pogohatesme

Also to add, sorry about some of the glare. Best I can do until I figure out my lighting situation.

Going through my change jar and found this nickel that caught my eye. I am not very verse in numismatics terminology, but it appears to me to have maybe a satin finish or matte finish. I have tried looking up either of those finishes for this year and mm to no avail. Could someone give guidance on this coin? Or is it just toning that is occurring? 

The top coin is the one in question. The bottom coin is shown for comparison. Both are from same year and mm.

5 minutes ago, kbbpll said:

What is the exact name for this app? Is it iPhone? I searched for "Cozy Magnifier" last night and a few popped up but didn't have that specific name. I tried one and it was horrible - couldn't turn off the light, didn't seem to be any better than just taking a focused picture and zooming in on that. Are graders all really young or something? I can't see squat on a coin anymore without a magnifying glass. I don't see how anybody can ID some of the varieties without 5x.

Here is a screenshot of the app from the google store. I use a Note 10 android but would think it's the same on iPhone.

Edited to add, from all reviews I have read and seen, this one is great. The free version does have ads but they are very short and only happen when opening the app.

Thanks for the help. I thought I had read somewhere that grading was done at 5x which is why I was trying to make sure I was at least on the right page. I had not seen the above article saying grading was done by eye. I do have a handheld magnifying glass as well. I dont know if it's.my eyes or the glass itself or what, but it seems I still have trouble seeing things which is why I brought up the app on the phone.

49 minutes ago, KarenHolcomb said:

Ok. What I do is bring the coin into focus at whatever distance necessary without enlarging. Once it is in focus is when I enlarge it. 

 

Yes it does make sense and is about what I was figuring but wanted to double/triple check. But also, from your comment, what do you mean by this? Are you saying you start the Cozy app normal magnification, get the focus at whatever distance, then magnify? If so, what magnification do you use?

I have thought of getting a Macro lens but have yet to do so. I typically hold my.phone about 4 inches above the coin with Cozy set at 5x magnification. Would this be about right? I'm not looking for "perfect". Just want to make sure I am doing enough to tell whether a coin MIGHT be worth holding on to.

My apologies if this is a stupid question but honestly would like guidance to make sure how to do it. I currently am only using my phone with an app called Cozy Magnifier to view coins and try to determine any possible marks, ddo, ddr, and or rpm and the like. I have the app set at 5x magnification but my curiosity and question is, even at that magnification, how far above the coin should I be holding it? Obviously not so far away that it would be detrimental, but I am unsure if there is such a thing as "being to close" either. 

The reason I bring this up is while looking at some Jefferson nickles and attempting to determine if it might get the 5 or 6 full step, at a certain distance away it would appear that it would. But if I move closer to the coin, then maybe not so much. Hope this makes since. And thank you all for your guidance and help.

2 hours ago, Just Bob said:

The only way to learn the difference is to look at actual coins that have been designated as RD, RB, etc. Pictures will go a long way toward helping, but pictures are rarely accurate, so viewing actual coins is the only way to know for sure. 

Thanks that clears things up quite a bit and tells me what my next move should be. Going to a local dealer and checking out some of his and going to a show ( as neither of those is really anything I've done).

You are absolutely correct Greenstang. I said that because I knew better but got overly excited seeing how good of shape it is in compared to 99% of the other coins in the jar and given it's age. Thank you for the guidance. 

Oh, as for the red/brown/red-brown, I have read the definition but it still confuses me. I guess the best way I can say it is I have not had 2 or 3 different coins and then had it pointed out this is red, this is brown and so on. Still learning all this so when I look at a lot of the "cleaner" coins, they all appear to me to be quite reddish...if this makes sense..

Just now, Greenstang said:

It has to be a business strike. Denver Mint did not produce any Proofs

From NGC Grading Forum

 

D'oh, I feel stupid now. Didn't even think of that when looking at it. 

I am wondering if this could be a possible proof coin or just a really well struck and cared for coin? Tome to pics don't do it justice for how well it looks in hand. And I know the pics aren't the best and have somewhat of a glare and I apologize, best I can do with just me phone until I can figure something out. 

Also, when researching pennies, I've noticed the different grades for red, brown, red-brown and so on. And honestly it has me confused on being able to tell the difference. Any advice of how to get better acquainted with that?

1 hour ago, KarenHolcomb said:

Mostly people just send them to me. Js.

Don't tempt me lol. I just got done going through another bag of coins and discovered a lot more V nickels and wheat pennies and having a hard enough time figuring things out with them much less this lot of stuff.

Thanks for the replies. AG is were I was leaning but wanted to check. I know this should be an easy one, just working on my grading haha. I like the coin though too.

