JKK

I will ask my Sconnie co-worker which cbeers he thinks are the best in Wisconsin.

I will ask my Sconnie co-worker which cbeers he thinks are the best in Wisconsin.

When I want to figure out a grade from MS-60-70, I go to my ANA Grading Standards book. It's pretty thorough. However, if you want to really kill it, there's another way. It'll take years, but so does much learning in the hobby.
There's a mag called Coin World that has two things in it I care about: a price guide and a grading article. While the price guide is pretty much high retail, I save them over time and put them in binders. By now I have a handy price history reference as a result. It takes little effort and requires minimal space. But the germane thing here is the grading articles. Every issue includes a guide to grading a specific coin type and grade range, with blown-up color photos just like we ask people to post here, and detailed discussion of why the coin achieved or was relegated to a given grade. So you might see one on IHPs from FA-2 to AU-58, which might have AG-3, G-6, VG-8, F-15, VF-20, EF-45, AU-50, AU-55, and AU-58 examples--and where the author, who was not always the grader (many were slabbed) agrees or disagrees with the grade it got. I keep these articles, sort them by coin type, and also put them in binders. After about five years the mag starts to repeat its coverage, but always with a new take, so I hang onto them. If I want to fuss out a grade, I've got some very expert guidance to supplement what the ANA says. Eleven or twelve years into it, I'm starting to see some triple coverage.

When I want to figure out a grade from MS-60-70, I go to my ANA Grading Standards book. It's pretty thorough. However, if you want to really kill it, there's another way. It'll take years, but so does much learning in the hobby.
There's a mag called Coin World that has two things in it I care about: a price guide and a grading article. While the price guide is pretty much high retail, I save them over time and put them in binders. By now I have a handy price history reference as a result. It takes little effort and requires minimal space. But the germane thing here is the grading articles. Every issue includes a guide to grading a specific coin type and grade range, with blown-up color photos just like we ask people to post here, and detailed discussion of why the coin achieved or was relegated to a given grade. So you might see one on IHPs from FA-2 to AU-58, which might have AG-3, G-6, VG-8, F-15, VF-20, EF-45, AU-50, AU-55, and AU-58 examples--and where the author, who was not always the grader (many were slabbed) agrees or disagrees with the grade it got. I keep these articles, sort them by coin type, and also put them in binders. After about five years the mag starts to repeat its coverage, but always with a new take, so I hang onto them. If I want to fuss out a grade, I've got some very expert guidance to supplement what the ANA says. Eleven or twelve years into it, I'm starting to see some triple coverage.

Deleted. Never give me the power to ban thread necromancers unless one wants a bunch of people tossed.

Deleted. Never give me the power to ban thread necromancers unless one wants a bunch of people tossed.

