you have is only what coin draws your eye to it. As far as the +, you won't be able to tell much difference as that is an NGC mark they give to a coin that "almost" made it to the next numerical grade. The * is confusing as well as I have seen some 1878's with so much frost on them and great fields, yet have not gotten a *. My advice? Don't worry about the special attachments to the grade, or even necessarily the grade itself. Purchase what your eye finds pleasing. (As a side note, I don't have many reverse photos of my graded coins, but I found the reverses of these two to be so pleasing I had to photo them).

@KarenHolcomb Hi! Happy to see you are still around!

Being Trade Dollars are my fav next to Morgans, I can tell you that details wise you are in the low end AU. The rim is in good shape, the denticles are all full, the obverse stars are almost basically complete to the points, you have close to full definition in the leaves of the olive branch Liberty is holding, you can almost see some of the dots in the crown, the ribbon is full and the wheat stalks are showing only minor wear spots, Liberty's hair is a bit worn as well as the left breast (first thing to wear on the obverse), and the top left section of the basket she is sitting on is worn but these are the usual spots. On the reverse, the banner shows wear, the eagles head, the wing tops (first thing to wear), the eagles claws, and the arrow tips and branches, but these are all the normal wear spots on the reverse. The lettering and date on both sides is quite full as well as the mintmark. I am sure you are aware of the details grade it will get for the chopmarks and other damage but I think you will get AU details. I apologize I don't have better pics (or the reverses), but here are two of mine to give you an idea of why I give yours the grade I did. Yours is quite similar in details (minus the damage) to my 1875 S.

I do have one of the same date and mintmark cents as the one you possess somewhere in a coin tube in one of my safes. I could only imagine it was made from the same set of dies. It is not an error, nor is it even considered a variety. If your coin was a high grade red example, it would be worth something on its details, color, and excellent condition, but the mintmark position would not add any value on top of it being a nice coin.

Thinking of all the submissions I have made with NGC, I never remember needing that. I think if there is any problem with your card, I am sure you will hear from someone from their accounting department, oh, like, immediately. LOL! You should be ok. If you are still concerned you can call NGC directly and ask them if everything checks out with your submission or membership.