powermad5000

That is a Statehood Virginia clad quarter.

I may have to throw the challenge flag here. The rim on these quarters is not that high to begin with. Would not the acid also eat the height of the rim down as well if it etched away that much of the details of the coin? That ridge on the reverse almost makes me think of an early capped die.

I have my own question while speaking as I have only seen capped dies on Lincoln cents with a smooth rim, would a capped die on a reeded edge flatten out the reeds making the rim smooth? Also, if it were a capped die, how would that affect the clad layer?

Since you got it out of a Coinstar it also obviously circulated and took on some other damage, but I can't get over how at least the reverse looks like an early capped die.

I did not denote any sarcasm in any of the replies in this thread. There are quite knowledgeable and educated people on here only sharing their advice on a volunteer basis on your original post. I am not sure what offended you in any of the replies and if received that way I am quite confident nobody on here had that intent. We all started the same way. Not knowing anything.

I will state once again (and will continue to state this until I am no more), DDO, DDR, RPM, cuds, chips, and all of these YouTube spitting/tongue/earlobe/bubble/whatevercutsiename is coming out recently for minor variants in the normal production of coinage ARE NOT mint errors. Things such as DDO, DDR, RPM, etc. would be graded as a variety IF it is so widely recognized.

For the OP's coin, a die crack would produce a raised line as metal from the planchet flows into the crack of the die during the strike. Anything with a V or U groove going down into the surface of the coin is a scratch or damage as there is on your coin. The D has evidence of mechanical doubling or die erosion doubling whichever term you wish to go with. Your coin has been widely circulated and the rest of the spots you are showing us in your photos are damage from being circulated. This is one to put back out in the wild.

If anything, it is hard to get the 70 designation and if they missed something it is to your advantage. Why argue with the label? Also, if you are doing high mag on all your coins and finding things that can't be seen with the naked eye, you are going to find just about every coin to be not "perfect". If the coin was pleasing enough for you to buy it, it should make you happy to own it, not disappointed in it. Aside from that, you really only need to look over raw coins (or bullion) with a magnifier when you are self grading before deciding to purchase said coin (or bullion). Somebody already did the work of looking and checking before it was slabbed. You only need to check the coin in the slab if you question the slab has been tampered with.

Terrible fake. Mushy details with clean fields. The date numerals are all wrong as well as the shape of the lettering on both sides of the coin. Even the eagles breast feathers are misshapen. The eagles high wing fades into the field. The denticles are mush and just kind of fade into the fields. Whoever made this didn't even come close to the proper details. My photo is the reverse of an 1857 I submitted but the reverses were the same for both years. 

As far as die breaks getting a mint error designation, the die break has to be so severe it alters part of the image on either the obverse or reverse (meaning a large part of the die not on the rim but from the center of the die actually fell off). What you have is a die crack and metal from the strike flowed into the crack in the die. I have an 1883 Liberty Head nickel with die cracks across the entire surfaces of both the obverse and reverse and submitted it as a mint error because there was so much disturbance on both sides and the coin still returned graded as normal with the attached explanation of "not major".

Cuds happen when a part of the edge of the die breaks off and the metal flows into that space during the strike. Cuds have been common since the early 1800's as the mint overuses the dies to get the maximum life span out of them or the die is defective. This commonality might get a variety in certain issues but once again, only if there were many coins produced with the same cud in the same spot and usually the cud has to be quite large as in the 1811 half cent with a large cud that spanned four stars on the west of the obverse.

The only other mint error attribution I know of related to a die cracking or breaking is what is called a retained die break error. This type of error happens when a piece of the die breaks off before the strike and gets fused into the planchet while it is being struck. Minor die chips can be struck into a coin but once again, for it to be a mint error, a substantial piece of the die needs to be infused with the planchet during the strike.

You have a coin to keep as it has some unique features but I would not submit it, especially as a mint error as it will not receive such designation. 

I got this in cash register change and had it in an album and had no clue they put W's in circulation. When I took it back out of the album, I found the privy mark. I only got this one so I submitted it at the Worlds Fair of Money when it came to Chicago along with about 15 assorted silver dimes and dollars and one ancient.

On 3/2/2023 at 6:18 PM, Lem E said:

How about a face full of nasty hits. This is an ender from a mint wrapped roll I just opened a few weeks ago that was still in the mint box and has never seen the light of day since it left the mint in 2005. Has some nice color to it. Unfortunately it has so many deep cuts on the obverse. Otherwise, it would have been a nice looking piece.

On 3/2/2023 at 7:41 PM, J P M said:

Sharp edge nickels dumping into a big bin at the mint is not nice.

