Henri Charriere

If you were to ask me my opinion, here is what I would say... First impression: appears to have been heavily circulated long after leaving the Denver mint. The "S" you refer to is little more than a disfigured, mutilated "T," a vestige of which remains (witness the left-most portion of the top cross-bar in "T.") In plain English, an EF-3 strength tornado touched down atop the T causing widespread damage then proceeded due West leaving a distinctive ruinous path in its wake, dissipating atop the middle prong of the E. A separate lesser twister, spawned as an offshoot to the major outbreak, caused the collateral damage to the final 9 in 1969.😉

In any event, I would not have abandoned my Chinese take-out over the matter of two cents. I routinely give back pennies I receive in change saying, Here you need this more than I do.

Very lovely even wear. Nice coin.

Nice edge with an enhanced land and groove design feature.

The thorough cleaning obliterated the lines in the wheat wreath. How did the fellow who sold you this coin describe it?

Which is precisely why I like working with an antique 30x loupe.

How did the person who sold you this mutation describe it to you, and, what made you acquire it?

Sixteen coins, chief. And bupkis is spelled with only one "s". (If it had been a St. Gaudens double-eagle compilation, no one would've had didley-squat to say about it.) Roosters purchased sight unseen from the comfort of my home with the use of my wife's phone in collaboration with my right thumb. An extraordinary undertaking which has apparently captured your attention, and won't let go!

I thank I. Cutler who was kind enough to respond to my query in a civilized manner without insults, name-calling and disparaging remarks. The only dumb question, I was always told, is the one that goes unasked. [Goodfellas, 1990, Joe Pesci: "You embarrass me in front of my friends and you don't think your being out of order?"] To the mercurial types out there: There are more socially acceptable ways to express your annoyance, frustration, impatience, intolerance and anger. Bear in mind, there is a wider audience, including younger people new to coin collecting, watching. I would like to thank all of our sponsors for keeping this thread running. However, if the intermittent outbursts of enmity on this thread continue, I will have no choice but to underwrite the cost of the OP's contemplated, long-delayed submission, in full.

This coming from someone whose own opinion was roundly dismissed as the "most ignorant" that viewer had seen all year -- an observation you chose not to respond to. What gives?

Alright, would anyone care to posit a guess as to who placed the marker on the coin, when, and why?

Having just viewed the various offerings being made in advance of Heritage's so-called Error Coin auction, I wonder whether the U.S. Mint maintains records of their production. No, of course not. For incredible reasons that go well beyond human comprehension, they are deemed to be legitimate "errors." Nobody questions the very existence of some of these impossible sleight-of-hand creations. I have yet to see anyone on this thread take issue with WonderCoin's assertion that what he recognized to be a "diagnostic marker," was anything but. True, no one has to acknowledge or refute the assertion. I am merely observing that no one, in a position to do so, whether by knowledge or experience, has done so. And that, to me, is telling.

Quite frankly, the only aspect I find irresistibly intriguing is the presence of that "diagnostic marker" which not a single viewer of this thread has addressed head-on either by concurring, or outright refutation. WonderCoin did NOT equivocate. I do hope, after recovery from his injuries -- this is not a matter of urgency and can be pursued at one's leisure -- RichieRich2020 gets to the bottom of this most encouraging lead and solves the mystery. [And Alex, I hereby declare you to be the King of the Emojis! 😀 Keep up the good work!]

[I don't know that I, a rank amateur and alleged troll, am capable of humiliating anyone, plausibly, and certainly not those clearly superior to me such as yourself, well-grounded, erudite -- and unflappable. Fortunately, I have neither the desire nor inclination to re-arrange the pecking order on this Forum. That's better left to the seasoned experts and consummate professionals. I believe VKurtB knows I have nothing but the utmost respect for him.]

[Attn: RWB. Thanks for bailing me out on this. I am much obliged. I wanted to test-drive my best VKurtB-like reponse. "Imitation," they say, "is the sincerest form of flattery."]

I don't know. I'll ask him tomorrow when we have lunch.

One more reason why I love this thread. You never know who is going to show up or when. Thank you, Insider, for always trying to be helpful. And to think there are those who wanted to pull the plug on all this!

I respectfully disagree. It doesn't take much to engage an OP on his own terms. Besides, this thread, remarkable for both its length and the extended discussions it has evoked from every quarter of the Forum, is worth its weight in gold on entertainment value alone. Some people, I guess, just take things too seriously. I am with you on this one, RichieRich2020!

Easy, easy now! Let's not kick a man when he's down! RichieRich2020 is the personification of this thread. And without him we are left with nothing but the trial of pyck, or some such historical artifact. I hope he recovers soon...

Perfectly understandable. Hope you get well soon!

That's what happens to those who walk around with gold teeth and silver fillings 😉

Speaking from a fly-on-the-wall perspective, I believe we are getting ahead of ourselves here. The coin needs to be authenticated/certified first before we can talk about what price it may or may not fetch at auction. If memory serves, I do not recall seeing a space on any submission form that a collector can use to alert a grader to the presence of a "diagnostic marker." Would this be routinely discovered during the grading process or is it something the submitter ought to point out? I am not taking sides here and wouldn't want to posit a guess as to any final determination.

[ Aside: I cannot speak to the desirability of a Roosevelt dime, per se, as I do not know, but I got a big kick out of Just Bob's choice of coin to mark his 5,000th posting: why, of course, a Roosevelt dime from the 1950's! ]

Well, I own a 1903 French 20-franc gold rooster, semi-unique. Only two were graded PCGS MS-65, none graded higher. I do not recall what I paid for it but it is certainly not worth a fortune. I know who the other owner is because his specimen, like mine, is lodged in a Set Registry. I have no idea whether he would be interested in acquiring another example, but I doubt it. Now, according to Just Bob's assertion it's future value, if either of us decides to sell, will depend on who is prepared to make an attractive offer for it -- and when. I can live with that. My work is done.

I, for one, accept your personal opinion only because you set the bar high by wielding the simple, straightforward truth. In assembling my collection of Roosters, a 16-piece set, price was no object. I did not concern myself with esoteric considerations like Fair Market Value and future return on investment. I set my sights on the highest available grades. There is no question but that I unfairly skewed the valuation of Roosters and, if anyone were to charge me with being the scourge of the internet as regarding Roosters I would have to accept responsibility. Interestingly, I would not engage in that practice today in light of a bull market which has all but dampened my enthusiasm for rote, mindless buying. It is by sheer dint of luck that I managed to amass a set comprised of quality gems with extraordinary eye appeal -- sight unseen. No certified collector I know has ever done that. You, Just Bob, would not do that! So you are correct. A deal is in the offing only when both sides make an accommodation at a specific moment in time at a point of sale.