Hello Coin Talk I have this coin and would like your opinions as to grade and authenticity? The reverse has some problems on the strike, my guess is the "O" and motto had a slight strike through grease, how would that affect the grade? Thanks in advance, John
WoW! 1st~Welcome to CT. :bow: Never have I seen a 1st post put together so well! Wonderful subject and great photos!! Having never touched a real 1909 S myself am looking forward to the wolves coming out of the woodwork to take this task on. How about the slant on the V.D.B. Folks? They lok a little strange?
Again, welcome. If the VDB is NOT slanted and off center, then it IS a fake. I am thinking it would make AU. At that grade, or even low to mid grade uncirculated, the "O" will have no affect on the grade.
Seeing that it is from a brand new post, I think it is weird. What does jhc mean, Just Hiring from China! Just kidding. But posts like this one out of the blue with a Bright new looking "V.D.B", has to make me wonder. The rest of the coin's wear does not match the initials. Just my opinion. :goof:
If genuine ( I'm not guessing from the pics ) it is a worked AU. The coin has seen some treatment, either Blue Ribbon or Coin Care, not neccesarily a bad thing, but it has been oiled after a cleaning.
That;s very possible due to the abrasive marks on both sides of the rev. bottom. They seem to go up on both sides of the "V.D.B.". If it was "cleaned", I would have to think some kind of abrasive motion was used on that area to give the coin that effect, giving it a more newer look. It even has that look on the obv.
Boy I hope it's not a fake. I am not a dealer, just someone who started picking cents out of my parents change as a young kid who never grew out of it. A bit about the coin. I purchased it from a fella who got smacked by the recession. He allowed me to inspect it, it is a raw coin and told me it came through "Stack's". He had a clipping from a catalog with a description and these photos. I took that information and went on-line to check the archived catalogs and I matched it up with his information. It also got those nice large photos to examine the coin with. Comparing the coin in hand with the photo's it was clear it was the same coin. Nicks, spots, the weak O etc. The fact that it had recently passed through a legitimate auction house made me a little more comfortable with the purchase. In hand the coin is really a more pleasing brown, the exposure of these photo is a bit bright. The catalog description mentioned the color and had this to say "Purely original surfaces and toning with no signs of ever having been cleaned" They assigned it a grade of AU-55. I doubt the Ole boy I bought it from cleaned it, when I took it out of the 2x2, I did think it looked a bit oiled though. Thanks again for your insights, I appreciate your comments.
Well I hope it turns out good for you, because if it is real, then you have a very valuable coin you probably might want to hold on to. Depending ojn your financial situation of course.:hail:
JHC- nice post. This coin is tricky. I agree the VDB doesn't look very slanted. Can you post photos of the S and the VDB upclose. The S should have parellel serifs (die polish lines) and a dot in the upper loop of the S (protruding dot). The coin does have oil as seen on the E of the ONE and T of the CENT on the reverse. Everyone knows I have no problem with that. It's a little heavy so you could do a quick dip in pure acetone and then distilled water. There are instructions on this site so do a search if you wanted to do that. I think we need upclose photos. I have never thought of Stacks as a good Auction house, but just my opinion. Regardless it's a nice coin, but you need to be certain of authenticity.
Thanks for your input. I have a canon DSLR and my business partner has a macro lens that will work with it. I will try and borrow it later and see if I can get some close ups. Question about the acetone dip. If I can find some really pure stuff that leaves no residue on evaporation, what is the purpose of the distilled water rinse? I have never dipped a coin before, have read plenty on here about acetone on silver, but never tried it on a cent. Not questioning your advice, just hoping for some more information since I am not familiar with the process. Cheers
I really wouldn't worry about it, but search "acetone" here and read GDMSP's instructions. I wouldn't touch it. I damaged my S VDB somewhat with experimentation due to hairlines and dirt on the coin so don't mess with it.
OH no! Not this again! Have you tried putting a loupe in front of your lens? that will give you more X's in your magnification.
The "S" does not look right to me from photos at all. The "S" does not look right to me from photos at all. Maybe it's the photo but it looks a little too big and not squared off enough.
I think the MM looks fine. It seems to have that build-up under that is conducive with a genuine "S" VDB. I think the "VDB" part looks funny to me. It has either been cleaned or is not an original stamp on the coin. JMO
Please remember coins are not "stamped" they are coined, big - differents. Please remember coins are not "stamped" they are coined, big - differents.
Fake Sorry about that. It may be a VDB but not from SanFran. This mint mark is not correct for the known variants. Here are the knowns.
