So the left side is the obverses and the right side is the reverse of the same cent. What you say the value is as far as to what we could expect to get. Dusty
If that is real I don't know how someone ends up with a 1909 S VDB but doesn't have a clue of it's value. Google returns 40,300 results. It's only the rarest Lincoln cent ever and you happen to have one laying around?
No don't have one just laying around. We have a complete set of business strikes and proofs. I just posted to get others input. I thought this was what this forum was for. As far as it being real we feel like it is. Pretty sure it is a marriage of die #3. Thanks though for the response. Dusty
Sorry to sound so flabbergasted. Heritage auction records indicate about 2000 auction records with the S going for $700 to $90,000. Yours is going to be mid 4 figures but I'm not an expert on US coins. You can sign up to Heritage for free, just give an email, and see what coins in similar grades sold for. http://coins.ha.com/?ic=Tab-Home-041408
Value is mostly about the grade. Grading from photos is always a tough one as lighting is everything. I am not a cent collector, however, there are some very experienced cent collectors on this forum. Ask them to give you a grade opinion. From that opinion, ebay completed auctions can show you an idea of value for the grade. Then comes the history of the coin....does it have a history that adds value...does it have a great story? The top coin is in better shape than the bottom. In MS64 it sells on ebay in the $2,500. In MS65 it sells in the $5,500 range. As the grade rises so does the price...rather quickly. As the grade falls, so does the price...rather quickly. The bottom coin, the non S, auctions for nice MS examples are in the $20-30 range. And I am not sure it would make that grade.
I'm surprised by the number of ungraded examples offered for sale on eBay... it's just a scary proposition buying a raw S-VDB. This coin should always be graded in order to realize maximum dollars if one ever decides to sell.
I've never noticed that. At closer look it appears to have been an old cleaning of some sort at one point in time. Dusty
I have to break it to you, but IMO that S VDB is fake. That VDB just looks wrong both on the middle dot and the B. Look at this thread http://www.cointalk.com/t78043/ and see if you do not agree. BTW, that "S" looks very similar to position #3, but it is not called "marriage of die #3".
Im not expert, butDusty corrected himself and said #2, which by the link, to me it looks correct. Im a metal fabricator by trade. Ive done tons of brass work, so I can tell a clean joint when I see it. Thats why I would like a close up.
If I were you I'd get that 1909-S V.D.B slabbed either PCGS or NGC for authenticity and preservation.
If you can, get a good close up of the VDB and the date/ mintmark. It looks like a genuine wheat to me, I don't think the whole coin is a fake. Like others have said, it looks like die #3. If it's an added mint mark they did a good job of positioning it.
Hope these help. To me it looks like it has been cleaned quite a bit over the years. Also looks like it has suffered some pmd damage also. The mint mark halo so to speak to me looks like it is from being cleaned with something and then wiped off. It really depends on what light you put it in. Anyways comment away. And thanks again! Dusty
Also the dots in the VDB are centered whereas on a Philly minted 1909 VDB they tend to be more towards the right of the letters. Dusty
Also looks like a die chip on the S which I feel like is another tale tale sign of it being the real deal. Dusty