I get it--it's hard to keep track of everything, and some of the responses can conflict. But that's why we're doing this: It allows you to get help collecting coins, preserving them, and displaying them. We most of us grew up with Whitman albums, maybe with Dansco slider albums, and in youth we were just filling up the pennies and Jeffs. Then we grew up, got jobs, in some cases took long breaks from the hobby, and returned to it. Our appetites shifted, and we learned that a Whitman album (for example) is fine for circulated cents but not so fine for MS-65 09-VDBs. We adapted.
There are archival grade holders for proof and mint sets, if you don't like the mint packaging or if you determine that it's from a time before the mint realized that its packaging would cause harm in the long term. Both fair reasons. But the process of getting the coins from cellophane to holders--with proofs and uncs, that's the rub. So now that we've told you how to do it wrong, here's a way you could do it right. Note that this won't help you album proof or unc coins because doing so is damaging, but it will let you display your stuff in a way you might like.
Imagine you've got a proof set in mint cellophane. You should have pliers, scissors, a clean cloth such as a brand new washcloth (I can think of reasons to consider other surfaces, but that's what I've used), a box cutter or small penknife, plastic coin tongs, disposable linen gloves, and if it's easier, what I call leprechaun condoms: fingertip covers that look like dinky little balloons. None of that is expensive.
Shop for the type of holder that you find most aesthetically appealing that has the right spaces for the set you want to display. If you want to create an insert, make that before you begin any of this. Open the new holder if necessary. Be gentle. Lay it out on the clean cloth and determine which side is the one you want to be the reverse. Put the linen gloves on. From here on out you will be very, very careful what you touch with those. Lay the set on the cloth and cut away enough of the penny's cellophane that you can get at it with the coin tongs; the reason you are wearing the gloves is what if you drop the coin on the cloth and need to pick it up, or something else occurs that you must guide it more finely? In the middle of the operation is not a good time to have to adjust without proper preparation. Tong the penny out, getting just enough purchase on it to keep hold. Do everything over the cloth, just in case you drop it. It happens. Lay the penny in its holder niche, gently, as close to proper orientation as possible. You would rather not have to nudge-rotate it with the tongs. The coins have an annoying way of landing in the niches ever so slightly out of alignment. Do the same for the nickel, taking all the same care, and for the rest of the coins. You will be preventing them from being touched with human hands, and ideally by not dropping them on the cloth will avoid picking up a fiber. Once you are pleased with the coins' alignment, gazing beautifully up at you from their holder, you can take off the gloves. Lay the holder's other half on top of it, carefully oriented. Most holders sort of snap together with plastic tongues going into slots. You cannot imagine how easy it is to crack these damned things, so be very careful. Gently press them together, hoping for a good tight seal, ideally with just your hands. If it's stubborn, now some fun begins. Triple up the gloves to pad where you will squeeze with the pliers, and very gently attempt to close the connections with light pressure. Periodically look to see where the halves are not quite tightened together and work gently. Take your time, because if you break the clear plastic you will need to live with it or go through all this again with a new holder. If you were gentle and patient, and didn't f-bomb it up (ask me how I learned this), and if the holder was well made, you will eventually have your proof coins in a beautiful display well protected from everything but airborne contaminants. I've never heard of people doing this, but I suppose that a very fine line of adhesive gently pressed into the juncture around 100% of the seam would seal it hermetically if done with precision. Why the knife? In case for whatever reason you find you must pry it back open. It happens.
Or you could just leave them in the mint packing until you're psychologically ready to tackle the process. When the time comes, start with a very recent set of the kind that are dirt cheap and even commoner than dirt, the ones that coin dealers can barely give away (they have two dozen from each year of the 1990s sitting in back of the shop) and that everyone's Bampaw thought would be Very Valuable. Most of them can be had for less than five bucks. Practice makes perfect. It helps a lot if you've gone through the ritual once or twice. Like the proper tools, cheap protection/insurance.

That's because the kid's dad took the punch and hammer away from him before he had a chance to bang on any more coins.

What do you bet he got taken in by someone else who wouldn't accept a return and is now trying to get his tuition back?

There are very few proof Lincolns that would make monetary sense to send in for encapsulation/grading.
If you think you have PR-70s, great. What are the grading criteria for that level? Can you tell me even two? I'm not being sarcastic. I'm trying to help you avoid wasting $200. If that's of no interest to you, and your mind's made up, pay your tuition and learn it the hard way. Otherwise, I recommend you stop jumping the gun, start the long slow process of learning to handle and grade coins, decide what you like, and work toward a day when you'll know what's worth sending in and what's not.
One last-ditch effort to convince you. Have you any idea how much penny you could buy for that $200? Is there a universe in which you'd rather have four pieces of overpriced plastic than a whole bunch of really great actual coins? If there is, then I surrender; best of luck. The disappointment is likely to harm your interest in the hobby, and that's sad, but I tried hard.
If you'd like to maximize your value and develop a real understanding of what you're doing, stick around; don't send those in; and run stuff by us. If I were your advisor, I'd advise you first to buy one of the grading guides. If you like Lincs, great, start there. Take one of your cents, decide what grade you think it is, take sharp pics, and post them here with the grade you believe it merits. About 2/3 of the people here will overgrade it, but that's okay; just assume that the consensus is about 1/2 to a full grade high, and adjust for that. Keep doing that until you understand intimately the grade criteria. This won't take as long as it might sound.

