powermad5000

What disturbed me the most upon checking out the coin was that with that level of wear on the reverse (enough to wear the claws smooth, and the wear on the eagles face and wing tips, that the lines in the shield are not starting to blend together. When I looked at the obverse photo, there seems to me to be a lack of overall sharpness of details for an obverse that has a few stars near full definition on the west side. I am not sure if the position of date in varieties had moved closer to either the rim or to the rock, but after checking out a few photos, the dates in the genuine coins I viewed had the numerals placed closer to the rim, and the coin in question has the numerals closer to the rock. The weight might give a better indication of whether it is genuine or not, and why with just shy of 10,000,000 minted and if it were genuine would net about $200-250, but I am still skeptical about the coin in question. If not genuine, then maybe we are seeing another counterfeiting tack, higher mintage number and lower value to cause the buyer to be less suspicious and less likely to examine extremely thoroughly?

Very vague question.....assuming the same that you are asking about Lincoln Wheat and Lincoln Memorial cents there are a few key varieties spanning that date window. The 1955 DDO being the highest valued, but there is also a 1969 S DDO which can command some premium dollars as it is not easily found. In order to get higher dollar values across that span I agree with Sandon that the grades need to be at the top end of the MS spectrum. Due to high mintage numbers, even MS 66 specimens won't command any huge premiums. You question could have easily been answered by looking into any book form or online price guides.

You would have to submit it under the Modern tier. I am not sure they will grade it in the Mint Box as they do with other Mint sealed issues (as in blue chip IKE's, or GSA Morgans). You should call NGC directly to ask that question as I have only seen these graded in typical NGC holders and NGC is not allowed to remove your coin from the original packaging for the risk of getting blamed for damage resulting in doing so. There are three labels that I know of that you can request to be put on the label which are High Relief, Early Release (or First Releases), and First Day of Issue. I am not sure how you go about proving which category it falls under. I would in your case here call NGC directly and ask their customer service to help guide you through your submission. They are there to help you get the proper way to submit and also get the correct label for your coin.

The only errors I know of that produce strange surface pits or depressions are a lamination error or a strike through error. I am not sure this falls under those categories. I would lean towards that being a point of damage. IMHO it would get a details grade for damage.

Just pondering this for a bit, the letters in AMERICA all seem to be sitting at the same level (height) above the two lines rounding underneath the letters. I would think if there was a die gouge, the letters would be "wavy" in height above the field as the metal flow during the strike would be partially diverted from the letters into the gouge. I could be totally wrong on this. I don't see how in the minting process those curved lines could be a part of the strike as they do not travel across the entire reverse of the coin, so I am leaning towards the original planchet having a defect. Being it is not "too minor" as in some errors not attributed by NGC as a mint error, but there is enough of the reverse image disturbed and is also easily visible to the naked eye, I would definitely submit this coin as a mint error and see what NGC thinks of it.

In my opinion, none of the numerals appear to be correct. As in the example provided by Sandon of a genuine coin, on an 1877, all the numerals at the bottom are in line with each other except for the last 7 which is slightly below the other three. On your coin, the base of the 1 does not extend far enough away from the 8 to the left. The 8 seems smaller than all the other numerals. the first 7 is higher than all the other numerals, and the position and shape of the last 7 is just terrible. I also see depressions around the two 7's indicating material was removed in this area. Most certainly not genuine.

In the future, please include clear photos of both sides of the entire coin in addition to the areas in question, but I am in agreement with Coinbuf. Another modern era strike doubling.

You can use this as a reference as for details.

VAM-1AE2 is not listed in the NGC variety plus section for a 1921 D, so I don't know how widely recognized it is. I agree with Sandon and believe the coin to have been cleaned. As far as details I would say if submitted the coin would return as AU Details - Cleaned as I can see wear on the hair and the top of the cap on the obverse and parts of the ribbon and eagles breast feathers on the reverse.

With all due respect, making a post on this forum allows everyone to read it. If you wanted to ask a specific person a question, you should PM them. The people on here are extremely knowledgeable. Please do not mistake their opinions as being rude when they are only being straightforward and honest in their assessment. In your shoes, I would appreciate them sharing their knowledge with you on a volunteer basis. Collecting is a forever learning experience as no one person knows all and there is always something new to learn.

What is even worse is this same contingent of new collectors firmly believes all mechanical or die erosion doubling is an error and is worth premium dollars. As well as every minor imperfection, die crack, slightly imperfect strike well within mint tolerance, or chip/stain/spot/cud on modern coins is now a strike error and refuse to be otherwise educated that it is not.

For inexpensive coins (as in the common worn Lincoln wheats I pulled from circulation over the years), I have each tube dedicated to a single year. I found that using the old boxes I had that 2x2 flips used to come in make a great storage clam shell.

