Okay, another stupid question to ask... I checked out the Varietyvista.com site and am trying to compare my coins to their coins to see if I have any interesting varieties. Unfortunately I do not speak 'numismatist' good enough to really understand what to look for when comparing the photographs with the list next to it to my own coin. Can anyone please put the rules into simple layman language to help me? thanks jeankay
What terms are you having trouble with? A good place to look up numismatic words or terms is Coin Lingo.
I don't mean to be so dense about some of the ways coins are presented. It has been about a year since I started coin collecting, and with everyone's help on these forums and a lot of searching on the internet and the books I have purchased to help me learn terminology I feel I am doing pretty good for an old grandma. What has me asking the stupid question is because some people write about the differences as if they are writing to the people who already know about certain anomalies that can be found on coins. Except for the designs that changed drastically from one era to the next, i.e., wheat to memorial, some of us do not realize there are many other anomalies/changes that took place. Even though RDV is among those, I had not yet realized how different it could be. I went back to the site several times yesterday and now I think I am beginning to get the hang of it. jeankay
Oh Thank Goodness I am not the only one... Reverse Die Variety (I think)... Check out varietyvista.com Really I did know there were changes made at certain times, I just didn't understand the coins could be collectible varieties. You might be able to understand this writer better than I could. There is always something about a person telling how to do some task who already knows how to do it and then telling someone else how to do it. Am I making any sense at all. It is sort of like my hubby, who is a software engineer for a very large corporation, trying to tell me about all his different languages he needs to know for a job he is currently programming. It all 'seems Greek to me'. Thanks, jeankay
Who woulda thunk such a small coin can have so many varieties to look for. I just stick to DD's and RPM's. Phoenix
You know Phoenix... nearly my thoughts exactly. When I started this collecting stuff... these silly little roundish bits of metal... I was searching for the best examples my pocket book could afford. THEN... I noticed others were posting 'error' coin pictures. So, now I look to find the best and worse coin I can afford. Now I need blinders so I don't see all the other ways I could be going in this hobby For some reason this entire process seems a bit implosive. I always try to keep my mind tuned to finding the best in an item or person and not dwell on the imperfections. jeankay
It might be easiest to post some specific questions that you have regarding RDVs and what you don't understand. With such a general question, where would anyone start to answer?
Yep, you are right... I should have asked a specific question... I just didn't know how to phrase it. I wanted to know if the pictures on the site showing the coin's RDV are the actual RDV one can find in the list of Dates next to the picture. I have a 1984 D bu Lincoln cent that seems to contradict the list. My 84D has the RDV-005 A M on the reverse, but has the RDV-004 initials. This is quite confusing. Now I am wondering if I should let this go and try to learn something different. After all, at my age, learning new things takes up a lot of very limited gray matter in my brain, so I don't want to waste it. jeankay After spending several hours on the RDV site reading and comparing I think I am beginning to get the gist of it... I hope, because that is a few hours of my life I will never get back.
jeankay, the images it lists next to each RDV section are from the actual RDV, and the list of dates is pretty accurate as far as I've heard. In order to have an RDV-005 "A M" section with an RDV-004 initials section, you'd have to have a completely distinct RDV. In terms of "collectability," it's mostly the RDVs that are rare -- blue/red/pink. For instance, you've probably heard of the "Wide AM" or the "Close AM" versions. In 1992, for both the Denver and Philly mints, for instance, there was a "Wide AM" version (common, RDV-006) and a "Close AM" version (RDV-007). Similarly, in 1998 at the Philly mint there were some minted with RDV-006 (Wide AM), while most were minted with RDV-007 (Close-AM). In a year like 1998 (P and D), the initials become important in differentiating RDVs, with the G (of F.G.) looking different in RDV-005 (common) and RDV-006 (rare), but the AM on both is wide, and very similar in look. Hope this makes some sense...
Thank you VWAP. It is *very* helpful to know these nuances of error coins. I wonder how many I recycled to the bank before I started searching them. I have gone back to the RDV site and spent a few hours trying to absorb the information. Like my hubby says 'you are a very visual person'... I learn more by seeing than reading about something, and I can retain the info quicker and better. The 1984D Lincoln I have will need to be photographed so I can really see it in higher magnification than my 15x lens provides. Then maybe I can determine if it is worth mentioning. Oh, I just received my first wide AM from one of the coin website people. It is a 1998P, in brilliant uncirculated condition. Thanks for taking an interest in my question! jeankay
Sounds like you are getting the hang of all the different RDVs! Regarding your 1984D cent, not to be overly pessimistic but because the mint didn't switch RDVs until between 1985 and 1986, it is extremely unlikely that your 1984 actually has RDV-005 and more likely that due to wear on the die or it being polished that the initials you're looking at appear to be those of RDV-005 but are still RDV-004.
