dleonard-3

I believe Breen included Cohen numbers in his opinions of die pairings in his Half Cent Encyclopedia.

On 9/9/2021 at 6:19 AM, Alex in PA. said:

My bet is:  The whole deal is fake.  Cracked the slab - remove coin - insert bug - reassemble slab - sell.  

Note how you cannot see the front of slab with number.  Yep; Gotcha!

Which brings up the question............what would it grade?

I would like to weigh in on this coin cleaning thing.  My opinion is a beginner or inexperienced collector should never "clean" any coin.  Cleaning will alter the original surfaces, and usually is done to make the coin appear as a higher grade, or with better eye appeal, to deceive someone out of their money.  That is wrong.  There is a type of cleaning that I do on occasion as a type of maintenance on the coin.  When I get an old, original copper coin, like a large cent, that has that greasy, crud built up in the protected areas of the coin from centuries of handling, I will usually try to clean it off in a gentle, non-altering way.  I consider this to be "conservation" of a coin, which reveals the true color and preserves it from corrosion and possible damage in the future.  I use a clean acetone soaking, and careful tooth picking to loosen any crud in the crevices and to gently wash it away.  The acetone removes oils from the surfaces and evaporates quickly leaving the coin looking dry and vulnerable.  I will then apply a drop of mineral oil to my fore finger and thumb, rub them together to form a thin film, then dab the coin surface on both sides until the coin is thoroughly coated in a thin coat of oil.  Then I use a soft camel hair brush to even things out.  I don't scrub, I just lightly use the very ends of the bristles to gently lighten and even up the oil on the surfaces.  I then will store these coins in a soft cotton sleeve in a paper envelope.  Occasionally, when viewing my coins, I will run into a coin that has begun to gunk up again, and I will give it a light oiling and brushing again to restore the protection, and the look.  I also realize that after I do this to my coins, they will forever be considered to be "CLEANED" by third party graders as well as most collectors.  That doesn't change my opinion of value, and if you can't agree with the value I assign to my coins, well, you won't be able to buy them from me.  

I don't think any 1964 SMS coins are out there to be collected, so you probably have a proof coin.  It always helps to post good photos of both sides of the coin(s) in question.

I have a 2019-S 1C 10-Coin silver Proof Set PF70RDU that shows a score of 143.  It doesn't score the 2048 points shown on the lower chart.  Is this a mistake that needs fixed?

NGC Registry Score2019 S 1C PF RDU

	PRAG	G	VG	F	VF	40	45	50	53	55	58	60	61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70
Base	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	6	6	6	12	16	20	24	37	41	59	143
	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	6	6	8	13	17	21	28	38	47	87	150
	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	3	3	4	6	6	8	13	17	21	28	38	47	0	0
	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	3	3	5	6	6	10	15	19	23	33	40	53	0	0

2019 S 1C 10-Coin Silver Proof Set PF RDU

	PRAG	G	VG	F	VF	40	45	50	53	55	58	60	61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70
Base	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	6	6	6	6	37	50	81	123	163	620	2048
	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	6	6	6	16	41	60	95	136	315	1096	2150
	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	3	3	4	6	6	6	16	41	60	95	136	315	0	0
	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	3	3	5	6	6	6	27	46	71	109	150	468	0	0

Beautiful group of cents.  No matter what they grade out as, I would be proud of them.

7070 is a Dansco album, I believe for a U.S. type set.

Also, the 1911 proof 63 RED has a lower score (437) than any of the red/brown or brown coins in the same grade or lower.  It should score more than the 1404 points on the 63 R/B.  Maybe just add a "1" for 1437.

I was researching a 1909 VDB proof cent when I noticed that the brown coins in pf64, pf65 & pf66 have higher scores than the red/brown coins in the same grade.  This doesn't sound right, so could you please check into this and make adjustments?  Thanks.

Mint sets are made up of circulation strike coins.  Proof sets are made up of Proof struck coins.  The term "mint set" usually refers to circulation strike coin sets.

The coin looks nice and relatively mark free for a 64.  I would be proud to own it.  But, you are right to be concerned with the contamination and it's possible future effects on the coin.

11 hours ago, JBock said:

😍

WOW!  That is one amazing cameo SMS cent.  Those don't come around very often.  I'm very envious.

I don't know if you know this, but when a proof die was made, it would be sand blasted to a frosty finish, then , because the fields are the high points on a die, the fields are polished to a mirror shine.  The first few coins stamped with new dies will show this "cameo" contrast, but then the normal metal flow during the stamping will burnish the frosted surfaces of the die leaving the entire coin looking shiney and mirror-like.  Sometimes the mint would re-polish the dies if they got worn to remove these "flow lines" that show in the fields mostly, but usually the devices were left mirror like.  Then, in 1975 (I think) the mint started doing die maintenance where if the contrast started dropping off, they would remove the dies, re-sand blast them, then re-polish the fields, so most proof coins after 1974 were deep cameos and the lighter cameo coins were not as common and undesirable by collectors.  The haze that develops on these proofs is quite common, but is a type of environmental damage.  It can be removed with careful conservation, but I wouldn't do it yourself.  Any tiny little mark, spot, or damage of any kind will keep it from being graded at the top level, so if your coins have anything visible, I wouldn't bother sending them in.

Looks a whole lot better than 63.  Very nice IH

21 hours ago, Coinbuf said:

VERY NICE!  Tough date too.

One more for the cameo pile.