Hoghead515

Someone may have been trying to make a little hole in there to sneak a couple out at the right time. The bag may have been discovered before they got the nerve up.

I think when they are grading them they are looking for a perfect gem. They see die cracks as imperfections. Even if everything else about it is a beauty. The crack takes away the eye appeal so it wont get the star. To most people thats an eye sore.

I wouldnt see a coin with a die crack getting a star. The star is for exceptional eye appeal. I would think that the die crack would take away the eye appeal. Also Id think the cracks would start happening when the die starts getting worn. Id think the more exceptional coins would be struck off of fresh dies. Or off dies that have been freshly polished. Seems to me a crack would be a defect and therefore take away from eye appeal.

I agree with Neo. If you look for errors or varieties it can be tough at first learning the difference between true doubling or strike doubling. Once you learn it and learn to look for split serifs then you will be doing great. We see post with strike doubling or mechanical doubling almost everyday from new collectors. Strike doubling is very common. Some of it can be quite dramitic also. Its usually caused by worn dies. Not sure about newer presses but if old presses back years ago got out of time they would cause the planchet to shift a little and cause it. Was usually caused by worn parts. Not letting the dies strike exactly in time with each other. Like Neo said we see alot of very damaged coins new collectors think are errors. We call alot of them parking lot coins. They been ran over in gravel lots and things like that. Also people get bored and do all sorts of things to coins. They weld on them, grind on them, file them, heat them, and any other thing you can imagine. Also things you cant imagine. Just keep all those things in mind as you are looking. If you have any questions we will be happy to help you.

Dont forget to look for West Point quarters. They are out there to be found in change. They are highly collectable. Not sure if you heard of them or not. The only years that have them are 2019 and 2020. Instead of a P or D they will have a W mint mark. All the designs of those year was struck at West Point. The mint called it, "The Great American Coin Hunt." They released several into circulation where collectors can find them in pocket change. They are fun to look for and still plentiful. Ive found a few of them myself. If you find any put them up in your collection.

Im not very good at these things but looks like it could be a thread or some kind of fibers struck through on the coin. Thats just my guess. Im not expert by no means. Just an opinion from a non expert.

I decided to write a report this evening to use on my quarter registry set. Its just on paper as of now. Im going to edit it and put it on my description in a couple days. It will be a cool little story about why John Flanagan's design was chosen for people whos never heard it yet. If people even take the time to read those things. I find them interesting and read the ones who decide to add them to theirs. Im sure a few others do to. Old John almost didnt get his design on there. If it werent for Andrew Mellon. My personal opinion I like his design way more than Frashers. Frashers was pretty much chozen for it originally. Also some cool information is it was originally intended to be on the half dollar. Most collectors probably already know this but some probably dont. I just want to pep my registry set up a bit and add that soon for the ones who like reading that kind of stuff. Gives me something to do and helps me learn while Im doing it.

There may have been several employees in on that one together. Or one of those mission impossible or ocean 11 type deals.

There was probably more corner cutting going on than anyone could imagine. Hard to say how many times employees just said, "Yeah. They're all there." to keep from moving those big stacks.

Its very easy to do if you until you learn to navigate the site a little better. Ive done it before myself. Espically if your like me and dont have very good computer skills anyway.

It did it to me when I first joined the forum. It showed that my post wasnt showing up.

Your very welcome. I can tell your willing to learn and I think you will do well. Cant ask for a better hobby to get into. Lots of fun and educational. This forum is an excellent place to learn. Ive learned quite alot on here reading all the post and links people provide. And by asking questions. The experts on here answered many questions for me that helped me along the way. Feel free to come back and post here anytime you like. If you find an area you want to collect or things you learned. There are several people on here that would love to hear about it and help you improve. If your willing to learn and want to learn they are more than happy to help you. Its great to have you on the forum.

We will never know. Or may never know if they never turn up. But I have all those questions bouncing around in my mind. They could have been melted down like you mentioned earlier. The theifs great grandkid may still have them in a safe somewhere. Would be an exciting story if they ever turned up. I dont see them stealing them and not trying to spend them. Probably melted down and redeposited somewhere by an unknown accomplice. Or melted and sold to a shady bullion buyer who can keep his mouth shut. Around here we got scrap metal buyers like that. They buy all the stolen converters the theives are cutting off our vechicles. And all sorts of other stolen copper and aluminum. They are good at it. The theives are still at it and seems the law cant catch the buyers. Or wont try.

