So many coins and no clue if they are worth anything? Can please you help?

Hello
I am new to collecting coins and have taken pictures of some coins that I found in my change jars at home. I am so confused about the DDO coins and the MS coins... how can I tell the difference and identify them?
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v213/karahbell/Pennies/
Thank you so much from the newbie =) - Karah

 

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Good morning Karah,

Some info on DDO coins
http://coins.about.com/od/coinsglossary/g/doubled_die_def.htm

MS stands for mint state. You can see some info here as well on difference in states of coins. THis is the US 70 point scale
http://coins.about.com/od/coingrading/qt/coin_grading101.htm

Other countrys use different scales wich you can see here compered to the US scale
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coin_grading

It takes time to know these things and the more you read the better collector you will be

Siggi

 

Awesome thank you for the links. I just found a 1970 No "S" mark dime... Its in pretty god condition. =)
Did you look at my photo link?

 

The 1970 dime you have is probably one that was struck for circulation at the Philadelphia Mint. There is no mintmark on these. The proof coins were supposed to have the "S" mintmark because they were struck in San Francisco.

Chris

 

Just dont drink alcohol when your looking at your coins. They all become MS70 and soon youll have alot of DDs sometimes triple.

 

I was looking at that description and it seems the MS60 is worse than the AU58. The 58 mentions "full luster" and the 60 mentions "ugly", with no luster. Whaz up wit dat?

 

Think of it this way - - - MS-60 is reserved for the WORST mint state coins. They are truly uncirculated but they are UGLY. They usually have TONS of bag marks. They may have little to no luster.

AU-58 is reserved for the BEST slightly-circulated coins. These coins are usually BEAUTIFUL. They will have very few bag marks and full luster.

That AU-58 coin may have graded MS-64 or 65 or higher if it had not circulated for a short while.

To quote for the ANA Grading Standards:

 

Thank you for all the information everyone. i don't possess the grading skills yet, but I will keep on it =)
And if searching for 16+ hours in 2 days gets me nothing, maybe I should start drinking .... lol

 

That would be a bummer if that is the case. How can I tell if it is just a philly dime or if it is a proof coin?

Karah
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If it is a proof, it should have smooth, mirrorlike fields(background) and frosted devices(design).

 

Well its not new looking, and there is no luster to the coin, you can tell its been in circulation and dirty in the background.

 

It could be an impaired(circulated) proof. Can you take pictures?

 

Here are some pictures of the 1970 Dime

Here are two different links one is a picture of the dime with natural light outside and the other inside.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v213/karahbell/Pennies/1970DimeOutside.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v213/karahbell/Pennies/1970Dime.jpg

Please don't laugh i am a newbie, so its probably nothing...?