Exactly!!!!! I see plenty that even have a nice clean field but once I look at the face or the Monticello with a 10x it goes right back into circulation. Most have those deep gouges like that. It has always fascinated me on nickels being tough to get high quality specimens that the value doesn't translate into the marketplace.

This is direct from their website.....

Sight White “acceptable” is only certified for white coins that meet our very rigid standards. The Sight White hologram sticker represents coins with minimalto no dark areas, large white spots, grease marks, dark toning or several black spots that would distract from the coin’s visual appeal.

To me, another worthless label that you can blow your money on. I think I can see blast white versus toning or spots on a coin without needing a sticker. I had heard of them but forgot about them. They had a rep at the Central States coin show handing out their little cards which I looked into when I got home and then put the card in the recycling bin.

NGC will be happy to take your money to slab just about anything. These fall under the vast array of Mint marketing gimmicks that I turned away from long ago when they started toying with the ASE's. Proofs, SMS's, and Mint Sets were one thing, but it is out of hand now. I would not spend my money on slabbing these.

A fool and his money are soon separated. A coin marked MS 65 is MS 65 no matter if the label is brown, green, yellow, black, or purple or has background images of floating cows on it. I have my own OCD things and I get it where you are coming from, but when it comes to the coins in my collection, I could care less if the labels match, or what they even look like. I care about the coin in the holder and how that looks because even MS 65 can be blast white if it is sliver, or have some heavy toning leaning toward black but still be MS 65. Buy the coin, not the label. The NGC label has changed over the years as well as the holder. I have a lot of the older holders too where you can't view the rim of the coin and those labels are totally different.

On 3/3/2023 at 2:47 AM, l.cutler said:

You are confusing doubled die and double struck, two totally different things.

I'm only trying to explain what I see (and probably in a terrible way) as it is a confusing coin...

Something does not jive with me on this coin. Thinking of the famous 1955 DDO Lincoln Wheat cent, and all DDO,s for that matter, the strikes all fall within the same rim as the planchet is still in the collar but struck twice, producing two images which by the way are both just as crisp as each other. I have a TDR proof 1955 and wish this topic came up before I went to my safe deposit box today so I could have taken a picture of the reverse. My lament aside, the tripled images are also not crisp with my mind referring back to the 1955 DDO example in which there are two crisp distinct images. I also note on the obverse the tripling does not translate fully over to the west side of the coin and in particular LIBERTY, nor does it translate to the head and the date as well. I also note an incuse ghost of a tilted 1945 above the date on the obverse which makes less sense to me. What I also note is if somehow the coin was popping out of the collar the obverse and reverse would have corresponding movement and the pattern on the reverse does not seem to match the pattern of movement on the obverse. Also, once again, the tripling on the reverse is not a crisp image side by side by side. I am not exactly sure how this was produced but I am going to venture out and say this could not have happened during the striking process.

On 3/2/2023 at 3:17 PM, EagleRJO said:

Btw, are you using the NGC Registry Set for Circulating Morgans with 105 coins as a guide for your complete set?  That is what I have been using as a guide, and luckily they do not consider the 1895 (P) Proof (small house priced coin) a circulated coin.

Thanks Eagle! I am not in any registry sets. I am not a registry collector, just a collector of really nice coins. I attempt to buy raw coins at a 1:10 ratio (buy for 1 and worth 10). My first ever coin was a worn 1921 Morgan and I just could not get past the design. Still my all time favorite coin series! With a better job came better coins and more Morgans. One of my larger purchases was $2,200 for a 20 Morgan roll on eBay. Turned out I lucked out on the roll and it was worth what I paid for it even after sending them all in for grading. It had 3 CC's in the roll, 2 83's and an 84. Two got 63 and one got 63+. I was happy as a clam! The rest of the roll quickly filled a lot of other holes I had and the worst graded 62 with the best grading 64. I can see the dangers of buying rolls and I took a chance but got lucky. I could see how easily it could be to invest in a roll like that and get them all back with Details Cleaned tags. Before the roll I already had acquired about 30 Morgans on my own and have gotten more since the roll bringing me about halfway through the set. I have some PL's splashed in there too, but have yet to acquire a raw DMPL. My highest is a 66+.

Off Morgans, I also seem to fancy Trade dollars. I have half the set of Peace dollars. Still trying to put together the entire set of Franklin Halves in minimum 64 FBL and I am at about 70 percent on those. I have Liberty Nickels, Indian heads, Wheaties, Seated Liberty quarters and halves, Barber quarters and dimes, early copper large and half cents, Washingtons, Roosys, Mercs, Susan B's, Ikes, a half dime, 2 cents, 3 cent nickels, Trimes, 8 reales, some ancients, flying eagle cents, plenty of mint errors...........I'm literally all over the place in my collection. What happened was when I started working a better job, I was able to get better coins and my collecting changed drastically. Now I look for high quality pieces (even AU doesn't appeal to me anymore unless its something really special). I have gone after some low mintage coins and those I am ok if they are G or even Poor as long as they straight grade no details. Basically, my collecting style now doesn't lend to putting a registry set together unless it would be for the Franklins. And all these coins bring me a lot of joy!

