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Found In Rolls is Back!

Friday, March 26th, 2010

I have added the “Found in Rolls” website to Ask About Coins!
Each section of “Found In Rolls” has been added as a post so that navigation from one section to another becomes fun and easy!

You can start on the “HOME” page by simply clicking on the title of the post to open up each page! The top of each page will provide links to the previous post or to the next post so that you can easily navigate from one page to another.

In fact, the top of this page has a link to the “Found In Rolls” – Tokens and Exonumia page. Click on that link to start your journey!

As an alternative, you can use the menu feature to browse by using the CATEGORIES list. Simply open the drop down list and click on “Found In Rolls” !

At the bottom left of each page, you will see a link to the “older entries” use that to view the rest of the “Found In Rolls” pages.

You will see pages for:

Tokens and Exonumia
World Coins
Coins of Mexico
Coins of Canada
United States Die Varieties
United States Error Coins
United States Dollars
United States Half Dollars
United States Quarter Dollars
United States Dimes
United States Five Cents
United States Cents

As I can, I will be adding images to the pages. The pages for the CENTS, NICKELS and DIMES have some special features that you can see when you check them out. I will be adding the same features to the other pages as I continue to add images of more coins to each page.

After you are done checking out my “Found In Rolls” Collection of “Fabulous Fun Finds”, Click on the links to the ARCHIVES to view my other numismatic writings!

Have Fun,

Bill O’Rourke

Member:
ANA (American Numismatic Association)
NLG (Numismatic Literary Guild)

Posted in Collecting, Die Varieties, Error Coin, Found in Rolls, Mexico, Non-United States Coins, canada | Comments Off

Found In Rolls – United States Die Varieties

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

As the author of the “Found In Rolls” column as seen in “CoinWorld Magazine” I find a large number of collectible coins in rolls that I obtain from local banks and credit unions. Since I can’t fit all of my discoveries in my column, I thought that I could share some of my other finds here.

1972 Lincoln Cent- Doubled Die Obverse - Die #1

1972 Lincoln Cent - Doubled Die Obverse Die#1 - LIBERTY

1983 Lincoln Cent - Doubled Die Reverse - Die#1

1995 Lincoln Cent - Doubled Die Obverse - LIBERTY

1964 D Kennedy Half Dollar - Quadrupled Die Obverse

Posted in Collecting, Die Varieties, Error Coin, Found in Rolls, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Found In Rolls – United States Cents

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

1893 Indian Head Cent

1894 Indian Head Cent

1895 Indian Head Cent

1896 Indian Head Cent

1897 Indian Head Cent

THERE’S MORE!
Simply Click on any image, as seen below, to view a larger picture of that particular coin in a separate window!
This section will have more “Found In Rolls” discoveries added to it regularly so be sure to come back often!
HAVE FUN!

Let’s start in the year where the Lincoln Cent began, 1909. Many times when I discover a cent dated 1909 or 1909 VDB (Victor David Brenner), it is in Very Good-8 (VG-8) condition or better. I think that, as we do today, many people saved a few examples of the then new Lincoln cent issue thinking that they will be worth something someday. Consequently, while roll searching I have found a wide range of conditions of 1909 and 1909 Lincoln, VDB cents and although most would be graded as Very Good-8 (VG-8) or better the conditions vary from a low of About Good-3 (AG-3) to a high grade of Mint State-65 (MS-65).

As we get past the first year of the Lincoln Cent, where things can be a little skewed due to hoarding, I see a great many of the earlier dated Lincoln cents that are “worn to the bone”, so to speak. A little research indicates that during the early days of the Lincoln Wheat Ears Cent, a cent (penny) actually had some buying power.

Back in 1910, five cents would buy you a Coca-Cola. Sauerkraut is around 15 cents for a large can and steak is around 18 cents per pound. By the 1940s ,one cent could still buy bubble gum, licorice candy, jaw breakers, peppermint sticks, grab bags, or small bags of pop corn or salted peanuts.

