...is going to take a while to dissect. LOT OF 493 ASSORTED U.S. COINS DAMAGED NO DATES AND DARK $21.10 FACE VALUE Probably going to have to spawn off a bunch of threads for this one with questions/photos. A few highlights: 1) The trade dollar is (or purports to be) an 1878-P. That was a proof-only issue, and I don't think there's any way it would've gotten holed and engraved for jewelry; it's gotta be fake. (Looking at the photos prior to bidding, I assumed that it was actually an 1873-P.) But it weighs exactly what I'd expect for a trade dollar with a small hole, and it passes the first round of diagnostics (type 2 reverse). I'll be seeking help with proving it's fake (beyond the obvious "it couldn't possibly be real"). It's got a good bit of rim damage (as opposed to edge damage); I'm thinking of going ahead and dragging one of the damaged areas across a stone to do an acid test. 2) One of the first Buffaloes I pulled was a very dark, but otherwise very nice, 1924-S, with most of the horn showing. Nearly all the rest were dateless, but the very last one I pulled was a gouged but clear-dated and un-acid-treated 1921-S. 3) There were a lot of complete culls in the IHCs -- holed, misshapen, corroded to death -- but also quite a few readable dates in the 1860s and even a couple from the 1870s. 4) There were actually a couple of 1883 no-cents nickels, along with a number of other better dates. No 1885, 1886 or 1912-S, unfortunately. 5) All the Jeffersons appeared rusted. I'm not sure what in the world they were exposed to, but they really look like rusted steel. It's a shame, too; one 1938-P looks like it has full steps, and it's got an almost proof-like finish, beyond the rust spots, of course. 5) The wheat cents comprised 41 rusted steel cents, three gold-plated memorials (two counterstamped "12-31-74", the day gold ownership was re-legalized), a 1975 with a part sliced off, two 1918-P's stuck together with gunk -- and five semi-keys, which I'll discuss in a separate thread. I was pretty sore when I saw that the trade dollar was most likely fake; I'd figured that that could be flipped on eBay for close to half my total bid, even in its damaged state. (Yeah, I know, don't buy raw trade dollars if you don't know what you're doing -- but Buyer Protection, yadda, yadda.) But after the other things I've found in this lot, and the fun that I had going through it, I may just keep it.
