JKK

Here's the question. Is this having them graded for personal satisfaction or financial reasons? $50-60 to put a coin in plastic and certify it genuine is fine if the reason is tributary. If the reason is monetary, and you had not come up with a reason why a given coin would be enhanced in value by $50-60 by having it slabbed, then you would essentially be wasting money. I have no judgment on either one, but the odds against your Susies being worth that kind of money are very long. Not impossible, just long.
I like the issue, and I think it was a milestone even if it did represent an almost perfect repetition of the numismatic 20c piece mistake almost exactly a century later. It was high time we had a historical rather than stylized woman on our coinage and they made a good choice. A different size would have been better received, I think, but I also get its significance even if the design faced major outcry (I remember it well). The outcry, of course, was not that it depicted Ms. Anthony, but that it was too easily mistaken for a quarter.

That's so much cleaner than usual that I have to think it's fairly precise vandalism. Filled die is a possibility, but I'm leaning to someone ground it off.

Think of the weight of many other quarters on top of them. It's Cu/Ni--tough but not that tough.

Stupid, no; valuable, also no. I'd guess that the faint lines you see are a slight die crack. This was pretty common with Morgans, but minting came a long way by the bicentennial. No special value.

Stupid, no; valuable, also no. I'd guess that the faint lines you see are a slight die crack. This was pretty common with Morgans, but minting came a long way by the bicentennial. No special value.

No problem; just trying to help you help us help you. While we hope to help people understand numismatic terminology, none is really necessary for the basics. Most people want to know three things: what is this, what condition is it in, and therefore what might it be worth. You will probably get some numismatic esoterica in responses, and it's okay to ask what it means. We have a lot of people who know a great deal about coins, and have known it for so long they have forgotten what it might ever have been like not to know the meaning of VF-30 or DDR, etc.
If you'd like a term explained, asking is totally fine. Of course, someone is likely to post a link to this or that article, implying that you should go look it up, again for the same basic reason: They have so long ago forgotten what non-knowing is like, and are thus too far removed from the new poster's perspective, to imagine themselves asking a question and getting a terse link rather than an answer. (A link along with an answer, however, is very helpful. It helps you out and shows you where you can learn more. Sometimes you will get that.)
It may also surprise you to know that not everyone takes a response like mine as helpful or valuable. Those are usually the people who think they have Great Mint Error Rarities and will be able to retire off the coins. Or that they have a genuine [insert name of commonly counterfeited coin] and that we can't possibly be right that it's a fake, mainly because we told them what they didn't want to hear. Just the fact that you aren't starting an argument puts you in the most welcome quarter of new posters, so take heart; you're doing it right. So by all means keep asking the things you seek to know.

Paying tuition is one thing. Getting your tuition back is a major win (assuming he follows through). Probably wants to make sure you don't turn him in to the OPP. Smart crook.

Paying tuition is one thing. Getting your tuition back is a major win (assuming he follows through). Probably wants to make sure you don't turn him in to the OPP. Smart crook.

I'd start here.

One strong likelihood is that it's plated. However, when I take a good look at the edges, I see a sort of flange that makes me wonder about other possibilities.
One of those is emphatically not any chance that this is actually a gold dime. You overpaid by C$349.90. That flea market dealer is laughing his fool head off.

Think of the weight of many other quarters on top of them. It's Cu/Ni--tough but not that tough.

It should be noted that bag marks, reeding marks--these are not wear or circulation. A coin can be uncirculated and have them. A mint state coin is graded partly by the quantity, location, and seriousness of contact marks.

Think of the weight of many other quarters on top of them. It's Cu/Ni--tough but not that tough.

It should be noted that bag marks, reeding marks--these are not wear or circulation. A coin can be uncirculated and have them. A mint state coin is graded partly by the quantity, location, and seriousness of contact marks.

I'd start here.

I'd start here.

Nah. I think that's a contact ding (like the kind pennies get in parking lots) and the location and shape are suggesting an ear canal. If such a thing happened at the mint, it would have become famous decades ago.

I don't buy anything off Etsy unless it's a craft from someone I know. I never buy coins off Amazon. I buy a very few off Ebay from dealers I know and have met in person (coin shows). The idea of believing any of those people saying "unsearched rolls" is beyond the pale. They are the Lucys of the world carrying footballs and looking for Charlie Brown to come kick them.

I don't buy anything off Etsy unless it's a craft from someone I know. I never buy coins off Amazon. I buy a very few off Ebay from dealers I know and have met in person (coin shows). The idea of believing any of those people saying "unsearched rolls" is beyond the pale. They are the Lucys of the world carrying footballs and looking for Charlie Brown to come kick them.

I don't buy anything off Etsy unless it's a craft from someone I know. I never buy coins off Amazon. I buy a very few off Ebay from dealers I know and have met in person (coin shows). The idea of believing any of those people saying "unsearched rolls" is beyond the pale. They are the Lucys of the world carrying footballs and looking for Charlie Brown to come kick them.