On modern coins, the obscene scrutiny by the general public is astounding and every minor imperfection that is well within the US Mint tolerances is now somehow a major error. Based solely on your photos and the lighting, I cannot determine if a ding caused that condition in the lip or something else. If there was a substantial amount of these produced by the mint with the same condition, it would be classified as a variety, NOT an error. Please put the words "mint error" into the search box on the main NGC page and read the three part series published by NGC on what are recognized mint errors. eBay has thousands of modern coins with all types of minor imperfections that are not recognized by collectors and not worth the premiums being asked by the sellers, while the problem gets worse year after year. I would say this coin falls into the same category IMHO.

Better photos would help to better answer your question, but from what I can tell in your photos, the coin you have has an unnatural surface to me. Dipped is still cleaned, cleaned is still not good. And any of the reputable TPG's are going to know whether or not a coin has been cleaned. You won't be able to "pull one over" on them. You learned a lesson on the Peace dollar you mentioned. Don't make the same mistake with this coin.

If you end up selling coins on eBay (or anywhere on the internet), it depends on the coin(s) in question. Refer to your price guides and red book and know the value of what you are selling. High end MS, as well as AU, XF, and low mintage, key dates, and desired varieties high dollar value coins should be listed individually with more than just two photos. Make sure any photos are clear, of good quality with sufficient lighting, and show the coin from different angles for raw coins. The more photos of both sides and even the rim are advisable on valuable coins so as to provide the seller the best visual they can have before they decide to buy your coin. It is important for your credibility as a seller to give the buyer the most information possible when they buy a coin from you and on the internet, the only way to do that is by having a number of good quality photos of each coin you are selling. [As a side note, several good photos also applies on here when asking questions]. For coins of lesser value say between $100-$10, I would still list each coin individually. For coins of less than $10 and especially coins of value of $1 or less, cull, or otherwise common face value coins, it is difficult to sell these individually, and would be easier to sell in lot format. Also, make sure you accept returns. If a customer is unhappy when they get your coin in hand, even after all the work to provide them with good photos and good details about the coin they purchased from you, you should allow them to return the coin.

I am not a fan of ANY cleaning of coins. Whatever environment/bad handling/improper storage caused a spot on a coin, the surface has already undergone change from the original surface which cannot be reversed. Using an eraser is the same as using sandpaper. Keep rubbing an eraser over the same spot on a piece of paper. You will eventually rub a hole through the paper. You will immediately damage the soft surface of a gold or silver coin. I also am not a fan of all these people using acetone (or any other solvent). It may remove a spot from the surface because it also is damaging the entire surface at the same time. I am curious to know if acetone imparts a chemical residue to the surface of a coin after it is dipped. Maybe someone on here has insight to that. NGC will tell you that a warm water rinse of the coin [WITHOUT RUBBING WITH THE FINGERS] is the best you can do to remove surface dirt and let the coin air dry on a microfiber cloth without rubbing, but anything beyond that is going to result in a ruined coin with details grade. Back to your original issue, I am in agreement with the others, as I am into most silver (Morgans, Peace, Trade, Barber, Franklins, Walkers, halves, quarters...................) and grade does not equate the same eye appeal of a coin, only its surface and devices since being minted relating to wear and nicks and scratches. There are heavily and unevenly toned Morgans and Peace dollars of MS 65 grade as well as gorgeous white cartwheel luster of the same MS 65. You must be happy with the coin or forever have it bother you. Always make purchases from sellers that do not use stock photos (those that sell in quantity as in 15sold/more than 10 available) are using stock photos and I will not even buy from these sellers as you definitely will not get the coin you think you will get, and I don't have the time to be endlessly returning coins. Also, always buy from sellers that accept returns. Those that do not accept returns will likely have you end up in bitter disappointment when you receive the coin. When it comes to a coin as yours that is not unique or a case where there may only be five or ten known, but plenty of others out there with the same grade, get your money back and use it to find one that is pleasing to your eye.

You have a pair of 1956 circulated album fillers. In the circulated condition they are in, if they appear "mirrored" as you state, they are either improperly cleaned or polished. Coins with that degree of circulation have long lost any cartwheel luster they had and would have surely begun the oxidation process as is typical of silver. They are not worth submitting.

I've stated in other posts I submit all of my coins to NGC for the purpose of most importantly a proper holder to protect the coin from any possible environmental or physical damage, and secondly to take away the question marks surrounding a coin as to what it really is as far as condition and in the case of errors, what caused the error. I am aware Kurt that you do not submit your coins, which is a personal choice you make for your collection and there is nothing wrong with that at all. I do feel, however, it is up to each collector to decide whether or not they want to submit their coins. I know NGC and PCGS have graded a high amount of coins, but compared to total mintage values of all coins since the US Mint was founded (and also if you include world coins, colonial, and ancients as well), it actually is only a very slight portion of the total minted, so I don't think there is an overslabbing issue. Even on the error presented in this thread there are differing opinions as to what the exactness of the error is, and a proper grading would remove differing subjective points of view from the coin, providing an exact description of the coin for the OP who asked us what we thought about it. I simply gave my opinion as to what I would do with it. It is up to the OP to decide what they want to do with it.

