Wraithhawit

On 8/14/2022 at 6:59 PM, Sandon said:

    A coin that appears to be made of "blackened metal" when viewed at all angles is either severely corroded or has been painted or otherwise colored with something. (A coin can tarnish or "tone" to a darker color, but this has nothing to do with its being a proof.)  A proof coin from 1975 would have deeply mirrored fields, usually with at least somewhat frosted devices (the portrait and other elements of the coin's design).  Additionally, there should be an "S" above the date, the mint mark for San Francisco, where 1975 proof dimes--like nearly others since 1968--have been made.  The mirror fields would make the fields look "black" when viewed from an angle to the light, brilliant when the light source is directly overhead.  The 1977 proof dime in the photos demonstrates this appearance.  

  While typing the last paragraph I got your photo. Your coin is simply a well circulated (worn) and toned 1975 dime made for circulation at the Philadelphia mint, one of a reported 585,673,900 made that year. Spend it!

    If you're interested in becoming a coin collector, please advise. We can help you with acquiring the necessary knowledge.

Thanks for your very detailed response. I think my friend might be gaslighting me. As someone who just casually started this, I'm curious as to what "deeply mirrored fields" means. Also now he's saying people are selling non proof versions for 40,000 USD. And now he's telling me to look up a "clad proof"

I mainly have two questions. What can the blackening be? And how to tell if a dime is a proof dime or not

Lol my friend isn't an expert, he's a very casual hobbyist. I'll have pics when I'm off work, and "on film" was more natural sounding than "in pixels"

I've got a 1975 dime that looks like it's made from some black metal. It doesn't look like fire damage and it doesn't look like paint. My friend is saying that means it's probably a proof dime. Is there any way to verify this? I'll post pics later, but it looks much blacker to the eye than it does on film.