My Father marked these in the days before there was grading by any companies back in the 70's They have been out of a bank box 3 times since he passed and I honestly would not know otherwise prior to 1980 What do you think it would grade out at and value??? Don't let the shadow fool you on the first one that side looks like the back
I don't see anything that indicates this is a proof. I also cannot give it a grade with those images. Can't tell if it's a little dirty, or wear. Either way, although a nice coin, it's not an expensive one. It also would not grade red. This one would probably fall between $10-$20.
This is NOT a proof, it's a regular business strike. The coin has been cleaned, it has EF details...about a $5-10 coin at best. In the future, crop your photos so there's more coin than background. It will make our job of evaluating the coin easier.
It's not a proof and it is not marked as a proof, either, so there should be no confusion on the issue. It is a circulated coin that appears to have been dipped and is worth a few dollars.
My dad never cleaned his coins and I never did either as it was a huge taboo....I was afraid to touch them after he died in 1981 they sat in a ban vault for 20+ years till I moved and then have been in a bank vault until this last year...Not sure why you would say it was cleaned
The color, especially on the reverse is what tells us it was cleaned. Just because your dad didn't clean it, doesn't mean it wasn't cleaned prior to his ownership. Cleaning coins was a very common practice "back in the day".
I don't believe anyone accused you or your father of cleaning this coin, but unless he obtained it fresh from the US Mint in 1909 it means that the coin has a history prior to being in your family collection. The color of the surfaces, in combination with the apparent wear, is consistent with how copper can look after it has been dipped or lightly cleaned.
People cleaned coins long before 1981. No one said your father or you cleaned the coin. And, like others said, your coin is not a Proof.
Pendragon, All I can tell you is I wish I had a 1909 VDB from my Dad. Why don't you just hold on to it instead of fretting over the value. Mike
After some of the back hands and beatings I got for even breathing on them too close let alone touch or clean them with a hose from a hot water bottle and a hanger inside I still have the scars on the back of my legs and he was an expert of his time he left me with almost 4 tones of coins from around the world He made me carry the bags at 7 years old and drag the 1000 dollar bags out to the car and he picked through them and the next week did it again and the family said he did it as did my grandfather back in the 1800's but they had to go to philly for them as that side of the family was from NY and came here in 1882 but even my grandfather when I knew him was the same way...so yeah it floors me as they never went to coin shoppes except to get the holders so I have no idea why he would have cleaned them after the beatings I took it just floors me
Fixed that for you... After some of the back hands and beatings I got for even breathing on them too close, let alone touch or clean them with a hose from a hot water bottle and a hanger inside. I still have the scars on the back of my legs. He was an expert of his time, and left me with almost 4 tones of coins from around the world. He made me carry the bags at 7 years old and drag the 1000 dollar bags out to the car. He picked through them and the next week did it again! The family said he did it, as did my grandfather back in the 1800's, but they had to go to philly for them as that side of the family was from NY. They came here in 1882, but even my grandfather, when I knew him, was the same way. So yeah, it floors me as they never went to coin shops, except to get the holders. So I have no idea why he would have cleaned them after the beatings I took. It just floors me!
Just an honest question, what is it about the coin that gave you the indication that it might be a proof?
He had it in some of the shoe boxes that said UC/proofs I have rolls of the pennies in old glued type wrappers that had never been open it looked like except for a couple that i opened to see what they looked like were all red like that from 1859 to the 1909 ones in 2 boxes so I thought being they looked new they were...Probably get more melting them down in the BBQ grill for the copper then the coins themselves being cleaned
The "UC/proofs" label likely stood for "uncirculated or proof" so the coin would have been at home in that box regardless.
I apologize for thinking it best be kept as a keepsake. Sometimes we forget that all situations are not the same....... Don't be too concerned about the cleaned thing. It is not like the penny was worth a ton of money, but now it is not becasue it was cleaned. Here is a link to see the of value of Early Lincloln's including the 1909 VDB http://www.numismedia.com/fmv/prices/lnccnt/pricesgd.shtml Also here is a link to some nice Lincolns to compare. Some are proofs. Post 14 has some real nice ones from Robec and they are marked with a grade. I hope this helps. The proofs are PR-XX and the buisness strikes are MS-xx http://www.cointalk.com/t210760/ Mike