Since my grading sucks thought I would get yalls opinion. I know it's not valuable I am just curious would it even grade as "good"? Or what would you grade it? I think the obverse could potentially grade that, but the problem I am seeing is the reverse. With the ed and states worn off and the ts in cents.

Wow. I really have no imagination apparently as yall have given some good ideas lol. All I was seeing is not being any value really so was thinking there was some sort of coin dealer that might specialize in these for some reason. I really had not even thought of all the other good ideas. Thanks a bunch.

9 minutes ago, JKK said:

I see: French, Israeli, Nicaraguan, Cuban (many), what I think is Haitian or Ethopian, Swedish, Mexican, Weimar German, Dutch East Indies, West German, Panamanian...probably as many other nationalities buried or too fuzzy to see.

Pretty much all the ones I have looked up so far with the exception of the Ethiopian or Haitian. Also to add some Japanese and Nederland Antilles. These are just the ones I have looked at so far. Most of the composition has been nickle/copper or straight nickle and a couple aluminum. 

Edited to add: the only reason I posted the pic originally was to give yall an idea of what I was talking about originally. 

26 minutes ago, kbbpll said:

I wonder if there's any family history with these that might have value to you. I notice a couple German pfennigs from the 1950s - I have a bunch of those because my father was stationed in Germany during the Korean War.

Yes I saw a couple of German coins that caught my eye. One from Germany from the Weimar Repulic. Just the little bit of research I did and seen of it. A lot of my problem is also I have no friends and family that has any kind of history with anything like this.

Edited to add that I am using coinoscope app to help identify some of the coins. But then am limited on how much I can actually tell because I am unsure which one to choose, if that makes sense.

The pics are extremely blurry, or my eyes are just that bad. But that appears to be a 1964 D Jefferson nickle. If that is the case, that is correct location for the mint mark. As for value, I wouldn't even begin to guess. I'll leave that to someone more knowledgeable 

Thanks for the suggestions. Being a novice I wasn't sure what exactly to do with them since they do seem to be in abundance and not being able to grade and such.

This is the coin I was speaking of that was minted in the US. It also really struck me because of the embargo against them.

Centavo 100 Year Hero

I did look up a couple of the coins and found 1 that was interesting to me. I can't remember which coin or which country, but according to the info I was able to look at, it showed it was minted the US Mint. Not sure how accurate that would be though for the US Mint to do other countries coins. Other than that looking at info on them confused me more than looking up info on a US coin 😂. I do like the boy scout idea however I do not know anyone personally. 

Hi all. Well after reading several other threads recently I am hesitant on posting this, lol. Scare I light be attacked or hijacked lol. But anyhow I am unsure what to do. World coins are not my cup of tea and seriously thinking of getting rid of these. The one local coin dealet I had look at them a couple years ago really wasn't interested. In fact pointed to a bucket at the end of the counter that had a lot of the same type stuff for really cheap. And I feel as though another dealer would probably have the same reaction, or would I be wrong? I don't want to just "throw them in the trash". Should I try another dealer? Honestly I am fairly certain there is nothing a real value. Thanks in advance

7 minutes ago, Coinbuf said:

  Also BU is not MS60 to MS67, BU is used to describe coins that generally fall into the MS60 to MS63 grades.  Gem BU is used for MS65 and up.

Thank you. That helps a lot. I've tried researching the different terminology but it's so convoluted I get lost.

58 minutes ago, bsshog40 said:

Most slabbed coins like this were bulk orders. They were slabbed noting that they are uncirculated but with no grade. I think, I may be wrong, but slabbing bulk with this designation was cheaper than having each individual coin graded. The picture is a little poor but still looks no higher than an MS62. 

Thanks for the response.Guess I still have a lot to learn because it doesn't make sense to me lol. Don't get me wrong, what you said does make sense and I can get it. But at the same time...yeah not so much. 

Hey everyone, this might seem dumb but I am really perplexed. First off, I understand the value of a coin is ultimately what someone is willing to pay for it. But I came across this coin and now I need help understanding. 

I am confused by the BU grade by NGC and not a numerical grade as well as it showing a price guide price without a numerical grade. From my limited understanding, typically speaking, a BU coin could end up being graded between a MS60 and MS67. And to me that could potentially be a huge difference in value. What am I not understanding?

12 minutes ago, DWLange said:

For its first 30 years NGC abbreviated silver dollar as S$1. Because some customers confused the S with an S mintmark, we recently dropped it. Coins certified during the past several months lack the S for Silver. It has been retained solely for commemoratives and ASEs.

Thank you much for the clarification.