Cherry Pickers Guide and Wexlers "Best of" are all I know Cherry Pickers Guide and Wexlers "Best of" (this book is out of print and I think Potter has one or two but you will have to pay heavy) are all I know other than CONECA. Here's a tip - learn to tilt that coin every which way you can think, learn to look at every angle, across every surface. Never ever have your head in the way esp. don't where a hat or cap - you want to flood that light in on the coin as you turn it. When holding your loupe steady your hand aganst your hand holding the coin - practice this until you can see the dust inside the "D". Plus my own pet peeve - reserve saying DD for RPM's (put a / between them and MD for the doctor - it's not that hard to say Doubled die or machine doubling - this whole thing is hard enough without people stopping to think what you are trying to say. One day you will be instructiong people and you want to learn the best way I am sure!!!
Another tip I learned,...never spend more than fifteen seconds looking at a coin..if it isn't obvious, than you probably have nothing. Happy hunting!
I suggest new variety hunters start out with high grade coins (AU or better) searching only for RPMs. Many of the characteristics of RPMs is similary to doubled dies (split serifs, heavy thickness, etc.). This allows a newby to focus in on a small area of the coin design and obtain experience which can later be expanded to searching for doubled dies.
And then send all the change to me when you get done and I'll look for the rest of the varieties and errors.
Sure they could send the change to you but the better idea would be to put the coins aside and search them later for doubled dies once you are comfortable with attributing RPMs. Mint marked coins are easier to attribute because you can use the location of the mint mark as verification.
The 1970 S is Machine doubling as most suggested. The second batch of pictures shows only one actual doubled die and that is the 1967 cent. The first cent shows die deterioration doubling and the quarter has a machine doubling of the mint mark. Thanks, Bill PS: the first question to ask someone who suggests sending in a clunker for attribution is... "If it comes back with the same information as I got here for free...would you be willing to pay for the attribution fee?" Don't waste your money by taking poor advice unless it is from one of the people here that knows what he or she is looking at. This is not to create an argument, but those who suggest attributing junk will be taking money away from someone for no reason. Think more about making the suggestion. PPS: It doesn't matter if a machine doubled coin is BU or not...It's still machine doubling and has no value. It is a waste of money to send it anywhere, no matter how nice it might be.
The Kennedy half that looks like it has thicker letters was struck by a worn die. As the die wears, the crispness of the details is altered and the lettering can become wider on the die causing the letters to look wider and thicker on the coins struck by those dies. Thanks, Bill