I see a lot of wear on most of the one cent coins that I find that are dated from 1910 through 1919 and I think that stems from high consumer use and mintage figures that are small when compared to today’s mintage figures. I generally see less wear on the cents of the 1920s as each year of mintage, although still not in huge numbers adds to the previous year’s supply of cents. With more cents in circulation, there has to be less wear per coin as more coins are passing through the hands of the public. Although still quite worn, these are not as worn as some of the earlier Lincoln cents.

Have Fun looking through the Lincoln Wheat Ears Cents (Pennies) on my Found In Rolls page!

Posted in Collecting, Found in Rolls, Uncategorized | Comments Off

The 1943 Lincoln Penny (Cent) and Others!

Saturday, April 18th, 2009

There are some rare pennies (cents) that are struck on the wrong planchets. A planchet is the little disk of metal that is prepared to be struck into a coin. Sometimes a mix-up occurs that causes the wrong planchets to be struck into coins for a certain year. In 1943, for example, pennies (cents) were supposed to be struck on planchets made of STEEL, and PLATED with ZINC. Some leftover planchets from 1942 made of BRONZE accidentally got mixed in with the new, at the time ZINC-COATED STEEL planchets and were mistakenly struck into coins.

That being said, many questions arise about the 1943 dated cents. You should know what is normal and what is unusual on these coins and coins of other years that may be struck on the wrong planchets.

NORMAL 1943 Lincoln cents are made of STEEL plated with ZINC. NORMAL 1943 cents are grey in color unless they are rusted.

1943 Lincoln Cent - Steel Plated in Zinc - NORMAL COMPOSITION

1943 P, D or S cents struck on BRONZE do exist but are extremely rare. This picture shows you the date on a genuine 1943 S Lincoln Cent that was struck on a Bronze Planchet.

1943 S Lincoln Cent - Struck in Bronze

Many are counterfeited. People take normal STEEL cents and plate them with COPPER in order to make them look like a cent struck in BRONZE. People also take 1948 dated cents and alter the date by removing the left side of the numeral 8 and leaving behind what looks like a 3 as the last digit in the date.

A copper plated forgery of a 1943 Bronze cent

There are some 1944 Lincoln cents that were mistakenly struck on leftover ZINC -COATED STEEL planchets from 1943, so a NORMAL 1944 is BRONZE colored while there are some rare 1944 cents that are grey in color. Again, there are numerous counterfeits done by plating a normal 1944 cent.

In 1975, NORMAL cents were struck in BRONZE. The Mint did experiment, however with ALUMINUM and struck a few examples dated 1975 in Aluminum but no coins in that metal were to leave the Mint. Samples of these ALUMINUM cents were given to some members of Congress as examples to examine and an unknown, extremely small number that should have been returned to Mint officials escaped but rarely surface. So a white 1975 cent bears further examination but is still probably a plated forgery.

Part way into 1982, the composition of cents changed so some 1982 cents are made of the traditional material which is a copper alloy (BRONZE) and some are made of a mostly zinc core that is plated with a thin layer of copper.

From 1982 to the present, cents are made of the COPPER-PLATED ZINC material. On occasion, unplated planchets are struck and a light gray colored coin is the result. They need to be carefully examined as it is easy to remove the copper plating and coins of this date range that have been tampered with are often encountered. High school science experiments use these cents and there are experiments done that remove the copper and the altered coins can end up back in circulation.

On a cent dated 1964 or earlier, it is possible to actually have a “silver cent” (remember that “white (light gray) cents” are normally steel or zinc and not really silver) . On rare occasion, a planchet intended to be used to make a dime gets into the press and is struck by the dies intended to produce cents. A true “Silver Cent” is the result.

If that happened today, a cent would be grey in color as our dimes (for circulation) are made of two layers of nickel bonded to a copper core.

Posted in Collecting, Error Coin, Mystery Coin, Novelty Coin | Comments Off

A Question About an Un-Plated Lincoln Cent

Saturday, April 18th, 2009

I found a penny (cent) dated 1991 D that should have the copper plating on it. This one seems to have the plating missing. Did I find a valuable coin?