I have decided to open this discussion in the newbie section of the forum as newbies can benefit from this discussion. I have recently seen these MAC stickers on slabs [MAC (modern approved coin)] similar to the green CAC stickers. These MAC stickers are basically assigning their own grading system to the coins. Two I have seen so far are for "spotless" and "PL" for proof-like. My gripe is MS 67 may not necessarily be spotless, and if the coin is proof like, then NGC would put PL on the tag inside the slab. To me these stickers are just an opinion and newbies should be wary of thinking these stickers in some way enhance the value of the coin in the slab.

I would like to see what others think of these stickers.

Those are in much better shape than the ones I have in the tube. Nice!

I apologize Eagle if my comment towards yours caused some confusion here. I was trying to clear that up. When I read that, I took it as a newbie reading that and it kind of came across that eBay coins should be avoided. I think just about every seller everywhere overgrades their coins to make a few more bucks. It seemed the OP after reading that kind of threw up his hands and I was trying to not let him get discouraged. I agree that the OP needs to be able to evaluate what the purchase is before making it, hence my suggestions.

I have been working a full set of Morgans for 45+ years. Trying to get it in a minimum of MS 62 with exception of key dates. I am about halfway. Splashed with some VAM's and some MS 65s and MS 66s so far. It is a rewarding pursuit.

$3 for a 68* is a sweet deal. I'd take that deal any day!

I have a tube of nickels that I add to from circulation. They must be pre 1970 and I know they are not worth anything but a nickel or maybe if lucky a dime, but I also pull them from circulation when I get them. I don't know what it is about getting a nickel from the fifties or even forties (yes, I have gotten a few 40's in cash register change), but I am always amazed at the survivability of the nickel in all these years of circulation and yet they are still not worn down smooth.

I have a slight disagreement with Eagle's statement that all coins on eBay are bad. I believe that you need to have the knowledge and expertise to buy safely from any internet site, but not everything on eBay is a counterfeit or a scam. As for the overgrading, in my humble opinion, EVERY seller overgrades their coins to make more money off the sale and that applies to internet, live auctions (with reserves) and coin shows. Any seller can write MS 65 on a cardboard coin flip to try to get the buyer to bite. It is up to the buyer to make the determination with the knowledge of what they are actually looking at to put the coin back down and walk away from sellers who think all of their coins are worth top premium dollars.

That said, you are doing due diligence and fact checking your slabs against the scans and you should keep doing that. Also, you should invest in a scale that reads to a minimum of two decimal places and weigh your purchases of raw coins. For the scale, keep away from that cheap AWS Chinese dog poop pocket scale that costs about $10 and invest in a high quality scale. I recommend Amston Scales. Your eagles should weigh 1.000 troy oz. (31.103 grams). Morgan dollars should weigh 26.73 grams.

My first rule when buying over the internet is to NEVER buy from a seller that does not accept returns. If I get the coin in hand and it doesn't look as pleasing as it did in the photos, I should be able to return it and get my money back. I don't care if it is even a tiny ding that didn't appear in the photo, but it does at an angle in hand, if I am not happy with the coin for whatever reason, I want to have the ability to get my money back. My second rule is to buy from reputable sellers who have tons of positive feedback. There are a lot of sellers on eBay that have guarantees of the coins they sell being genuine such as Great Southern, Macvanderstein, APMEX, and Round Table. Read their whole listing and look for their disclaimer that they guarantee they only sell genuine coins. Even one mistake can get by one of them, but knowing what you buy and the ability to return if there is a mistake made by the seller should have you covered.

Learn as much as you can about ASE's and Morgans. Sure, it is risky jumping in without proper knowledge, but I don't want you to get discouraged from collecting. I am sure all of us on here has gotten burned at one point or another whether it was from lack of knowledge, or just something we missed. Check out all of your purchases you already made, and verify they are all legit and then move ahead from there. 

I don't want the OP to get discouraged and just give up. I do want to see him gain the knowledge and experience to keep going.

The 1969 D with no FG is a recognized variety and collectible, but I am with J P M on this as I can see a faint FG on your coin and I don't think it would get attributed as a no FG despite paying the $18 Variety Plus fee. Also with the wear on the coin, I would also agree that it is not worth the grading fees for putting in a holder.

I agree J P M. In fact, for most modern nickels it is hard to find any without a sail full of nicks and dings.