Pocket Changer

On 4/14/2023 at 12:34 PM, World Colonial said:

You're presumably surprised because you're used to the mediocrity on US circulating coinage.  There is a lot of mediocrity elsewhere too, but not everywhere.

Partly that, but I do own some Italian coins, an old Portuguese coin, a lot of Israeli shekels and aggurot, as well as currencies from many other countries, and this just struck me for some reason. I think part of it also has to do with the fact that it's from Mexico, and Mexico never struck me as any sort of advanced, high level country, and so I would never have expect them to make high level currency as beautiful, but I love it!

I recently acquired this modern Mexican 10 pesos coin when my grandfather passed away, as he had traveled the whole world with his wife, lecturing all over the place. I was astonished when I got the coin, as I had never really seen Mexican currency before. I don't know what old Mexican currency looks like, but these are now one of my favorites! I'm probably never going to use it, but I'm keeping it for it's beauty, since it's not worth much.

On 4/11/2023 at 12:40 PM, Dascher said:

@Coinbuf @EagleRJO @jimbo27 @Fenntucky Mike @Crawtomatic @VKurtB @J P M @Just Bob @JKK

Better late than never, but I said I would do it so here goes. I finally got this back from NGC and it turned out fairly well - MS 63.

Congratulations, that is very ice!

On 4/10/2023 at 11:38 PM, Pocket Changer said:

 

 

I tried deleting this topic, but couldn't find any delete option on the post. Still trying to figure it out. Any help would be appreciated. I'm sorry for causing an annoyance, I had posted something related to coins, but then realized it was irrelevant, as I had come to a conclusion. Is there any way to delete a post?

On 4/10/2023 at 11:39 PM, powermad5000 said:

Much better photos, thank you. Some might complain they are too washed out with light now, but for this coin I think they will suffice. Good find! As I stated before I usually find any pre 1970 nickels in much worse condition than that. Not submission worthy, but still keeper worthy and album worthy. 

I also have a 1964 d nickel and 1964 nickel that I got in pocket change, and they are both much worse for wear, though still surprisingly nice considering! I also have a 1940 nickel in pretty poor quality, so I agree with you that this was a nice, rare find!

On 4/10/2023 at 11:39 PM, powermad5000 said:

Much better photos, thank you. Some might complain they are too washed out with light now, but for this coin I think they will suffice. Good find! As I stated before I usually find any pre 1970 nickels in much worse condition than that. Not submission worthy, but still keeper worthy and album worthy. 

In my opinion the light makes all the features easier to see. I specifically tried to do it in the light because I saw that it gave better quality to the features. I don't currently have a coin album (except a state quarter album that used to be my brothers). I will look into getting an album, or some holders maybe. Do you have any inexpensive ones that you'd recommend, like from amazon or something?

Hey guys, sorry for the short hiatus. I finally got some better pictures of this beautiful and shiny coin, and it looks absolutely stunning. I am not a professional photographer, but I tried the best I could.

On 4/4/2023 at 4:01 PM, Coinbuf said:

Yes that dark almost black color is called terminal toning.   Once the toning reaches this stage it is so thick that it cannot be removed without damaging the surface of the coin because it has somewhat bonded to the surface.

You learn something new every day, thanks! To me the eagle looks ugly, but the rest of the reverse isn't quite so ugly, but that's just my opinion. That's the asking.

On 4/4/2023 at 3:37 PM, Just Bob said:

The coin looks like it is in some kind of mount. What is that?

It is a minute. It came mounted on that, it was my grandfathers. I don't know whether he bought it like that with the mount, but my guess is he mounted it after buying it, as he was not a coin collector in any sense, and he probably thought the coin would look good in the mount, and would be more easily noticed. Like I said, he was not a coin collector in any sense of the term, and this is the way I acquired it. It does make it hard to move the coin without touching the center of the coin, as the sides are mostly touching the mount.

On 4/4/2023 at 1:52 PM, Coinbuf said:

Go to any coin show and you will see thousands if not tens of thousands of Morgan dollars.   Yes, it is common for non-collectors to not see these given that silver coins are not in general circulation, but Morgan dollars are common as dirt in the numismatic world.   And yes, they are a beautiful coin, which is why they are one of the most sought after and collected coins of all US coins.

I agree that they are beautiful, though mine is a 1902, which NGC says is fairly common date for these, especially in lower grades, so I doubt any collector would pay much for my coin, even though most of the coin is legible and with how collectible they are. It also doesn't look at all silver, which is odd, but I guess that's what happens when a silver coin gets extremely dirtied!

It seems odd to me that the eagle on this Morgan dollar is very dirty, and that the wings are barely visible, yet the words are still clearly legible, I guess that's not so uncommon, especially for coin like this.

Even though this is a easily obtainable coin that is in poor grade, it is still cool to look at, though I wouldn't call something obtainable common necessarily, as this is the first I've ever seen this coin in person. In fact, I'm sure most non-coin collectors don't see this coin on a daily basis, so while it might be common for coin collectors, I wouldn't call it common for laymen in general. Same thing with my previous 1880 silver Morgan dollar, I had never seen one until I had obtained it, so definitely wouldn't call it common. I'm only 24 though, so it could just be that I haven't lived long enough to witness many Morgan dollars in person, and I'm certainly not searching for them; I've never bought a coin in my life. Either way, this is still a beautiful coin, with most of the details intact and visible. This is yet another coin from my grandfathers 'collection'. This was not meant as a rant, I just felt like putting it in there.