Part way through 1982, The United States Mint changed the composition of cents to a copper-plated zinc. The core of the coin is composed of 98.2% zinc and 0.8% copper. The core is plated with pure copper. While it is possible for a coin before it was struck (in this case the blank) to have missed the process that involves the copper plating, it does not happen too often. For the production of cents, the Mint purchases the blanks that are manufactured by outside sources. The Mint however, does supply the outside sources with the zinc and the copper used for the manufacture of the blanks. It is unusual for the blanks to arrive at the Mint without having been plated.

Many science experiments in middle schools and high schools involve the removal of copper from the copper-plated zinc composition cents. Some experiments involve the use of nitric acid on the surface of the coin. The nitric acid will remove the layer of copper from the zinc core. Because there is some copper in the zinc core, the core will also be effected with the result being a slightly rough surface appearing on the coin. The nitric acid does not effect the zinc.

Your coin also exhibits remnants of the copper on the surface and on the edges that indicate that the copper that was once on the coin had been removed.

Unplated Lincoln cent

I placed a picture of your coin next to a genuine coin that missed the plating process. You can see the rough surface on the 1991 D dated coin as opposed to the smooth undamaged surface of the 1987 D dated coin.

Since your coin has been damaged by acid, it does not have any numismatic value.

Posted in Collecting, Error Coin, Novelty Coin, Request for Information | Comments Off

Using Diagnostics to Identify Die Varieties : Part 2

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

Here is an example where small things make a big difference. This is an example of a 1972 Lincoln – FS#1c-033.3 (The Big One)

1972 Lincoln Cent, Doubled Die Obverse

When we attribute these, we use very specific diagnostics that have to match up, period…Of course the overall appearance of the coin has to be right.

1972 Doubled Die Obverse - Date

Then we check the date area. We look for the correct notching and grooves. They must be exact. We also look for the doubling on the right side of Lincoln’s jacket such as in the picture above. Next, we look at LIBERTY. Notice how there is less doubling as you move toward the letters TY.

1972 Lincoln Cent Doubled Die Obverse - LIBERTY

Keeping in mind that these coins have been heavily counterfeited, we must examine the obverse of the coin very carefully, then we turn the coin over. It is because counterfeiters either don’t know this or because they can’t duplicate it, that they miss this diagnostic marker on the reverse of the coin. It is extremely small but if it is not there, the coins authenticity is doubtful.

1972 Doubled Die Obverse - Diagnostic Mark

Note the microscopic, fingerlike projection above the D of UNITED, It is on every genuine , undamaged coin. There was a minute scratch in the die that resulted in this little anomaly.

On this coin, it is the combination of diagnostics that allow us to determine if the coin is genuine. If you have an example of one of these, look for the mark above the D and you will find it.

It is also important to note, and I’ve seen it many times before…1972 DDO FS#1c-033.52 has been offered by dealers as “The Big One” because it does have nice doubling but it is not the same as the DDO shown here.

Remember to look for the “finger” above the D which is raised from the surface of the coin to attribute FS#1c-033.3 (The Big One:-)

Posted in "Roll Searchers' Newsletter", Collecting, Die Varieties, Mystery Coin | Comments Off

Using Diagnostics to Identify Die Varieties : Part 3

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

Since Die Varieties can be traced back to individual dies or die pairs, we can use that knowledge to attribute certain die varieties. We can compare one coin to another in order to look for the details that we suspect are characteristics of a particular die variety. Those details are expected to be exactly the same on each coin and if the details are essentially identical then it is possible to establish that a coin was struck by the same die or die pair as another coin. That is what makes a die variety a die variety!

Let me first say that “The Cherrypickers’ Guide to RARE DIE VARIETIES” Fourth Edition – Volume 1, by Fivaz and Stanton as Edited by Mike Ellis, has a notation under this one that suggests a theory of a “well placed die chip”. It is my personal opinion as well as that of many specialists that these 1997 Doubled Ear cents are indeed doubled dies.

1997 Lincoln Cent - Doubled Die Obverse - Doubled Ear

Note that the extra earlobes to the south of the primary ear lobe, taking into account some slight variance in lighting, are identical on each of these three coins. When looking for the doubled ear 1997 DDO, the ears must look identical to these or it is simply not the right one.

Posted in "Roll Searchers' Newsletter", Coin Care, Collecting, Die Varieties, Error Coin, For Sale | Comments Off