Not an error. Mike's correct: mutilated coin with no collector value. You might even have a hard time passing it off as a dime in some situations.

There are very few proof Lincolns that would make monetary sense to send in for encapsulation/grading.
If you think you have PR-70s, great. What are the grading criteria for that level? Can you tell me even two? I'm not being sarcastic. I'm trying to help you avoid wasting $200. If that's of no interest to you, and your mind's made up, pay your tuition and learn it the hard way. Otherwise, I recommend you stop jumping the gun, start the long slow process of learning to handle and grade coins, decide what you like, and work toward a day when you'll know what's worth sending in and what's not.
One last-ditch effort to convince you. Have you any idea how much penny you could buy for that $200? Is there a universe in which you'd rather have four pieces of overpriced plastic than a whole bunch of really great actual coins? If there is, then I surrender; best of luck. The disappointment is likely to harm your interest in the hobby, and that's sad, but I tried hard.
If you'd like to maximize your value and develop a real understanding of what you're doing, stick around; don't send those in; and run stuff by us. If I were your advisor, I'd advise you first to buy one of the grading guides. If you like Lincs, great, start there. Take one of your cents, decide what grade you think it is, take sharp pics, and post them here with the grade you believe it merits. About 2/3 of the people here will overgrade it, but that's okay; just assume that the consensus is about 1/2 to a full grade high, and adjust for that. Keep doing that until you understand intimately the grade criteria. This won't take as long as it might sound.

There are very few proof Lincolns that would make monetary sense to send in for encapsulation/grading.
If you think you have PR-70s, great. What are the grading criteria for that level? Can you tell me even two? I'm not being sarcastic. I'm trying to help you avoid wasting $200. If that's of no interest to you, and your mind's made up, pay your tuition and learn it the hard way. Otherwise, I recommend you stop jumping the gun, start the long slow process of learning to handle and grade coins, decide what you like, and work toward a day when you'll know what's worth sending in and what's not.
One last-ditch effort to convince you. Have you any idea how much penny you could buy for that $200? Is there a universe in which you'd rather have four pieces of overpriced plastic than a whole bunch of really great actual coins? If there is, then I surrender; best of luck. The disappointment is likely to harm your interest in the hobby, and that's sad, but I tried hard.
If you'd like to maximize your value and develop a real understanding of what you're doing, stick around; don't send those in; and run stuff by us. If I were your advisor, I'd advise you first to buy one of the grading guides. If you like Lincs, great, start there. Take one of your cents, decide what grade you think it is, take sharp pics, and post them here with the grade you believe it merits. About 2/3 of the people here will overgrade it, but that's okay; just assume that the consensus is about 1/2 to a full grade high, and adjust for that. Keep doing that until you understand intimately the grade criteria. This won't take as long as it might sound.

Looks consistent with re-plated steelies I've seen. Seems very logical to suspect that as the source of the extra weight. As you know, the more a coin's surface goes up and down, the larger its true surface area, and the more metal would be required to completely replate it. Plus, look at the reverse, edge, 12:00. See how the plating looks to be chipping away? As an altered/doctored piece, the coin is worth less than a worn but original steelie.