On 4/3/2023 at 9:39 PM, Sandon said:

   I agree that the coin would grade About Good and also has scratches and surface damage. It's actually much easier to find an 1880-S Morgan dollar in most uncirculated grades than a well-worn one like this, as many of these were retained in the Treasury as backing for silver certificates and only released in the early 1960s.  NGC alone has numerically graded over 170,000 1880-S dollars, of which nearly 158,000 were graded between MS 63 and MS 66.  You might want to obtain an uncirculated example for comparison.

Then according to your logic, shouldn't circulated ones with intact details be worth more, as they're rarer? Does it go by rarity, or by how nice the coin looks, which one?

Thanks all for your replies! The NGC website is sure misleading when it states "According to the NGC Price Guide, as of April 2023, a Morgan Dollar from 1880 in circulated condition is worth between $34.50 and $63. However, on the open market 1880 S Silver Dollars in pristine, uncirculated condition sell for as much as $29000." That sounds like a lot of money compared to what you said, I only asked because it looks like the lowest it could be worth graded was 34.50, and I didn't think my coin was in the lowest grading tier, but now I know it is!

Thanks for the information Coinbuf, I appreciate it! Here is a slightly better picture of the reverse that I just took. Just curious what you think the grade would be, if anything? I'm not planning on sending it in, just curious. 

This coin was originally my grandparents. They were not coin collectors in the slightest, but they traveled all over the world, and picked up anything they liked, which clearly included this nice 1880 s silver dollar in not such bad shape. My grandmother died in her 70's about 11 years ago, but I inherited all of their coins after my grandfather died earlier this year (October). This is not meant as a sob post, just giving some background on how this coin came about. Curious to hear your thoughts on how this this would grade, which would obviously determine it's price! Thank you all so much!

As usual, the pictures don't quite do it justice, but it's only in slighter better shape than the pictures show, it's certainly not ms 67 or anything.

So I finally am back after a short hiatus. I managed to get some better photos of this coin, and it really shows that this coin is in better shape than it might seem. These photos do it much more justice. I concur with all of you that it's still not worth much, but it  looks much nicer ad cooler in these photos, like JKK said!I've also gotten much better at cropping my photos, and will hopefully post more cool coins tonight, thank you all for your advice and tips! 

On 3/31/2023 at 9:38 AM, Mr.Bill347 said:

I have this very nice 1964 P Silver Kennedy that seems like it may be one of those that may be worth grading. Mid 60’s grades seem to carry pretty high values.

thoughts?

To me it looks like there's a D, not a P! Unless my eyes are deceiving me!

On 3/26/2023 at 1:30 PM, bobbyboshay said:

And you wrong agin took it a coin dealer in Charlotte North Carolina he verified it authentication also why all you so adamant to say it’s worthless when I know that not true   What wrong with being incorrect sometimes so people if  listen to this expert opinions he probably always wrong  this is probably the first time but it always a first so be a good sport 

If you know the answer, then why are you asking the question???

If I find a very nice condition modern coin, let's say 1970's or even early 80's, obviously they aren't worth anything now. But because of that, doesn't that mean that collectors aren't paying these coins much heed, and therefore they are being thrown back into circulation and getting eroded, dirtied, worn out etc. That would mean then, that in a hundred years these coins that are now worthless as they are so plentiful in high grades, might become quite scarce and valuable in a hundred years? I know in the early 60's people were hoarding coins, leading to the coin shortage and the coin freeze; I'm not saying we should hoard modern coins. I'm just wondering whether this thread of logic makes sense, because then I would potentially keep nice modern coins that I find, and stow them away for future use.

On 3/24/2023 at 6:32 PM, JKK said:

Don't think it's worth much in that condition, but if you like it, hang onto it and enjoy it. It's a nice design when you see it with full detail

Thanks! It is a nice design, as when I got it it was in slightly better condition, and it did look pretty beautiful!

I've had this for quite a number of years. It was in better shape when I got it, and has deteriorated a bit. The pictures don't do it justice, but I don't feel it's worth spending a hundred dollars to get a better quality camera when I don't do this professionally. Either way, I had never seen a Portuguese escudo, and likely never will again, so regardless of its value, I will be keeping this to look at. I just figured I'd post it on the forum, and see what others thought. I've been amateurly collecting for many years now, learning a bit about different coins here and there, but I am certainly NOT an expert. Thank you!

Escudo on the reverse is actually not as faded on the coin as the pictures show, I think the lighting caused it to look more faded. 

Thanks everyone for your info, I'll keep that in mind for the future, and I'll try to crop my photos before posting. Thanks again everyone, I'm not new to coin collecting, but I'm new to this forum!

The pictures don't quite do this justice, I really do need to get a more professional camera. This is a 1963 D nickel I found in my pocket change last week. I know it probably isn't worth anything, but I was nevertheless excited when I found it, as it looks very good quality for a before 1965 nickel. Will try to get better photos with my mother's camera later tonight, after I get home from work.

On 3/21/2023 at 4:55 PM, Sandon said:

    Welcome to the NGC chat board.

   Your 1961-D quarter appears to be in About Uncirculated condition, with a retail list value of $5-$6.  Dealers would pay the silver value, currently around $4.  It's very unusual to find silver coins in circulation today, so you were lucky.

   If you're interested in learning more about U.S. coins and how to evaluate and collect them, the print and online resources discussed in the following topic should be helpful to you:

 

Thanks for the info Sandon. I got this in pocket change, so I'm not sure what I'll do with it now. I always try to look up info about coins before posting. I always make sure to put NGC in there. For example, when searching up this coin, I typed in 1961 d quarter value NGC, so that NGC's website is the first option to pop up, and the info usually pops up on Google's page without even having to click on the link. I will definitely look more into the resources you have suggested, and I appreciate the info!