There are several key skills to develop. One is grading, most importantly the avoidance of wishful thinking in the process. If the detail ain't there, it ain't there. Two is understanding the minting process and how it has evolved, because that will tell you the difference between errors and simple damage. Three is the detection of cleaning, adulteration, and counterfeits. (Don't get scared. Deal with responsible dealers, who will always stand behind authenticity. If you buy fake or overpriced crapola on Etsy, you were warned.)
There are plenty of great books on all of the above, and none of them are worth much unless combined with looking at a lot of coins. Usually also means paying some tuition in the form of overpayment (in the case of counterfeits that would mean every cent spent, of course). A wise mentor once told me not to try to do everything at once, but to accept that some things happen gradually. One thing here that can help you is grading threads, where someone is asking about a grade. You can follow along, form your own opinion, etc. In case you're tempted to think that this is the Great Hall of Coin Wisdom, wait until you see some of the overgrading by longtimers. You will know you are getting somewhere when you can look at those and wonder what someone was smoking to think that could be EF (for example). It'll be fun, and you can also minimize your tuition by starting with much less expensive stuff.
If you decide to branch into world coins, there are some good online references so that you don't have to fork out about $150 for an obsolete set of Krause guides. You'll know you're hooked when you find yourself doing stuff like that.

By the way, if you are tempted to look at coin videos on YouPube, that's a hard no--unless you want a heavy dose of bad information. "I watched a bunch of YT vids and then started buying coins off Etsy" are confessions of sin around here. We love playing Robin Hood, by which I mean denying scam artists new victims, and if you avoid those places then we did our numismatic good deed for the day and may have a drink, like all those who are dutiful and righteous in their daily work.

There are several key skills to develop. One is grading, most importantly the avoidance of wishful thinking in the process. If the detail ain't there, it ain't there. Two is understanding the minting process and how it has evolved, because that will tell you the difference between errors and simple damage. Three is the detection of cleaning, adulteration, and counterfeits. (Don't get scared. Deal with responsible dealers, who will always stand behind authenticity. If you buy fake or overpriced crapola on Etsy, you were warned.)
There are plenty of great books on all of the above, and none of them are worth much unless combined with looking at a lot of coins. Usually also means paying some tuition in the form of overpayment (in the case of counterfeits that would mean every cent spent, of course). A wise mentor once told me not to try to do everything at once, but to accept that some things happen gradually. One thing here that can help you is grading threads, where someone is asking about a grade. You can follow along, form your own opinion, etc. In case you're tempted to think that this is the Great Hall of Coin Wisdom, wait until you see some of the overgrading by longtimers. You will know you are getting somewhere when you can look at those and wonder what someone was smoking to think that could be EF (for example). It'll be fun, and you can also minimize your tuition by starting with much less expensive stuff.
If you decide to branch into world coins, there are some good online references so that you don't have to fork out about $150 for an obsolete set of Krause guides. You'll know you're hooked when you find yourself doing stuff like that.

It's a pretty broad field. For example, while I have a not-crappy US collection, I'm mainly an ancients specialist. This leverages my ability to read a number of alphabets and at least make out some of the associated languages. I also like world coinage in general. But when it comes to specifics about, say, Conder tokens or so-called dollars or US commemoratives, I'm of little use. Our coin club has a lot of presentations on errors and tokens and the hard part for me is not being noticed trying to stifle yawns. If I want there to be a presentation on jitals, for example, I'm going to have to create it myself. Same for Mauryan punchmarks (take my advice and never buy one), Mughal rupees, and Sasanian drachms. No one else in the club knows much about any of those. And they probably stifle yawns when I talk about them; fair's fair.

So there's rarely a person who is a one-stop shop and it's best to be able to reach out to a wide variety of interests and skills. On the board, sometimes that means getting someone who is so brusque you're thinking autism is a factor here, but my suggestion is just recognize bad manners and coldness as an occupational hazard in numismatics. As long as you get the information you wanted, their rudimentary social skills are their problem, not yours. They existed before you arrived and will persist, like a bad rash, for the foreseeable future. They can still be helpful.

It's a pretty broad field. For example, while I have a not-crappy US collection, I'm mainly an ancients specialist. This leverages my ability to read a number of alphabets and at least make out some of the associated languages. I also like world coinage in general. But when it comes to specifics about, say, Conder tokens or so-called dollars or US commemoratives, I'm of little use. Our coin club has a lot of presentations on errors and tokens and the hard part for me is not being noticed trying to stifle yawns. If I want there to be a presentation on jitals, for example, I'm going to have to create it myself. Same for Mauryan punchmarks (take my advice and never buy one), Mughal rupees, and Sasanian drachms. No one else in the club knows much about any of those. And they probably stifle yawns when I talk about them; fair's fair.

So there's rarely a person who is a one-stop shop and it's best to be able to reach out to a wide variety of interests and skills. On the board, sometimes that means getting someone who is so brusque you're thinking autism is a factor here, but my suggestion is just recognize bad manners and coldness as an occupational hazard in numismatics. As long as you get the information you wanted, their rudimentary social skills are their problem, not yours. They existed before you arrived and will persist, like a bad rash, for the foreseeable future. They can still be helpful.