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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;brg5658, post: 1451155, member: 29751&quot;]If all you have to go by are pics, they need to be <u>LARGE </u>and they need to be <u>SHARP</u>.&nbsp; If the coin is raw, and you are going by pictures then you better know your stuff and the seller better be able to take professional quality (or almost professional quality) images.&nbsp; If the coin is slabbed, then you can usually trust the slab label.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>In the case of Lehigh&#039;s post, I thought the coin looked like a proof immediately when seeing that slab picture.&nbsp; I was surprised that he didn&#039;t have at least some reservations before pulling the trigger, but sometimes in this hobby we see what we want to see.&nbsp; It&#039;s exciting, and an adrenaline rush to see what you know you shouldn&#039;t believe -- I&#039;ve made similar mistakes.&nbsp; But, in retrospect, it was also a teaching lesson and I thought the post was very truthful and helpful.&nbsp; That error was a mechanical error (typographical) on the label.&nbsp; Luckily, these don&#039;t happen all that often -- a lot less frequently than one would think because when we find one we highlight it with a thread on a coin forum.&nbsp; Remember, you haven&#039;t seen the 60,000 correctly labeled nickels posted, only the 1-2 that were mechanical errors.</p><p><br /></p><p>As for gbroke&#039;s recent post on a raw nickel, I was about 95% sure that what he had posted was a proof nickel at first sight (not a business strike).&nbsp; Why did I think that?&nbsp; Mostly based on Gestalt -- it just didn&#039;t look like a business strike nickel, and the sharpness of the strike and steps were what really looked &quot;off&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>Am I a pro at identifying these?&nbsp; Heck no, not even close!&nbsp; But, as the saying goes, if it&#039;s too good to be true, it probably is.&nbsp; If you have any reservations about a coin, then you&#039;d better do your homework before you buy or simply walk away.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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