Hey Guys, I think this has been mentioned before, but why do many of the 2009 Lincolns have what appears to be water spots? These are fresh from mint rolls. Is there a way to safely remove them? In this pic it looks like Lincoln has a milk mustache And do the edges of coins typically take this sort of beating when in rolls? -LTB
These spots are common, you'll find them to some degree on every coin. Sadly, they are permanent and cannot be removed by anything I've tried, from water to xylenes.
Maybe the spots are from the champagne they popped in unison upon completion of the production line for release 1...as they knew their short supply would guarantee this and subsequent 2009 cents to sell out I agree, it does appear the VDB is more visible on the 2009s than previous releases. -LTB
OK, good, I know that I'm not dreaming this stuff. I have to say -- it looks more prominent in real life than in pictures. I have a few of the cents, and when I looked at it with my 8x loupe, the VDB really jumped out at me, and I never recall seeing that in any other penny (hmm, post 1909, that is :smile)
For whatever it's worth -- I still think that eventually we'll be able to get our hands on rolls for 50 cents. But because I couldn't wait (and b/c I didn't want to pay the $5 to $7 going rate for bank-rolled cents) . . . I was able to pick up four of them (2 P's, 2 D's) for 0.99 (which incl. postage) on eBay.
I've been searching through the threads looking for your comment on the 2009 cents. I got 5 rolls of each, opened one roll of each, and was very disappointed. I was sure hoping that you have the spot cure. Every single one of them spotted, but not as bad as the one posted above. Out of the 100 that I looked at, I only saw 3 where the forhead wasn't messed up one way or other, and those 3 were far from perfect. Looks like MS 67 might be the best we get outta 2009. I don't think the strikes are near as good as in previous years, and the vdb seems to be on a flatter surface, which makes it more visible than before. jmo Chuck
I cracked open my first D mint roll tonight, I have some pics to add to this. The Denver coins I opened are WAY worse than the P rolls I cracked, not only with respect to spotting, but general quality. The die showed a lot of fatigue around the obverse border making an almost hazy appearence.
I would probably rate the P roll I opened a just a slight better than the D. I was so disappointed I might never open the other 8 rolls I got. I did notice on the outer rim of the D's, there is a slight starburst type thing going on all around the rim, even around the letter on the obverse. I'm not quite sure what caused this, stress possibly? I have seen this starburst type on eBay that is about 10 times more than what mine were. I looked around on eBay and the MS-67 is the best I have seen, with quality grading anyway. Since there are SO many rolls uncracked, it may be years before we see the true extent of how good some might be. The other 3 things I have seen is the break on the reverse under the RM and JL, the crack on the forehead, and the cabin error stamped through and showing on the obverse.
With the change in the more shallow Lincoln strike this year, making the vdb on the shoulder less hidden and appearing to be flat on the surface, I got to wondering. I have 3 complete sets, but they are all at the bank. What year did they change Lincoln's beard? Years ago it was just be a patch so you could tell it was a beard, but nowdays it has specific lines through his beard. Do you know the year that happened??? Chuck
