Is This A 1909-S ?

its a 1919-S

Pretty sure it's a 1919-S.

Just concentrating my vision on the LIGHT colors of the date I see vertical light colored "one" in the 3rd digit area.

Sit back away from your computer screen 2 feet or more and I think you will see it.

Have you checked the truncation of Lincoln's bust to see if there's a VDB on the obverse? If there is, that eliminates 1909.

Firecom - I came to the same conclusion you did the other day. The very last photo I took with the zoom on the date looked like a clear "1" from about 6 feet away from my computer. I looked for the V.D.B. under the bust the other day and it's too worn to see. What I ultimately did with this coin was stick it in the 1909-S hole in order to make my daughter happy, but I told her that it's most likely not really a 1909-S and I'm leaning towards thinking it's 1919-S. Maybe some day I'll come up with a real 1909-S :)

It doesn't look like a 0 to me, more like a 2.
It may be a good conversation piece, but it probably is not worth much.

On second thought, if it's this subjective, I might just put it in the book anyway for the sake of my kids and let them think it's an '09. They are really excited about this new hobby and if they think they found something rare it might keep them interested. Then maybe for their birthdays in March I can buy them one in poor condition, but with a legible date, so at least it would make the coin in the book legit.

I think that's a wonderful idea, it would make the coin priceless!

I know everyone says not to do this, but if you want to increase your chances of determining this date, I'd clean it with weak acid or even an eraser from the back of a pencil. The coin is already poor (lowest grade), so if cleaning it tells you the date, at least you know- you are not going to lower the grade any further, it is already a PR-1. Of course, you could clean it and it still will be unknown for sure. I've done the eraser method (very light erasing) on a few bad cents and was able to date them after not knowing before cleaning them.

I tried freezing it in water and thawing it a few times. That did nothing. I think I'm done trying to figure it out. It really looks like a 1919 to me, but I finally just put it in the '09 slot for the kids and some day maybe we'll have a real one.