Mint error or no? 0

[Sunbunnykim]

My grandmother worked for the treasury years ago and loved to bring home unopened rolls of coins.  I found in her belongings. Roll of unopened uncirculated Susan b Anthony 1979 p coins.  In the roll was a coin with what seems to be errors.  I sent the pics to a coin shop who immediately wanted me to bring it to them.  Is this an error or what is it? Is this worth something or should I just hold on to it?

[Mr.Bill347]

This is a die crack. Not a rare coin however many think so as prices are all over the place. Over 360 million were minted. Graded examples with grades above 65 have a premium so it may be worth getting graded. Great that you have all these. Your grandmother was watching wise.

[Sunbunnykim]

I have several coins I would love to have graded but I'm confused on how to go about doing that. I reached out to a local coin shop via email and sent photos and their only response was interested in purchasing if I'm willing to sell. I don't know if I am or not. I love collecting coins although I never really took the time to get into it until now. I think I finally found my true love   Could you tell me how to go about sending these off the best way to ensure they come back to me? 

[JKK]

On 12/8/2022 at 7:15 AM, Sunbunnykim said:

I have several coins I would love to have graded but I'm confused on how to go about doing that. I reached out to a local coin shop via email and sent photos and their only response was interested in purchasing if I'm willing to sell. I don't know if I am or not. I love collecting coins although I never really took the time to get into it until now. I think I finally found my true love   Could you tell me how to go about sending these off the best way to ensure they come back to me? 

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.

[Coinbuf]

I cannot tell from your photos if the coin has a die crack (very common as mentioned) or if that might be missing a portion of the clad layer.   The SBD dollar is made from a solid copper core with an outer clad layer comprised of a copper/nickel metal combination.   If it is missing a portion of the clad layer, it could be worth the cost to have it certified as a mint error, if a die crack it is not worth the cost.   You did the correct thing by contacting a local coin shop, just keep in mind that not every coin shop owner/operator is a great numismatist.   Take a look at the site error-ref.com, search the site for missing clad layer and you can learn and see examples of real documented errors and compare to your coin.

Welcome to the forum and to the world of coin collecting.

[Sandon]

    Die cracks are very common on U.S. coins. Although some might refer to them as "errors", they are more commonly and correctly referred to as indications of worn dies or "die states".  Die cracks like these are worth little or no premium to knowledgeable collectors, and grading services like NGC will not note die cracks on their holders. It's possible that the coin shop is thinking of an advanced die state where a piece has broken out of the die, leaving a blob of metal and missing called a "cud" beyond the breaking point, which is sought by some collectors. (Based on your photos, it is neither a "cud" nor a missing clad layer as referred to by @Coinbuf.  If the coin shop will pay you any significant amount for this coin and you aren't interested in collecting it yourself, I'd take the money and run!

   As noted by @JKK, it's costly to submit coins to grading services and only financially advisable for coins that you know are worth at least several hundred dollars apiece.  You have to have substantial knowledge about coins and how to grade them yourself to do this successfully.  It's rarely worthwhile for modern coins like those that your grandmother saved.  However, if you want to learn how you would submit coins to NGC, go to the NGC home page (www.ngccoin.com) and review the pages under the "Submit" tab at the top of the page.

   If you're interested in becoming a coin collector yourself, please advise.  We can direct you to the books and other materials you will need to gain the necessary knowledge.

[Sunbunnykim]

I have been reading and trying to learn as much as I can. I don't want to sell the coin. I love them all. I have so many and with  each one twice as many questions   I'm so grateful to have a place like this for accurate information. I know these coins may not arm valuable to most, they are priceless to me because they meant something to my grandmother. What causes the little metal looking drops on a coin? I have a new done that looks like someone spilled metal drops on it.  Somehow I copied that text below and I can't get it to go away. Very sorry.  But to the person who said that, it is for personal only.  To protect them. Leave them for my grandchildren to learn and enjoy. I l spend hours looking through coins and saving those I like even if they are not what most consider collectible. 

On 12/8/2022 at 10:35 AM, JKK said:

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 easilymistaken for a quarterspilled metal drops on it

[Coinbuf]

Those metal drops or blobs are what we call die chips.   This website has loads of information on coin errors and anomalies, this link will take you to the section on die chips.

Link

[Sandon]

    Your 2021-P dime appears to have a number of obverse "die chips" (the raised bumps) as well as the usual nicks and abrasions from contact with other coins. Die chips generally don't add much value either, although it's unusual to see this many of them. Grading services generally won't attribute these either. With regard to resources that you should have to learn about U.S. coins, please see (click on) the topic that I posted on this forum:

   You don't need to have coins third-party graded to protect them!  Mylar (not vinyl) coin flips, hard plastic holders, and coin albums are far less expensive alternatives.  The Whitman and Amos Advantage websites referred to in my "Resources for New Collectors" topic carry such holders.  They can also be purchased at coin shops and coin shows.

[JKK]

I totally get you wanting to preserve them. Some of my first coins were 1884 Morgans from my great-grandmother; her birth year. I would suggest you put them in plastic holders, which these days are inert and won't decay and mess up your coins the way old PVC stuff did (and is still doing to quite a few coins that need reholdering). If you went to your local dealer and asked for recommendations, they would be glad to sell you the materials (very inexpensive) and would probably put the coins in them safely for you. You're looking at a few bucks vs. some very expensive grading fees. If you need any further incentive, imagine how much coin you could buy with the $200+ you didn't spend on grading fees, shipping, all that.

[JT2]

you can get  2 x 2 holders form any hobby shop or hobby lobby to put these coins in.  Hobby Lobby would also have these. they also have a nice 60 holder coin album that hold these