1909 ih

Hi all,

I have this 1909 Indian Head penny that I was wonderin what you would grade it. I'm new to this whole process and looking at pictures of graded coins online isn't super helpful for me since all mine seem to not fit in one category or another. Thanks in advance for your help!

 

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1909, same year the Lincoln cents started.

I would give it F20 because it shows reasonable detail and a couple of letter of "LIBERTY" can still be seen (barely). It looks as though it may be damaged as evidenced from the porousness.

 

Would be a VG+, but has environmental damage (green stuff, verdiree) on the reverse.

As for grading with pics, find the best match, yet it may be somewhere in between. Here’s a link to PCGS Photograde.
http://www.pcgs.com/photograde/

 

About a 10? I was thinking 12 because of the damage. Perhaps 20 details and 12 overall?

 

Maybe, hard to tell in pics, but LIBERTY doesn't appear to be full. Take a look at PCGS Photograde, an F12 looks better. Anyway, kinda moot with the verdigree.

 

Thanks for the input guys. How bad does the verdigree kill it? Is there a way to get rid of it without damaging the coin?

 

True.

 

Whether someone else will want the coin is uncertain, however, regarding cleaning it up, try acetone and a cotton swab (not finger nail polish remover - also - acetone on copper only!).

 

so basically the verdigree drops the value to squat? Oh well, it fills a spot in my book.

 

I’ve seen worse, but hard to do anything for them when they get to that point. There is a product called Verdi Gone (I think) that member BadThad sells that may help conserve it. Most serious collectors would not consider buying a relatively inexpensive coin with verdigree. I’d be “up in the air” on your coin, either experiment with conserving it or spend it.

 

Based on my information, BadThad is a chemist and his product is good. He is also the one that recommended acetone on copper.

Do not spend it. I don't care what anyone else thinks, it is a cool coin to keep in your collection.

 

I would never spend it. Even though it may be "crap" it's still cool to me. Just the fact that it has survived so long and is in...fairly good shape...is pretty amazing IMO. Most things made nowadays won't look that nice in 103 years...

 

LOL, yeah, it may look a lot better after conserving it, but I like to spend my IHC's & Buffalo Nickels with problems that are worth very little - gets the clerks all excited and maybe adds a collector to our ranks.

 

I have thought about doing that myself. Maybe in the future, but right now I have a hard time parting with even the most damaged wheat cent. Your spending is noble.

 

Yeah, when it was the only one I had to fill a hole, I kept it. But as I accumulated more & more & had duplicates & better grades, I was in a position to help out a little.

 

I have a hard time grading it- there is a lot of verdigris on the reverse (and some on the obverse)

 

It's not "verdigree", the correct term is verdigris.

 

Thanks, I wasn't sure and spell check doesn't catch either one of them, lol.

OP, here's the seller of VERDI-CARE.

 

I thought verdigree was a B.S. in verdigris.

 

Can we all agree to call it "dirty nasty green stuff"? I think that's a pretty accurate description