1956-D Lincoln D/S ??

kangayou · Aug 26, 2010

foundinrolls;902984 said:

I mentioned: The coin shown here exhibits damage that happens to fit a pre-conceived notion of an S

Thanks,
Bill

When a human eye looks at something that is random, we try to put a form or context to what we are seeing.

In other words, if a scratch randomly moves metal around we might see what looks like an extra mint mark or letter because our eyes and mind want to give the anomaly some form.

As a person gains experience, we realize that the form an anomaly on a coin has to be extremely specific and must match other aspects of a mint mark or a letter for example, in order to truly be something like a repunched mint mark, an over mint mark or a dropped letter.

At the same time, we learn to recognize what isn't an RPM, OMM or dropped letter.

Merely resembling something doesn't make it something.

Many collectors, before they come to recognize what to truly look for, will jump to the conclusion that something exists without that something actually matching perfectly to known details such as a mint mark or letter.

We also learn what scratches, die dents, damage and circulation wear looks like and armed with that information we can rule out a multitude of guesses based upon our mind's eye giving form to something that really is random.

I hope this helps.

Bill
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1956-D Lincoln D/S ??

kangayou Junior Member

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1956-D Lincoln D/S ??

kangayou Junior Member

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