Conder101

They don't bite them hard, it's just for show. The silly thing is most people don't understand the "bite test" at all. If you ask most people would probably tll you to see if your teeth would mark it to show that it is really gold, and that if it does it would be accepted. Actually it was to make sure it wasn't gold plated lead which would easily take a tooth mark, if it marked it would be rejected. It IS possible to bite a gold coin hard enough to make a slight mark (I've tried) but only at the risk of breaking a tooth.

Probably not real long, but if you keep the case closed maybe the smell won't get out.

The reports tell you accurately how many times that particular grade as been assigned and how many times a higher grade has been assigned, by that company. They do NOT reflect accurately how many DIFFERENT coins have been assigned those grades, or how many coins still exist in holders at those grade levels. They also cannot reflect how many coins in existence may someday be assigned those grades.

Tied with how many others?

Clearly the 1982 D small date copper. There are only two specimens known so far.

Sorry to say, but if you are hoping to get your money back out of this set any time soon you're going to have to hope that silver prices double.

In that case additional tests would bee needed, a specific gravity test would eaily determine which it is, on a test I don't usually recommend, a ring or "drop" test. Sound tests are usually rather subjective, but the sound difference between a copper cent and the "Thud" of a zinc cent when dropped a couple of inches onto a hard surface tends to be very distinctive. I don't usually recommend this test because of the subjectivity and because of the chance of the dropped coin being damaged.

The hobby has always been top heavy with aging older collectors going back at least 150 years.

That's the same time period for the mint purchasing system I described, but from what I understand it was that same system back to at least the early 60's. Not sure how it was done in the 50's.

A clad layer weighs about .91 grams so a quarter missing a clad layer would weigh 4.76 grams. When you make allowance for tolerance a weight of 4.62 grams fits very nicely for a missing clad layer coin. I would say it's the real deal.

Don't count on that, there are also a whole lot of Afghan soldiers who were trained on how to use that stuff left there as well. If the Taliban puts those soldiers knowledge to work rather than just killing them, they WILL be able to work our stuff.

Well the MINIMUM tolerance weight for a copper cent is 2.98 grams so I would say somewhere around 2.8 That would be about .2 grams out of spec heavy for a zinc, and about .2 grams out of spec low for a copper.

Agreed, one of the most stupid things I have seen. If it was encouraged by the photographers I think they should have refused as well.

If it is actually gold and not the silver version there should be a significant weight difference as well.

I need some feedback from someone who knows more about the 1870 cents than I do. Do all the 1870 cents use the same reverse hub? Because the OP coin has the hub that was used on the later years, the "strong N" hub. The Coinfacts picture posted has the Weak N hub. I don't remember when the Strong N hub was introduced, 1870 or 1872. If it was introduced in 1870 then they could have used both hubs that year, if it was introduced in 1872 then the OP coin has the wrong rev.

It was just the description reminded me of a certain organization.

In which case most of the people who are able to get through after the first minute or so would find that can't put the item in their cart because all of them are already in everyone else's cart. Open multiple windows and put them in your cart on every window. You can only buy 3 but with 10 windows open you have 30 of them locked up so no on else can have them. Yep I remember. You had to use their order card and it indicated the maximum number of sets you could order. Send off the order, never hear another word until the set showed up 8 or 9 months later. If nothing showed up them a couple months later you'd get a notice that unfortunately it was sold out, and they would process your refund. You should have it in a few months. And during those 8 or 9 months there was no way to track your order or cancel it. (Of course the money order was cashed as soon as they got it.)

True but images can be REALLY blown up to allow you to zoom in on tiny areas.

Is this the US Mint?

I also have my doubts as to the authenticity. I don't like the rims, the date seems wrong but I haven't compared it to others, the extreme weakness on the rev around the E of ONE is also troubling.

But isn't die erosion doubling typically on the side away from the center of the coin?

If so it was a bad idea. Customs can open any package and if it said documents but had coins instead you have the problem of filing false documents with customs. I am sure there are penalties for that. If they hadn't opened it there wouldn't have been a problem, but since they did and the contents didn't match the customs declaration the SHTF.

Which is why they don't sell bullion directly to the public and use distributors instead.

Yes, a error collector who would NEED such a coin would still be rarer than the coin, but you would now have the additional problem that some collectors who would want a No S dime would back off because they wouldn't want a double struck one. So now the overall demand would decrease and cause the value to go down, not up. This is the problem with Keys that have errors. They tend to be white elephants. The error drives off collectors who would want the Key but don't want it with an error, but it doesn't attract error collectors because they can find the same error (which is what they are interested in) on common coins at a much lower cost. So unless they are putting together a date and mint set all with an error, or the same error type, they have no interest. So rare date/keys with errors are often worth LESS than the same coins without the error.

If there were to be customs problems it would have to be Australian customs, other than for some coins on cultural heritage restriction lists (or counterfeits) their are no restrictions or duties on coins being imported into the US.