Woods020

The earlier cents must be worn from circulation. They went on a circulation diet.

Oh and after 1982 they are copper plated zinc weighing 2.5 grams. I left that little nugget out.

Cents have went through composition changes through the years, but no silver. The various compositions have weight variances. I’ll list the list below. This cent isn’t a little heavy. I think the variance is +\- .13 grams, but a copper expert will soon correct that if it’s wrong. Are you certain your scale is accurate? Even if it is a little heavy I don’t think that is enough out of tolerance to be worth a premium, but others may correct that. Bronze Lincoln Cents Dates: 1909-1942, 1947-1962, 2009 Composition: 95% copper, 5% tin and zinc Weight: 3.11 grams Diameter: 19 mm Zinc Coated Steel Lincoln Cents Date: 1943 Composition: steel coated with zinc Weight: 2.70 grams Diameter: 19 mm Copper Lincoln Cents Dates: 1944-1946, 1962-1982 Composition: 95% copper, 5% zinc Weight: 3.11 grams Diameter: 19 mm

Just a very damaged (post mint) nickel

That quarter has been in the ground. I find these metal detecting frequently and they look like this. I do tend to see the crystal like appearance on the obverse when they are in or near water also.

The pictures are simply too fuzzy. If you can’t get a clear picture of the mint mark up close we could give opinion. Alternatively if you go to Variety Vista, and look at OMM listings for Jefferson Nickels it will list known varieties for that coin. It needs to match exactly the documented listing. This is the case for any suspected variety unless it’s a new discovery, which on a coin this old is very unlikely. Variety Vista is a good resource to begin using.

Don’t go by the NGC or PCGS price guide. Those are always inflated. This coin was still a good buy at $75, but looking at recent auctions they sell in the $90-$100 range. One went on eBay on 6/21 for $83, but most are going for that $90-$100. Learn how to look up auction realized prices and it will benefit you. Or get a membership to Greysheet. It’s not that expensive and it makes life easier.

Start with VAM 37a2. I’m pretty sure that’s it. But you can verify.

If you are going to get into collecting Morgans, you should familiarize yourself with VAMs. I am attaching a link to VAM World which has a nice listing by date for Morgans. There are a buuunch of VAMs on Morgans. The TPGs will only attribute the top 100 or something like that. They wont attribute all of them by any stretch. Anyway it’s fun to figure out which VAM a Morgan has. Some people collect them by VAM, but generally only the rarer ones add any real value. If you match it you can see what that VAM has sold for on eBay. Often times it isn’t with the extra attribution fee, but sometimes it is. http://ec2-13-58-222-16.us-east-2.compute.amazonaws.com/wiki/Morgan_VAMs_by_Date

I have posed the question to NGC to further clarify their use of SP last night. We shall see if it gets answered. It seems they answer the “where is my order” or “why didn’t you give me this variety” questions but not so much some of the true numismatic questions.

Also in reading much of the description on various parts of NGCs website, it seems very vague and confusing. It often mentions mirrored fields and frosted devices as reasons to label a coin SP, but this would seem more fitting of a PL designation. It would be very helpful to many collectors to understand a stricter definition and to have the rationale applied when a coin is labeled SP.

I think anyway this is the opposite of what RWB was getting at. First luster and color are two different things. And the color is influenced by refining technique and composition of the final metal used for the planchet. The subsequent toning after production is also influenced by composition. So color is directly related to planchet composition and post production environment. Nothing to do with dies or strike pressure.

No doubled eye. It’s part of the design and the wear is making it appear as something different when you view it. Attached is a picture of the speared version of this coin, but you can see in the design there is a depression in that area.

These are a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma when it comes to grading. The incuse design means wear is evident in the fields and not so much the devices. Very different than how you would normally assess. I never seem to get them graded correctly. I do agree it’s circulated. Further than that I won’t embarrass myself.

It appears it is in the coin, but just to cover all bases the scratches aren’t in the capsule right? In pictures they often show like they are on the coin.

Well this state school kid is still confused. I understand matte finishes or other different coins that don’t fit into any category. But they describe them also as coins with frosted devices and mirrored fields. They even say previously thought “proofs” were now SP. Why wouldn’t that the PL then? It would make sense if SP was for a unique characteristic, but makes no sense if it also includes what would seemingly be PL.

Hello NGC, Several members in the forum were discussing the various attributes of an SP or specimen designated coin. It was surprising to see that many very knowledgeable numismatist feel it’s unclear. In the NGC grading standards it essentially says somewhere between MS and Proof. Could you provide us a detailed definition, in NGC’s determination, what constitutes SP?

I’ll take a stab and ask NGC in the ask NGC section for a detailed definition in their terms. The only other question I’ve ever asked, which was probably 4 months ago at this point, never was answered. And it was a legitimate question about an NGC slabbed SCD. Anyway I’ll see what they say.

I’ll be the first to admit the term as used on coin slabs is not clear to me.

As stated start your own thread, but please show me where the D (Denver) mint mark is because I certainly don’t see it.

If you are treasure hunting, and not just filling slots on the varieties which I assume, then you want to look for this. 1982 D cent Small Date Copper weighing 3.11 grams vs zinc weighing 2.5 grams It has to be ALL of the above to be anything special

The three cents listed in the subsequent picture appear to be Philadelphia mint. The small date rarity is only at the Dever mint (D mint mark). It’s not uncommon at Philadelphia.

I couldn’t agree more. And many SP (what I thought was specimen but I’m sure I’m wrong) has nothing to do with proof like qualities. I thought it was to differentiate it as having different qualities whether it be pattern or other. The NGC definition essentially tells us nothing.

Directly from NGC grading guidelines. I would be curious to see the coin in question as well Strike Type MS Mint State. Coins struck in the same format as circulation issues. Applies to grades 60 to 70. PF Proof. Coins struck in a special format for collectors. SP Specimen. A hybrid between Mint State and Proof.

Are you taking them on a cell phone? If not the simplest thing is to do it that way. Take a picture of the coin, clearly focused, where the coin is filling say 75% of the frame. Then crop it tight while not cutting off the edges. I posted probably 8 pictures in a thread recently that way. Sometimes I have had the same issue where two won’t work. I can’t explain it always. But cell phone Jpegs should be smaller file size than a raw file from a pro camera.