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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;LEG END, post: 939823, member: 26139&quot;]<b>Collecting Presidential Dollars</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Here are some erstwhile tips.</p><p>The years 2007-2009 are still available in quantity from the us Mint in their direct ship program. They send you 250 dollars worth, their choice. Most are out there for the asking-Washington through now.</p><p>The uncirculated versions issued for general circulation are severely strained from a quality standpoint, the reason being the ballistic bags of thousands of dollars worth at a time. The first day of production issues DO HAVE some laser etched incuse edging versions, as well as laminations on the obverse and reverse.. They left those for us to receive uninterrupted, and it has been great. The first day of production are hidden gems, y&#039;all. </p><p>The general circulation, uncirculated set matted version, and the proof issues all have position A and position B examples.</p><p>Position A is with the incuse lettering readable as you look at the obverse, and position B is with the incuse readable as you look at the reverse. I coined the two phrases as a member of a previous forum, a feather in my cap, thanks. Most grading services use these descriptions, I haven&#039;t made a dime on it. Ah, the coin hobby.</p><p>The early issues had doubled lettering on the edging and missing lettering, you need to look those up. Good to keep those, even if pricey. On the flip side, gazillions of these are still in vaults. Some had laser etching, which is a cool effect that is laser etched for a knurled look on the edging to complement the incuse lettering. I have some examples of laser etching INSIDE the incuse...</p><p>Laser etching occurred on the following:</p><p>Washington, Jefferson, Adams.</p><p>Some of the etching was abbreviated, with spotty etching, not completed around the entire coin. This occurred on all the aforementioned dollars. Position A and B both have laser etching.</p><p>Incuse lettering varieties were reported to Potter of Koinpro by me. He sells some of those Adams I think still, for a dandy sum. The incuse lettering also comes in three different varieties.</p><p>The first is just a plain old notched letter, no frills, that forms a V in the base of the letter. The second is a rounded letter, which is somewhat tidier, but still sloppy looking. The third type, and that which I consider the most collectible due to the miniscule numbers, has a flattened appearance of some width, outlined by a small recess around each letter. These are VERY FEW in number. All three types of incuse are in Both position A and B. I think perhaps that this incuse was used on proofs, but my box of 100 from 2007 is as yet unopened. As memory serves me, I think the proof incuse is on some uncirculated, and that is what I see in the third example.</p><p>There is a ray doubled die reverse in one of the early releases, look that one up.</p><p>There are die trails as well, extending from the flames in the torch.</p><p>There was a really, really obscure segment error, involving the sequencing of In God We Trust and E Pluribus Unum in the incuse. They were reversed, and as far as I know, only two known exist. Those examples surfaced at exactly the moment I received my first 100 sets, which is why I kept them unopened. Coin World wondered aloud in an article just where all the rest were. Good question, and worth looking for.</p><p>Also noted were examples with no Incuse lettering, along with some punked counterfeits of lesser weight to watch out for, especially at over a hundred a pop. I think that authenticated genuine examples are even more now.</p><p>The mintages of all the presidents are falling to the cellar, and that makes completing a CLEAN, HIGH GRADE SET very worthwhile. You can pursue early release if you want to, but better to chase down clean examples. Some of the highest grades are only in the 67-68 range for the general circulation. And they are chock full of nicks. The uncirculated sets are a good deal, with lesser mintages as well. As more collectors enter in five years, complete clean early sets will be STRONG.</p><p>Completists are making Position A and B sets, with laser etching, and the three types of lettering, and putting back the missing letter and doubled letter examples as well. This is a great set, and worth every penny later on, especially now that the US Mint is responding to our protestations of overproduction. Nothing to do to protect yourself from the sudden plunge in Washington, Jefferson and Adams values that is to be expected except to put such high grade examples aside they can&#039;t fall.</p><p>Finally, I forgot to mention the sintered planchets, with contaminated, unbonded metals. They became blackened. Ugly and worthless. Dissimilar metals in proximity to one another tend to return to their original form-ore. The outer valence electrons, which are either trying to gain or lose value, create corrosion which will destroy the coin. And not in 10 years, either. Sooner. Discard those, or not, you completist, you.</p><p>So go all in now, it is still early, and the Mint STILL has this inventory. You can complete quality sets still, inexpensively, without grading. A cautionary note: you should educate yourself what high grade looks like in these early issues. You might be tempted to discard coins which you should keep.</p><p>The early releases also had design elements which were changed after the first years, involving the lettering. Some examples forgot to include In God We Trust.</p><p>Oh, the humanity. I hope I haven&#039;t missed a big detail, but I&#039;ll fix it if I have.</p><p>I hope this comprehensive post helps, folks could follow on here with pics, then it will be a more complete thread. There are better photographers than me here, so goheadonwidyobadsef&#039;s and postdempics![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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