QUIZ: Discribe the coin in this image.

Describe what you see in this image of a coin's obverse to someone who is totally blind.

I'll start: The coin is an Indian Head cent.

 

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The coin has cleaning or abrasion marks on the obverse.

 

The coin apparently has no reverse.

 

I am wondering if it might be an impaired proof.

 

I would say this was an Indian head cent. It was held tightly with a cutting tool of some sort likely to gain traction while the owner scrubbed black scuz with something approximating a Brillo pad leaving residue behind from a poor rinsing process.... However the damage was already done.

 

One thing not mentioned so far:

The coin has a date-1907- on it

 

Indian female bust facing left, wearing headdress with 'LIBERTY', surrounded by date (1907) and the inscription 'UNITED STATES OF AMERICA'

wire brushed as well

 

What are our assumptions about the blind audience? Do they know about US coin denominations? Do they know what a cent is, what size and shape it is, what it's made of? Do we describe the design to them, or just the distinguishing characteristics of this particular IHC?

 

It has a corrosion spot to the right of the date. Someone tried to lift it without total success.

Looking at it the for a second time, I don't think that the "7" in the date looks right. Could this be a counterfeit?

 

1907 cent with an indian on it plain and simple/yes I know I could've said it better but I find this to be good enough.

 

Great outside the box thinking JeffB. I knew a blind Bob when I was a kid, and it always amazed me how he could tell each denomination of coins plus paper money also.

Dave

 

A 1907-dated, left-facing Indian (male) cent, brown in overall color, with the indian in a full/ceremonial or war bonnet with pronounced scratches/cleaning abrasion marks across the face/cheek and neck, plus in the field to the front/left of the face. There are some other dings here/there around the rim plus some light discoloring in limited areas, also likely from either cleaning or exposure to ? over the years. No reverse is visible in the photo.

 

Damaged - cleaned, corroded and nicked.

 

It is dated 1907 with the 7 looking not quite right. The color is a bright orange and un-natural looking. There are many gouges around the rim, pronounced dotted scraping of the bust and field where a power tool of some kind has bounced and skipped across the surface.

 

I'll Just wait for the braille version of it.

No seriously, It's a gem BU MS70 1907 Indian head cent and nothing finer. BUY BUY BUY.

The blind person won't know the difference and if he can detect it, it's gonna involve fingerprints.

 

If describing to a blind person, I would make sure they knew it was worth a cent.

 

Not if its fake -1/2 the date doesn't look right at all.

 

GoldFinger1969, posted: "The coin has cleaning or abrasion marks on the obverse."

Good, but you've missed a lot. You should apply for a job at a major TPGS!

Thanks for posting. All we know after your post is it is an 1907 Indian cent with cleaning or abrasion marks on the obverse. It would have been better to tell the blind man what makes it look like a proof. The quiz asked "players" to DESCRIBE WHAT THEY SEE.

Randy Abercrombie, posted: "I would say this was an Indian head cent. It was held tightly with a cutting tool of some sort likely to gain traction while the owner scrubbed black scuz with something approximating a Brillo pad leaving residue behind from a poor rinsing process.... However the damage was already done."

Evan Saltis, posted: "Indian female bust facing left, wearing headdress with 'LIBERTY', surrounded by date (1907) and the inscription 'UNITED STATES OF AMERICA' wire brushed as well."

Great start, What else? Wire Brushed? What does that look like on the coin?

It appears you are way too intelligent to help the blind man. Better to answer your own question such as: round, copper, etc.

johnmilton, posted: "It has a corrosion spot to the right of the date. Someone tried to lift it without total success."

EXCELLENT observation. Need more.

Johnmilton continued: "Looking at it the for a second time, I don't think that the "7" in the date looks right. Could this be a counterfeit?"

None of my tricks in this quiz posted to train your eyes and descriptive powers.

If this is good enough for you, … you just earned yourself a pink participation ribbon.

Mac McDonald, posted: "A 1907-dated, left-facing Indian (male) cent, brown in overall color, with the indian in a full/ceremonial or war bonnet with pronounced scratches/cleaning abrasion marks across the face/cheek and neck, plus in the field to the front/left of the face. There are some other dings here/there around the rim plus some light discoloring in limited areas, also likely from either cleaning or exposure to ? over the years. No reverse is visible in the photo."

This is what a description of a coin for someone who cannot see it means. Very good, now we are getting somewhere but more is needed.

Nice observations but it is not SPECIFIC.

expat, posted: "It is dated 1907 with the 7 looking not quite right. The color is a bright orange and un-natural looking. There are many gouges around the rim, pronounced dotted scraping of the bust and field where a power tool of some kind has bounced and skipped across the surface."

Very good. This with many of the comments above are making the coin more visible to the imagination."

 

So I win?

 

The silver/grey gouges around the rim make it look like it was struck on a zincoln planchet