When you post a question about a coin or coins, it's worth remembering that the people giving you answers--unless it is specifically about an NGC policy matter or submission--are volunteer hobbyists who do this for fun. They are not speaking for NGC; they speak only for themselves, and they want to help people. When you do a good job of posting your inquiry, you increase your chances of helpful replies, because you show respect for the volunteers' time.
Please do:
Ask a question, or multiple questions. We need to know what to focus on. Authenticity? Grade? Identification? Value? All of these? Think about your questions. "What would this grade at NGC?" and "What grade would you give this coin?" are two very different questions. If you ask the first one, only people who know a lot about NGC's ways have much to offer you. "How much is this worth?" is another nebulous question. Better: "What would a dealer pay me for this?" Or: "What would a dealer sell this for?" Post clear photos of the entire obverse, reverse, and if necessary the edge. If need be, add zoomed photos of specific features, but always clear shots of both full sides. Post all pictures of a given coin in the same thread. Accept that if you have photographic limitations, and you keep posting badly photographed coins, you'll keep being told they're not good enough to use to answer your question. You can't expect everyone to read all your threads and know your circumstances, be they poverty or Parkinson's or can'tbebothereditis. It's not their fault your photos can't or won't get better, even if it is also not always your own fault. Use a thread title that describes the coin(s), so that people who know the subject matter are likelier to read the thread. If you just inherited Bampaw's silver dollar collection which you can see spans the period 1850-1921, you could title it "Evaluating silver dollar collection 1850-1921." People who know a lot about those silver dollars will see it and be likely to help you. "Grading advice" is bad; everyone wants grading advice. "Morgan dollar grading advice" is good. "Is this fake?" is bad. "Is this Chinese silver coin fake?" is good. Post only once per coin. (If you have received a huge collection, and you want to start with a picture of the whole hoard with zoomed shots of parts, that's no problem. This guideline is intended to keep people from slamming multiple fully photographed coins into a single thread, making it difficult to figure out which one the answers are talking about. So if it's a hoard, and you single out some for close scrutiny, go with new threads for each of those.) If the picture files are too large in terms of data, learn to make them smaller without losing necessary information. Paint.net is a free image editor for Windows. Open your pictures in it, crop them, and save them as .jpgs. Look at what sizes they are now. This is too easy. If there is any question of identification or authentication, include weight in grams and diameter in millimeters. If you don't know the metric system, use an online converter. Weight is one of the key diagnostics of authenticity and unless the coin is too obviously bogus to bother, you will be asked for it. Just include it with your first post. Tell us what you know, or what you believe to be the case, about the coin. It's okay to be incorrect. Understand that the term "melt" does not automatically mean someone plans to melt the coin down, nor is anyone suggesting you should. It refers simply to the value of the metal for its own sake. Do not freak out when someone says "melt" about Bampaw's Morgan dollars. We really do not want or expect you to throw it in a blast furnace, all right? Use punctuation. Being easy to read works to your benefit. When you write a twelve-line paragraph with no periods or commas, people tune you out. For those who need reminders, this , is a comma. You use it to separate phrases, more or less. This . is a period. You use it to end most sentences. Hitting Enter will insert a paragraph break. You use this between series of thoughts. Live them. Love them. Use them. because ill tell u what really suxors is when some1 posts sententses like this 1 4 about half a page its impossibel 2 read and some people including me will prob not finish readin it which means u arent gettin as many respontses think about it ur only hurtin ur own cozz notice how stooped this reads ur in affect makin urself ten times harder 2 help and frankly its disrespectfull 2 assume entellegent people should do all that extra work 4 ur sake now kinely clean up ur act and rite like u at least got thru 6ixth grade im glad we had this little talk Come prepared to accept responsive answers. Brace yourself to learn that Bampaw or Opa, always considered the family's Great Numismatist, may not have been so great at this. No one seeks to offend your relative's legacy, but the coin must be called what it is. Be patient. No one who doesn't know the answer is going to post "I don't know." It can take days to a week for someone to notice. Remember that some inquiries may require research, for which volunteers are not being paid, and are doing as they have time. Expect that opinions may vary, even among experienced numismatists. Realize that if you're rude and/or difficult, your problem is not the people who take time to fight with you. Your problem is the people who, without a word, mark you down as someone not to bother with in the future--because you have no idea who or how many they are, and thus have no power to alleviate that diagnosis. Kindly do not:
Just post pictures without giving any indication of what you want to learn. Post glare-obscured, blurry, or otherwise poor photos. Post only partial pictures of errors or damage. Complain that your pics are too big to post. Use an image editor to crop and save them as .jpgs. Get defensive when told your pics are not good. Maybe you're bad at photography; maybe you don't have a good camera; maybe the photography gods just don't like you. If you can do better, do so. If you cannot do better, than just accept that this limits how much we can help you. Post a new thread for every photo of the same coin. Post new threads in the same forum, or other forums, with reference to the same coin. Once suffices. The shotgun approach makes one look impatient and immature. Use a meaningless thread title like "looking for advice" or "no idea what 2 do" or "plz help." Those tell people nothing about the discussion except that it was begun by someone who picks meaningless thread titles. Omit weight and diameter, unless they are completely irrelevant to your question. Get annoyed if you don't like the answers. If you disagree with them, fine; act on your views. Ask us to tell you how we know it's a counterfeit. While that's a legit question on its face, the problem is that even if you didn't mint the fake, those who make them are always looking for ways to improve. We frown upon supplying helpful feedback to criminals, and so should you. So no, don't ask us that. And if we tell you politely that we aren't going into detail, don't get annoyed because you don't like that answer. Grouse about not getting any replies. No one knows everything; no one has unlimited time; sometimes no one knows the answer. Come in telling how many Youtube videos you have watched about coins. This will lower your credibility. Use Photobucket links. If you do, don't anticipate that people will use them. Photobucket has been connected with numerous malware and virus infections. Spell 'nickel' as 'nickle.' Whether referring to the element or the five-cent coin, this misspelling is a very bad look. If you take the time to do this correctly, you can learn a lot more here than if you skip important steps.
If you do not take the time to do this correctly, some posters may decide that their time is better spent helping other people.
Lastly, here is a Cliff's Notes version that would take care of 95% of the most common disappointed inquiries. If you want to post yours anyway, fine, but just please kindly do not engage in a protracted and dullard debate when you are told that:
Your 1804 silver dollar is a bad counterfeit. Look up authentic examples and compare closely. Your 1776 Continental dollar is a bad counterfeit or a souvenir replica. Many were churned out. What you think is a double die is almost surely mechanical doubling, which carries no premium. What you think is a mint error is likely post-mint damage, and your coin is worth face value. Your "silver" non-1943 penny is plated, replated, has had the plating come off, is altered, or somesuch. Your "bronze" 1943 penny is altered somehow, and is worth very little. Your Greek "silver" coin with flanges sticking out of its edges is a bad cast counterfeit. Your cheesy-looking brass token is not gold, and is not a coin. Any clown can mint brass tokens with bad designs. Cleaning your coins is a stupid idea. Yes, even for you. You, too. If you ask how, listen to the people who tell you not to do so. If you cite Etsy as an authority, people will laugh their heads off with good reason. This is horrible for your cred. If you cite a Youtube video as an authority, people will laugh with good reason. This is bad for your cred. If you have more than three supposed error coins you found in change, and plan to post them all, the odds are overwhelming that none of them are mint errors worthy of note. If you keep posting these without seeming to learn, people might conclude that learning is not your thing. There, that rounds up the usual suspects. I'm not saying those answers are automatically always right. However, as the strongest probabilities, they should be presumed correct unless they can be proven wrong. If you have one child and something is broken in the house, not by you or your spouse, typically the child did it. If you can prove the kid innocent, fair enough; but you know the kid almost surely did it. If you argue about a "double die" at fatuous length when it's clear you don't know what one really is, you will look like the kid with soot all over him insisting he didn't really dig around in the fireplace.
Don't be that kid.
===
Opinions, comments, additions, suggestions?

