What Should You Do If You Find A Valuable Coin?

If you believe you have a transitional cooper coin strike in 1983, then you need to submit it to one of the 3rd party and get it authenticated.

But posting clear sharp pictures here would help you eliminate certain possibilities.

It's not that CCF won't help, it's that, without pictures, we literally can't help. Coins posted in the Grading subforum are posted there because people are asking for opinions about the grade of a coin - and no-one can offer any such opinions if there's no pictures to judge by. Without pictures, all you will get in the Grading subforum is dozens of people, all asking you for pictures. That's why the thread was locked.

Now, you're asking two separate questions here. There's the question in the thread title, which is a general question about what I would do in a hypothetical situation. Then there's the question in your OP post, which is a much more specific question about what you, specifically, should do with this one specific coin you have found which you believe might be a 1983 copper penny.

In answer to the first question, the obvious answer is "get some advice". Coming on an Internet forum is a good start; other options are taking the coin to an "expert" so they can look at it in person. That "expert" might be a coin dealer, or a member of a local coin club; a local coin show is usually a good opportunity to meet both of those kinds of experts. The TPGs are "experts for hire", and could certainly offer their opinion, but since they charge fees for their opinions, you'd really want to first run it past a couple of other experts who offer their opinions for free. If all the experts you show it to on the Internet and in person agree that you might actually have something rare and unusual, then (and only then) should you consider sending it to a TPG.

In answer to your second question, about your specific coin. Pictures would certainly help us to tell, for example, that it really is a 1983 coin and not just, say, a 1963 coin with a damaged date, or a Chinese counterfeit, or some other "obvious-from-a-photo" explanation. The 1983 copper penny is a rare coin, and the primary distinction between the super-rare 1983 copper penny and the perfectly normal 1983 zinc penny is the weight, so we'd also like to see some objective evidence of the weight - for example, pictures of the coin sitting on a balance reading "3.1 grams", as well as pictures of a pre-1982 and post-1983 cent sitting on the same balance (so we can be certain that the balance is accurate). If you can provide all these clear pictures, then it's highly likely that the experts here on the forum will all agree that your coin is likely to be a genuine rarity.

If clear pictures of your coin are impossible to obtain, then you really only have two choices: show nobody, and forever be uncertain as to whether your coin is worth 1 cent or $23,000, or you physically take it to other experts so they can see it in person. But, as I said above, I wouldn't recommend that you send it in to a TPG unless you had reasonable assurance from multiple experts, either here on the forum or elsewhere, that you wouldn't be wasting your money; submitting a coin that is potentially worth tens of thousands of dollars to a TPG is not cheap. And I'd really only recommend sending to a TPG if (a) you intend to sell the coin, or (b) the coin is in extremely high grade and you are worried about preserving it properly.

And in answer to the thread-title question, I can offer what I actually did, the only time I was ever placed in anywhere near a similar situation to the OP.

Back in August 1999, I purchased an old coin from WWI-era Poland, from a local dealer for $2. When I brought it home, it wasn't listed in my 1988 edition Krause world coin catalogue. A few years later, I bought a new catalogue, and it still wasn't listed; in 2006, another catalogue upgrade but it still wasn't listed. A coin that is "not in Krause" only once might be an error in the catalogue, but if it's missing three times, something odd is going on. By this time, I was involved on the coin forums, so I posted about it here on CCF and simultaneously over on the CU forum (which is run by PCGS), not really expecting much of a reply.

Turns out, it's a rather rare coin, on account of it never actually being officially issued for circulation due to a fire at the Stuttgart mint while they were being made. You needed a specialist Polish or German coin catalogue to find out this information. The forum members (especially over at CU/PCGS) said I really ought to get it slabbed.

So, what have I "done about it" since?

Nothing. I haven't had it slabbed, haven't sold it, haven't really done anything else with it except show it around at coin club meetings, telling the story. It's still sitting in the 2x2 I bought it in, with the $2 pricetag still attached to it. I, personally, don't think I "need" to do anything else with it, since I don't plan on selling it. It's made of iron, so it'll rust easily if left exposed to moist air, but sitting in a 2x2 in a coin album in an airconditioned room it should be safe enough.

And no, I never got to share the good news with the dealer who sold it to me. He'd retired, shut up shop and moved town by 2006.

All great advice but myself, I'd just put it in my Albums.

Yep, that says it pretty well.

In the case of a 1983 copper cent,I would use PCGS.
John1

If you are a collector:
1. Do a little dance
2. Put it in a 2x2
3. Put it in your album

If you are a profiteer and looking to make a fortune off this coin:
I wouldn't know what to do because I am a collector.