Ever since I heard that story about the bag of 1928 DEs, Ive been thinking of all the possiblities. Its raised these questions. Are they stashed away in the theifs old house somewhere? Are they buried? Could some have been spent? Could a small handful have went through TPGs at one time or another? Are they accross seas or in a foreign country? We will never know unless a bag turns up one of these days. Its still fun to think of all those possibilities. Never know. The theif may have got scared and buried them. They are out there somewhere.

@EagleRJO beat me to it. The highest listing was in 2020 at $180. The most recent sold for $162.

Does the reverse dies usually wear out faster than the obverse? I noticed they are still using the obverse and not the reverse they started with on the coins above. Or does it just depend on which die is harder that last the longest? Youd think the die that does the hammering would wear out faster. Which die do they usually fix on the hammering end? Sorry if these questions are aggravating. I need to read about it again. I read a little in FMTM this evening. Skipped to where they are engraving the dies but have not made it to where they set the dies in the press yet. Its been well over a year since I last read about it. Ive forgotten alot since then. Im sorry I done blew the thread way off topic. Maybe this will help others get a better understanding of why so many die pairs were used. And start getting back on topic. Very cool you were able to trace down the die pairs of those coins. Once I get a better understanding Id enjoy further researching into doing that. Ive still got alot to learn first though.

Hopefully I didnt hide the last comment. My fat fingers hitting buttons. I think I hid it and I tried to unhide it. Let me know if its not visable and Ill try again.

How often did they have to polish those proof dies? You can see not only the monogram is weaker but some detail also. For example the detail in the log and other places. There may be no way to know for certain but how many times do you think those dies were polished between the first coin and the second? Just an estimate? I find it very interesting and Ive been wanting to learn more about polishing and the frequency. Ive always wondered how much of the surface gets removed each time. I guess it probably has to do with how much damage and how much is needed. But I figured they probably didnt strike as many proofs between polishings. Figured they took better care of those. Thats just my opinions only and very interested in learing any thing more that I can. Did they keep records for every time they had to polish them or did they just do it and continue on? Sorry if these questions are uninteresting. Im find things like that very interesting.

A thing to take into consideration about cleaning is that even if you never cleaned the coin yourself dosent mean it hasnt been cleaned. The cleaning on the coin I mentioned earlier, that I submitted, had been cleaned years ago. You can tell it was starting to retone over it. Some coins are harder to spot the signs than others without experience enough to spot them. Back in those days cleaning wasnt frowned upon as much as it is now. Once a coin is cleaned it is forever ruined. It will never get its natural luster back. Sadly theres been some very nice rare coins ruined from it. I know you never mentioned anything about it but I just wanted to add this bit about cleaning coins to help you on your coin collecting. If you ever go to buy any raw coins look for the signs of cleaning first. You can find some very helpful articles with a little research that will help you spot coins that have been cleaned if you want to look into it further. It destroys the value of them quite a bit. If you ever go to buy a coin your not sure about feel free to post it on here and we will be happy to help you. Good luck and happy collecting.

I would keep it in the holder its already in if it were me. You can buy one already graded cheaper than you can get one graded. For shipping, insurance, and everything you would pay close to $100. You can buy one off Ebay already graded for around $70 or a bit more. Probably cheaper if you try for one in an Ebay auction with a little patience.

I agree with @Coinbuf. Try to learn what the condition is and look up the value of those coins in that condition. If its not worth at least $150 or more then its not worth grading. Also learn to spot coins that have been lightly cleaned. I made the mistake of submitting one that had been cleaned one time. As a person who made several mistakes first learning I wished Id took the time to do some research first. I learned a few things the hard expensive way. That being said that would be an excellent coin to preserve in an air tite capsule. You can find them on Ebay or Amazon.

Be a nice album coin or a coin to put in a flip. Pass down to kids or grandkids.

I think I remeber seeing it somewhere that they dont use them when they grade coins. I remember them explaining why also. It was for some of the reasons @ldhairmentioned above. They said its safer to just use clean hands and handle them by the edge. So they grade them with bare hands for those reasons.

Before I read the comments my first thoughts were acid also.

This is unrelated to coins but Im going to share a good use for those. We do alot of hunting in my parts and go after our own venison. Those are handy to put over the barrel of a black powder muzzle loading rifle when you are hunting in the rain. Keeps water from getting down the barrel and getting powder wet. You can shoot right through them also if you get the chance to take a deer. Sorry to go off topic.