When you post a question about a coin or coins, it's worth remembering that the people giving you answers--unless it is specifically about an NGC policy matter or submission--are volunteer hobbyists who do this for fun. They are not speaking for NGC; they speak only for themselves, and they want to help people. When you do a good job of posting your inquiry, you increase your chances of helpful replies, because you show respect for the volunteers' time.
Please do:
Ask a question, or multiple questions. We need to know what to focus on. Authenticity? Grade? Identification? Value? All of these? Think about your questions. "What would this grade at NGC?" and "What grade would you give this coin?" are two very different questions. If you ask the first one, only people who know a lot about NGC's ways have much to offer you. "How much is this worth?" is another nebulous question. Better: "What would a dealer pay me for this?" Or: "What would a dealer sell this for?" Post clear photos of the entire obverse, reverse, and if necessary the edge. If need be, add zoomed photos of specific features, but always clear shots of both full sides. Post all pictures of a given coin in the same thread. Accept that if you have photographic limitations, and you keep posting badly photographed coins, you'll keep being told they're not good enough to use to answer your question. You can't expect everyone to read all your threads and know your circumstances, be they poverty or Parkinson's or can'tbebothereditis. It's not their fault your photos can't or won't get better, even if it is also not always your own fault. Use a thread title that describes the coin(s), so that people who know the subject matter are likelier to read the thread. If you just inherited Bampaw's silver dollar collection which you can see spans the period 1850-1921, you could title it "Evaluating silver dollar collection 1850-1921." People who know a lot about those silver dollars will see it and be likely to help you. "Grading advice" is bad; everyone wants grading advice. "Morgan dollar grading advice" is good. "Is this fake?" is bad. "Is this Chinese silver coin fake?" is good. Post only once per coin. (If you have received a huge collection, and you want to start with a picture of the whole hoard with zoomed shots of parts, that's no problem. This guideline is intended to keep people from slamming multiple fully photographed coins into a single thread, making it difficult to figure out which one the answers are talking about. So if it's a hoard, and you single out some for close scrutiny, go with new threads for each of those.) If the picture files are too large in terms of data, learn to make them smaller without losing necessary information. Paint.net is a free image editor for Windows. Open your pictures in it, crop them, and save them as .jpgs. Look at what sizes they are now. This is too easy. If there is any question of identification or authentication, include weight in grams and diameter in millimeters. If you don't know the metric system, use an online converter. Weight is one of the key diagnostics of authenticity and unless the coin is too obviously bogus to bother, you will be asked for it. Just include it with your first post. Tell us what you know, or what you believe to be the case, about the coin. It's okay to be incorrect. Understand that the term "melt" does not automatically mean someone plans to melt the coin down, nor is anyone suggesting you should. It refers simply to the value of the metal for its own sake. Do not freak out when someone says "melt" about Bampaw's Morgan dollars. We really do not want or expect you to throw it in a blast furnace, all right? Use punctuation. Being easy to read works to your benefit. When you write a twelve-line paragraph with no periods or commas, people tune you out. For those who need reminders, this , is a comma. You use it to separate phrases, more or less. This . is a period. You use it to end most sentences. Hitting Enter will insert a paragraph break. You use this between series of thoughts. Live them. Love them. Use them. because ill tell u what really suxors is when some1 posts sententses like this 1 4 about half a page its impossibel 2 read and some people including me will prob not finish readin it which means u arent gettin as many respontses think about it ur only hurtin ur own cozz notice how stooped this reads ur in affect makin urself ten times harder 2 help and frankly its disrespectfull 2 assume entellegent people should do all that extra work 4 ur sake now kinely clean up ur act and rite like u at least got thru 6ixth grade im glad we had this little talk Come prepared to accept responsive answers. Brace yourself to learn that Bampaw or Opa, always considered the family's Great Numismatist, may not have been so great at this. No one seeks to offend your relative's legacy, but the coin must be called what it is. Be patient. No one who doesn't know the answer is going to post "I don't know." It can take days to a week for someone to notice. Remember that some inquiries may require research, for which volunteers are not being paid, and are doing as they have time. Expect that opinions may vary, even among experienced numismatists. Realize that if you're rude and/or difficult, your problem is not the people who take time to fight with you. Your problem is the people who, without a word, mark you down as someone not to bother with in the future--because you have no idea who or how many they are, and thus have no power to alleviate that diagnosis. Kindly do not:
