Post your Lincolns!

Thank you. I would have thought that a long run of bright shiny ungraded pennies, spanning a century, would have become "same old, same old". But the photography makes me attend to each one individually. I get an appreciation for them that goes beyond picking them up and looking.

I am amazed at how many things I have learned from this set. There are variations in color, in strike, surface texture, between copper and zinc, in the size of the dates, toning and woodiness, and die cracks and other errors. You can see the design evolve little by little as the master hubs wear down and then are (eventually) replaced.

And I like the pictures, too.

My setup has some serious compromises (see below), so I don't really see the pictures in focus until I load them from the camera to the computer. So a photo like the proof above is a pure delight to me!

My photo setup only lets me route the camera's rear display onto my monitor, with very poor resolution. The coin image is never in focus until I press the shutter. I can't get close enough to use more than 1/3 of the sensor. I change exposure by twisting a dial on the camera, and guessing when the highlights are too bright. I can move the coin around to change where the light falls, but have to guess how the final shot will turn out.


So I am as delighted as anyone about getting to see these and make a few remarks about what I see. Maybe it will turn me from a collector into a numismatist?

 

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Haven't seen one of these posted.....soooo

 

Some cool-o moo-lo 1964 Proof Lincolns ...
Grades are PCGS PR66BN, PR67RB, PR67RB respectively ...





Oh what a year 1964 ...
Some say that's when the revolutionary 1960's really started.

 

It would be cool to see both sides of the 14S.

 

While waiting for coinsareus10 to post the reverse, I decided to reshoot mine. I really need to take it out of that slab, though...

 

Don't have the picture of reverse. Sold coin a few years back and never got to delete both sides.

 

The Memorial series is very interesting. I'm surprised there is not more serious collectors out there. The big thing you should get out of this is an appreciation for the difficulty of finding high quality coins. It's MUCH more difficult that others believe. Yes, there are billions but most of them are garbage, worn or lost forever.

 

Here's one I like.

 

Eh Im all about wheat before memorials.

My newest:



$27 ebay steal. Really strong strike for a later die state. Alot going on with this coin. Cant see it in my pics but cracked skull, tiny die chip at the first T in TRUST, and what you can see is that freaking die gouge below the date.

 

The strike looks strong but I noticed you mentioned that it's later die state. What are the things I should be looking for to notice later die states on the early Lincoln's? So far the only thing I've been able to notice is when one side of a coin is hammered and the other is terribly weak. Is it the amount of definition in the hair and beard, and/or the sharpness of the details? Any helpful tips you might have would be great. Thanks.

 

Agree, I love that brown with tinges of red look. NICE!

 

Should I start an MPL thread?

 

Here's a good "tinges of red" too...plus it has some purple.

 

Aside from weaker details, die cracks and chips are a good way sometimes. On lincoln cents the O in ONE on the reverse is a good marker. It tends to wear out in mid to late dies states. Another thing I look for is the surface of the cent. My 1910 above has a kind of "starburst" effect on the surface caused by a more worn die that creates an odd flow of metal on the coin. Almost making it looked stretched in a way. Also if you look under Licnoln's chin you can see a speckled type surface hinting that the die may have had some rust to it as well. All signs point to a well used to over worked pair of dies. Something the Lincoln wheat series was notorious for.

 

Yeah. And we can really screw with the newbies by saying these really are MPL's lol

 

The mint made changes during the previous 20 years to improve the striking. The lettering is thinner, and the alignment of the letters in LIBERTY is more even. The lettering at the rim is taller. The cheek and sleeve have been hollowed out.

Here is a comparison 20 years apart. These changes make more metal available for the opposite side of the coin. In theory, this would improve the memorial steps and the lettering in STATES, where the strikes have been weak.



The surfaces are smoother on this 1990-S proof, and the steps are full. I have also attached a more traditional shot where the fields are all black and only the devices are light. While that's a great look, I like seeing some of the fields at the same time.

The detail is really pretty good on these business strikes. The Philadelphia mint needs to address the preparation of the planchets - the surfaces are rough and corrugated.

1990 Proof


1990 Business strikes

 

The 1990's produced some odd planchets. Many of the planchets had these strange striations (lines) in them. Years ago, I discussed on the web with several experts after finding this example while searching rolls:

 

In 1990 they also tended to super-polish the working dies. I found this one where the entire neck was polished away:

 

You can clearly see the lines in the planchet: