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An Expensive Lesson (Maybe)

A

Anonymous

Guest
Learned an expensive lesson this weekend. Hit two sites and did quite well . . . . 34 wheats among other keeper coins. As usual for this area the wheats usually come out totally grundgy so after checking for the infamous 1931S and 1909S VDB (of course therey were noticeably absent), I tumbled the batch of stuff I've pulled up over the last few weeks.
When I was done I went through the coins to see if I had any filler dates for the few remaining holes in my Whitman folders (actually on my 3rd set of Lincoln cents). Well, one was a 1922 but there was no 1922 hole in the book . . . . only a 1922D. Went on-line to Coin Universe and what I found was that there were no pennies made in Philadelphia in 1922 - only Denver. It appears that there were some minted where the "D" filled up with whatever and the mint mark was not struck on the coins.
The value . . . .
PCGS # 3285
Description Designation: 1922 No D
G - $400
F - $800
EF - $1625
MS60 - $5525
MS63 - $25000
I am going to send it in to get graded and see had bad I screwed up . . . . . considering it was caked with crud anyway, I'm hoping not too bad.
I guess the lesson is to make a list of any coin in a series that may be worth protecting and then making sure you do not have one before doing anything other than washing the dirt of . . . .
I
 
... I made the mistake of cleaning the first Shield nickel I found with a soft bristle brass brush.. brushed the 1881 date right off!
Certainly not as expensive a mistake as yours, but it still hurt. Needless to say, I'm much more careful cleaning all of my coins.
 
Some of us detectorists aren't as up on key date coins. Could someone who is in the know post a few of the ones we should always check for in the more common coins?
 
Here's a list of copper coins worth looking for before doing any cleaning. I figure the silver coins are easy enough to check before cleaning and teh coppers are more common anyway.
========================
<span style="background-color:#ffff00;"><STRONG>Flying Eagle Cents:</STRONG></span>
1856
1858/7
<span style="background-color:#ffff00;"><span style="background-color:#ffff00;"><STRONG>Indian Head Cents:</STRONG></span></span>
1859
1866
1867
1868
1869
1872 (Semi-Key Date)
1873 Double Date (Key Date)
1877 (Key Date)
1888/7 (Key Date)
1909S (Key Date)
<span style="background-color:#ffff00;"><STRONG>Wheat Cents:</STRONG></span>
1909S VDB (Key Date)
1909S (Semi-Key Date)
1911S (Semi-Key Date)
1914D (Key Date)
1917 Double Die Obverse (Key Date)
1922 No Mint Mark (Key Date)
1924D (Semi-Key Date)
1931S (Key Date)
1936 Double Die Obverse (Semi-Key Date)
1941 Double Die Obverse (Semi-Key Date)
1955 Double Die Obverse (Key Date)
====================
Hope this helps. . . . . Andy
 
Andy,
Have found if hydrogen peroxide doesn't clean up coppers then there generally is little hope of getting the crud off without doing major damage. But then they are generally not worth diddly with crud on so what do you have to loose? Did you try peroxide first?
I have a 1862 fattie spinning that looks like it will actually come out nice. It was encrusted in green before and looks quite presentable now. Tried some other fatties last year and they were a complete diasaster. Can never tell. Usually tumble all my nickels because they look so terrible out of the ground. Also seems because they are harder then copper tend to handle the tumbling process better.
Chris
 
<STRONG>Shield Nickels:</STRONG>
1871 , 1879, 1880, 1881, 1883 - 1883/2 overdate.
<STRONG>Liberty or "V" nickels:</STRONG>
1885 & 1912-s; Semi key: 1886
<STRONG>Buffalo:</STRONG>
1913-d T1 & T2, 1913-s T1 & T2, 1914 - but only the 1914/3 overdate; 1915-s, 1916 double die observe, 1918/7-D overdate, 1926-s, 1935 double die observe, 1937-d 3 legged buffalo.
<STRONG>Barber Dimes:</STRONG>
1892-s, 1893/2 overdate, 1894-O, 1894-s (doubt anyone will ever find one of these, only 24 made), 1895, 1895-o, 1895-s, 1896-o, 1896-s, 1897-o, 1901-s, 1903-s, 1904-s, 1909-s, 1913-s, 1915-s.
<STRONG>Mercury Dimes:</STRONG>
1916-D, 1921-D, 1921-S, 1926-s, 1942/1 overdate, 1942/1-D overdate
 
their value might be increased by cleaning. I had a 1931-S I dug & sold it to a coin dealer for only $3 as I had only scraped off enough crude to see the 1931-S (all of the rest of the detail still invisible under crud). I think if I had cleaned it by any method that would have shown the rest of the coin, it would have been worth more. Of course, one should read up on the various methods, look at the results pictured, then try the different methods on common coins first. Hope when you post the picture, you will also tell us what you put in the tumbler to clean them. Thanks, & I hope your "loss" on this isn't too bad. I don't think we could ever get a MS-60 or MS-63 grade on an old dug copper, cleaned or not. Someone please tell me if they think I'm wrong. I tumbled some pennies with goldfish gravel, lemon juice & water, & they came out pink! But, I put them in a jar with a cover & I'm not sure if I even thoroughly dried them. I looked at them maybe a year later, and they are *almost* normal color. Maybe they'll improve some more?? Bit I suppose those professional graders could still tell. HH, George (MN)
 
Well here is the coin . . . . . you can see what the cleaning did but we will see what PGCS says next week when I send it in for grading . . . . .
Andy
 
Well here is the coin . . . . . you can see what the cleaning did but we will see what PGCS says next week when I send it in for grading . . . . .
Andy
 
Andy,
PCGS will probably send this one back in the infamous "body bag". You might try ANACS. In the past they would slab coins like this and downgrade due to environmental damage.
Sweet find <img src="/metal/html/biggrin.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":D">
Tim
 
Check out the second 5 am I seeing double ???
My eyes aren't good any more <img src="/metal/html/confused.gif" border=0 width=15 height=22 alt=":?">
 
I made the same mistake two months ago. To the naked eye, my 22 is missing the "D". After looking at it through a loop, I discovered a faint "D" strike. Now I treat all my wheaties like prized coins until I've really had a chance to ID them. That said, I've probably jinxed my chances of finding a key date anytime soon.
HH,
David
 
Sure looks like a 1955 double die to me, worth a trip to a coin dealer or the fee to have it graded in my opinion.
 
That coin does have doubling on it, but it's not the 1955 double die that is worth a ton. The one you have just has slight doubling on the last 5. They call those a "Poor Man's Double Die." They have very little value over a normal 1955.
Cheers!
TheLastResort
 
David,
That's why I scanned it at real high resolution just to make sure that there was no "D" on the coin . . . . . guess I was hoping in a way that there was a "D" so I would not feel too bad but as you can see in the scan, no "D". Hey, it's still a nice find . . . . not bad 15 minutes from home!
Andy
 
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