Just post pictures without giving any indication of what you want to learn. Post glare-obscured, blurry, or otherwise poor photos. Post only partial pictures of errors or damage. Complain that your pics are too big to post. Use an image editor to crop and save them as .jpgs. Get defensive when told your pics are not good. Maybe you're bad at photography; maybe you don't have a good camera; maybe the photography gods just don't like you. If you can do better, do so. If you cannot do better, than just accept that this limits how much we can help you. Post a new thread for every photo of the same coin. Post new threads in the same forum, or other forums, with reference to the same coin. Once suffices. The shotgun approach makes one look impatient and immature. Use a meaningless thread title like "looking for advice" or "no idea what 2 do" or "plz help." Those tell people nothing about the discussion except that it was begun by someone who picks meaningless thread titles. Omit weight and diameter, unless they are completely irrelevant to your question. Get annoyed if you don't like the answers. If you disagree with them, fine; act on your views. Ask us to tell you how we know it's a counterfeit. While that's a legit question on its face, the problem is that even if you didn't mint the fake, those who make them are always looking for ways to improve. We frown upon supplying helpful feedback to criminals, and so should you. So no, don't ask us that. And if we tell you politely that we aren't going into detail, don't get annoyed because you don't like that answer. Grouse about not getting any replies. No one knows everything; no one has unlimited time; sometimes no one knows the answer. Come in telling how many Youtube videos you have watched about coins. This will lower your credibility. Use Photobucket links. If you do, don't anticipate that people will use them. Photobucket has been connected with numerous malware and virus infections. Spell 'nickel' as 'nickle.' Whether referring to the element or the five-cent coin, this misspelling is a very bad look. If you take the time to do this correctly, you can learn a lot more here than if you skip important steps.
If you do not take the time to do this correctly, some posters may decide that their time is better spent helping other people.
Lastly, here is a Cliff's Notes version that would take care of 95% of the most common disappointed inquiries. If you want to post yours anyway, fine, but just please kindly do not engage in a protracted and dullard debate when you are told that:
Your 1804 silver dollar is a bad counterfeit. Look up authentic examples and compare closely. Your 1776 Continental dollar is a bad counterfeit or a souvenir replica. Many were churned out. What you think is a double die is almost surely mechanical doubling, which carries no premium. What you think is a mint error is likely post-mint damage, and your coin is worth face value. Your "silver" non-1943 penny is plated, replated, has had the plating come off, is altered, or somesuch. Your "bronze" 1943 penny is altered somehow, and is worth very little. Your Greek "silver" coin with flanges sticking out of its edges is a bad cast counterfeit. Your cheesy-looking brass token is not gold, and is not a coin. Any clown can mint brass tokens with bad designs. Cleaning your coins is a stupid idea. Yes, even for you. You, too. If you ask how, listen to the people who tell you not to do so. If you cite Etsy as an authority, people will laugh their heads off with good reason. This is horrible for your cred. If you cite a Youtube video as an authority, people will laugh with good reason. This is bad for your cred. If you have more than three supposed error coins you found in change, and plan to post them all, the odds are overwhelming that none of them are mint errors worthy of note. If you keep posting these without seeming to learn, people might conclude that learning is not your thing. There, that rounds up the usual suspects. I'm not saying those answers are automatically always right. However, as the strongest probabilities, they should be presumed correct unless they can be proven wrong. If you have one child and something is broken in the house, not by you or your spouse, typically the child did it. If you can prove the kid innocent, fair enough; but you know the kid almost surely did it. If you argue about a "double die" at fatuous length when it's clear you don't know what one really is, you will look like the kid with soot all over him insisting he didn't really dig around in the fireplace.
Don't be that kid.
===
Opinions, comments, additions, suggestions?

