EagleRJO

I agree, not a dumb question. As indicated older 95% solid copper cents can have areas of the surface peel or delaminate which is believed to be the result of impurities as Greenstang noted, and are called "lamination" errors. For later copper clad zinc cents something similar at the surface would be called "peeling plating". https://www.error-ref.com/retained-lamination/ https://www.error-ref.com/cracked-and-peeling-plating/

When seller/buyer fees and shipping are considered you are likely down to around melt value anyway.

No wrong, there are no different configurations of the designers initials for this or other Morgans. Just check VAM World. The designer initials as well as everything else except the mint mark by this date were on the master dies. http://www.vamworld.com/wiki/1921-P_VAMs

Wrong again, with no clue what he is talking about as there is no such thing as a "grease soft strike". Please disregard these posts.

Don't hold your breath waiting for a reply. It appears he is often just posting random info and unrelated variety references, and linking back to his NGC profile in support of very shady Etsy/eBay raw coin flipping he is doing. He apparently doesn't care if he posts inaccurate or misleading info, or about his reputation which is being flushed, along with NGC's for allowing it to continue. Many are just are just pointing out the inaccuracies and reporting the posts.

It's very difficult to authenticate or grade gold coins just from photos, but If legit it would be valuable enough to submit. There are many counterfeits of the Indian Head $2.50 Quarter Eagles, so I think it also would be worth submitting to authenticate the coin. You are probably better off bringing it to a local coin shop who have an XRF tester to verify it's gold before submitting for you. https://www.ngccoin.com/coin-explorer/united-states/gold-quarter-eagles/indian-head-2.50-1908-1929/17948/1915-2.5-ms/

Yes, it looks like you found a match with the 1824/4 50C Type-1 or O-109. Also, NGC VarietyPlus has a good image of the 1824/4 O-109 coin/date, and is a great resource for 1837 and later half dollars where only the date (thru early 1900's) and mark (thru 1990's) varied until those were added to the master dies.

I assume you have a cat ... or had after that. I was chuckling to myself picturing this.

Where do you see a cud? No, wrong. If you actually looked at the photos you would see the "9" as well as the "7" in the date have taken hits, moving around the soft copper metal.

No, wrong. MS means "Mint State".

Why would you think impact damage may need to be graded?

Looks like impact damage.

I'm a little confused since you talk about a mint set but then show a photo of an individual coin. In any event, for either a plastic set case or individual capsule from the mint there is a seam on the side or edge you can work a small sharp knife into and then pry open with a small screwdriver. You just need to proceed slowly and carefully so you don't damage the coin(s) or cut yourself.

It's really hard to tell much of anything or see if it might be genuine from those photos, which are all blurry and except the last one not centered, other than it appears to be a Morgan like coin with a little wear that has an off color or appearance which might indicate it was dipped or cleaned. You could try taking better photos, perhaps by resting your hand on something while keeping directly above and close to the coin.

I don't know why I bother except maybe to possibly help the op avoid confusion, but it is "doubled" die as Greenstang noted. https://www.pcgs.com/news/its-doubled-die

Where did you find such detailed info about this token? I also agree with this, except I don’t consider just soaking in acetone which has a neutral pH really "cleaning" as it's more like just a "solution soak" to me. I once did a check by very gently cleaning one of two virtually identical coins from a roll with soap and warm water. I took photos and examined them with magnification before and after, touching or handling both in the same manner except the control coin wasn't cleaned with soap. I was astonished at the rub marks and very fine hairline scratches clearly present on the coin cleaned with soap and water, even though I was trying to be extremely careful. I think small particles in the gunk stuck to the coin were pushed along the surfaces of the coin, just by the act of trying to remove them, which caused hairlines. And just moving my finger on the surfaces with soap, even where there was no gunk, caused some rub marks. I will post the comparison photos if I can find them again as it was a long time ago. Very nice token (not 1 cent) by the way.

In addition to collecting more valuable coins I go thru rolls of coins I like, and previpusly also buckets of pocket change, looking for very good or unusual coins. This is not meant to discourage you, but I would also consider it very lucky to find something worth $100, let alone $1,000, from just rolls of coins.

I understand the delimea, but either continuing your sesrch for a high grade raw Rooster at a lower MS price or going the certified route seems like the only logical options. This is given the financial risk of a raw Rooster not grading out if a seller is not willing to stand behind or share risk associated with a price point they are demanding for a raw coin. I still think that there are raw examples of various coins which may be of interest in collections that have not been picked through yet. In some cases I have settled for slabbed coins due to various factors. And I don't believe anyone would think less of your Rooster collection if they were not all raw coins you submitted.

No, but sort of like that. I'm thinking of something else which is a sort of visual cognitive bias which fills in memory gaps, replaces things as you expect to see them, or specifically skips over things seen repetively in the past and you could swear it is different from the way it really is in reality. It will come to me eventually. P.S. I think it's called "pareidolia" as suggested by another.

Okay, that confirms what I thought and was just a little surprised to see you quote an under the table instead of an over the counter price.

I think we really need to hear from @Edwardram if the weakened areas are in the same location indicative of rotated dies if we are to go any further with trying to figure out if it's a mint error or not.

Looks like deteriorated dies to me, or a type of worthless doubling, where some of the elements widen slightly all around or on both sides sometimes, that also gives it a "mushy" appearance. For more info you can search this board for "machine doubling" or go to DoubledDie.com and click on "Doubled Dies" and "Worthless Doubling" on the left hand menu.

Hold the phone. You can buy just about any modern mint packaging, which a coin is not permanently sealed within, online without the coin and one could put whatever they want in empty packaging. Now purchasing them second-hand from reputable dealers is another story. I would fall into the first category except for very valuable non-bullion coins or internet purchases with an unconditional return option allowing an in-hand examination to make a final decision. I would also fall into the second category if you are talking about TPG coin coffins, unless you mean put the raw coins in protective capsules or aftermarket slab holders myself to protect them which I agree with. Now what does that have to do with the price of tea in China, or what I would pay for a particular raw coin?

I thought you couldn't melt legal tender coins, or does that only apply to precious metal coins.

Thanks, fixed. You know how many times I have looked at and posted that annotated infographic without noticing my typo. There is a name for something you see just because you expect it to be like that even though it isn't, which is a type of visual cognitive bias, but I am drawing a (_) right now on what it's called.