If I may interject, I have 3/4 of all the Franklin Halves in a minimum grade of MS 64 FBL. A 1958 P has a mintage value of 4,000,000+. A 1958 P MS 66 FBL is currently in the NGC price guide as $290. At your price of over $4,000 I am going to quickly run the other way.

I see an off center broadstrike. A legitimate error coin. I agree without the date, it is worth less than a dated example, but I would not diminish the value of this error to just give the coin away. There are niche mint error collectors that specialize in/only collect error coins and the more extreme the error the more they pay for it. I was able to view error coins this summer at a booth at the Worlds Fair of Money when it came to Chicago and the array of what he had for sale was astounding. I was not allowed by him to take pics, only to view. One of the most bizarre to me that he had was a Washington quarter struck on a Mexican Peso planchet (it was in an NGC holder). If I had your coin, even minus there being a date, I would submit it to NGC and have it slabbed. Its value would be whatever an error collector is willing to pay for it.

Morgans being my favorite (NOT claiming to be an expert by any means), but what I note from the coin in the photos you provided is that the 5 seems to be misshapen and I would venture to say was added to a set of generic dies (most likely Chinese made). The O on the reverse also looks like it is too close to the ribbon as there is more space between the O and the ribbon on a genuine Morgan. I also see what appears to be small piles of metal around the date and the base of the neck that would not be on a genuine example. The denticles on the obverse don't seem to be full, and separated which would still be evident on a worn example and the denticles on the reverse seem to blend together toward the south in the area of the mintmark which would also be another red flag on this coin. Lastly, I noticed the chin at the neck on Liberty on the obverse seems to blend into the field of the coin suggesting the relief of the dies is not correct. Way too many inconsistencies on this coin.

The slab may have changed hands many times in the past before it made it to Heritage Auctions. It is possible there were other stickers affixed to it previously and someone attempted to remove a previous sticker but did so unsuccessfully as they damaged the hologram. The hologram is not on the inside of the slab and the slab itself seems to be intact in the photos you provided.

They both look counterfeit. Both coins seem to be out of round and in my opinion appear to be cast pot metal with artificial toning.

Hello and welcome! Without photos to ascertain what you actually have, it is hard to be able to give you good advice. I submit all of my coins to NGC. The only coins they will not grade are coins that have been plated or altered, counterfeit coins, or those that cannot be determined to be genuine. NGC has ways to submit any coin from ancients to mint errors to varieties, proofs, business strikes, special mint strikes and just about anything in between. Mint errors and varieties have an extra fee on top of the grading fee to establish if it is a mint error or a variety and this fee is charged whether or not the coin returns with that attribution. That said, with your admission to being new at the hobby, I would strongly advise to get familiar with what you are thinking about submitting as having "alot" of coins to submit will cost you in the thousands of dollars. Also as you are new to the hobby, I am sure most of what you are claiming to be mint errors most likely are not. Error Morgan and Peace dollars are not very common for either series. Morgan dollars have a substantial amount of varieties classed under what are known as VAM's. One of the most widely used resources to investigate these is a book called The Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of Morgan and Peace Dollars by Leroy C. Van Allen and A. George Mallis. It contains most varieties known except a few that were discovered since the book was published. You can research other US varieties on the main NGC page under the Resources tab and go down to Variety Plus in the dropdown menu. I also recommend that from the main NGC page you type the words "mint error" into the search box and read the three part article they published on what mint errors are recognized. Mostly, I recommend being you are new to the hobby to get price guides (or use the NGC price guide), and also a book like the NGC Red Book that provides an explanation of the condition of the coin as it correlates to the grade. You need to determine whether or not a coin has sufficient value to submit as the grading fees are very expensive and it is not worth submitting a coin that even though may be in excellent condition is worth less than the holder that it gets put into. Both NGC and PCGS are the top two grading services and are very similar in fees and grading points. ANACS are also well respected but are less popular than NGC or PCGS. You may see ICG coins but I do not trust the grading points as they are in the holder. I have experimented with cracking their coins out of their holders and submitting them to NGC and they always grade lesser than ICG claims. Please try to take the time to research the value of the coins you are thinking of submitting before you do before it costs you alot of money to only be disappointed when the box returns and you open it only to find what you thought to be rare and valuable is not. Good luck!

Heavily damaged. Try to put it back in circulation.