Just because some people scorn microscopes (and love to heap derision upon them and those who use them) doesn't mean that their guidance comes from Mt. Sinai on graven stone tablets.
We do not grade with magnification, as a general rule, except at very high grade levels that most people never see on any coin that is not very modern. However, to understand damage or errors, magnification can be helpful. It's especially helpful with detection of cleaning and determination of cleaning methods and severity. Most of the time that means a loupe or a head-worn magnifier, or a lamp with a big lens and a collapsible arm. For spotting repunched mint marks, for example, a microscope can be quite helpful; same for forensics such as described with cleaning. If the lower forms of mag do not help you, then it's perfectly okay to use more powerful mag--but remember that if we can't see a mark with the naked eye, we don't consider it a grading factor.
For example, take a look at virtually every coin properly posted in this forum. How many of them are blown up to the size of coffee coasters on your screen? All of them. That's magnification, and it's helpful enough that everyone does it in order to assess some specific situations. What would everyone say if someone posted the coins so they would appear original size on the screen? Even if they were correctly cropped, everyone would admonish the poster to blow them up. That simple fact highlights the value of blown-up views. Just bear in mind the limits of magnification, especially from a grading standpoint.

There are sensible ways of avoiding one's past ignorances by creating a new account, and foolish ways. One of those is to refer back to what one said on their previous account. It boggles my mind that people think we won't pick up on that.

It def does not.

It's not even worth looking at, truth told. It is worth 10c.

The scratches look pretty faint in that picture. Photos can be misleading, though.

Also, among the coins you buy to test them, pick at least one with amazing eye appeal. Doesn't have to be expensive, just really eye-catching. When you get it home, see just how much of a premium you were charged for that prettiness. While eye appeal does have a role in grading, smart dealers will put like a gorgeous toner out there and raise the price quite a bit, on the logic that one of two things happens: a) it draws the eye to the case, and the longer people look, the more likely they are to buy; b) while it's not really priced to sell, just to display, if it does sell it will be getting massive margin. This will help you see just how sneaky that dealer is.
Lastly, don't be innumerate. Innumerate people think that a $9 coin for which they were charged $10 is 'just a buck, not that bad,' and no different than a $29 coin for which the dealer asked $30. No, no, no, no, no. The first one doesn't just have a 10% premium, but slightly more; either way, 10% or 11.1% is a huge jump. The second is just above 3%. The two differences are a world of difference in value received, and too many shoppers these days do not process these realities.
In the case of some of the younger ones, they can't. The education system we put them through placed more value on building their self-esteem and pretending that society cared what happened to them than teaching them f-bombing math. A couple months back I brought in four six-packs of cans and bottles for recycling (10c each in Oregon; I want my f-bombing $2.40 back). The young woman could not see "four, six, multiplied, twenty-four." She had to count them starting at one. It's that bad--and she's a cashier, for gods' sake. So if you find yourself tempted to think that the first $1 difference and the second are the same, remember the scales involved. Apologies if you're an accountant or some other person well versed in math, or if you at least went to school back in the timeframe when people actually learned it. In that case I'm preaching to the choir and no offense meant.

There's a pretty good way to check that. Go to the shop and buy a few inexpensive coins that you'd like to have. Take them home. Go over them with the grading guide in hand and check their grading in detail. Once you have arrived at conservative grades (on the logic that shops should err in the direction of undergrading if they are going to err), look them up in price guides and get some sold listing comparisons on EB. This will give you a pretty good idea of what kind of value, competence, and honesty you can expect from that dealer, and obviously you can't do most of that in the store.
If you find that you got a bad deal, you then get to test whether you can return coins to that dealer. Don't tell them the truth about why; just say you decided to go in a different direction. Most people would say differently, but most Americans have this quaint notion that if consumers expose themselves to potential hassle and chastisement by giving businesses feedback, the world will become a better place because businesses will improve. Nah, especially not in the small-shop coin business, which is generally run by autists who are never going to improve. You're not planning to shop there anymore, but you might someday for whatever reason, so it's best to avoid having a debate. Just be vague. If you think about it, an overgrading, overpricing ripoff house doesn't really deserve a reward such as constructive criticism.

I assume you are specifying sold listings. Anyone can put whatever price they wish on something; that doesn't mean anyone will pay it. What someone paid is a datum.

No problem. It's one of those situations that requires rotating the chessboard, so to speak. If the OP keeps adding coins to the thread (which they ought not to be doing), that's one thing; at least any replies are to one of their coins. Far as I am concerned, if they get confused and have no idea which one we're talking about, that's excellent because it'll teach them why we tell them to post one coin per thread. But when a second poster comes in, now it's not even clear to whom replies are.
We do get that people hesitate to start new threads because threadspamming is a major faux pas on some forums, and that using an existing thread is normally considered a good thing in other places. On top of that, if they have fifteen coins, there's the natural question: "You really want me to post fifteen threads? You won't get mad?" It's a fair question. The answer is yeah, we really do want them to, but I can see why people feel a little nervous about that. On some forums that would get one's butt thrown right off there--but not here. (It being almost impossible to get one's butt thrown off this one, which has made it a great haven for some huge dill doughs, but that's another topic.)