Beginner Questions On The Lincoln Cent Errors

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Author	Replies: 7 / Views: 1,820
BuffaloBonehead Valued Member United States 333 Posts	Posted 12/19/2011 12:55 am Hello, I have a decent sized stash of wheats to go through (around $50 face plus early memorial cents) and up until now I've just been looking at dates and mintmarks. I realized recently that I've been missing a lot of the value in these things as I'd like to eventually sell/trade some of these and I don't want to let any value out the door. I'd also like to be able to hold onto some unique errors for future price appreciation and for my own collection as well. My questions are: Where is the best place to find a listing of the errors that I should look for? and Many of the errors that I have seen posted here are of DDO and RPM which look very small and require great magnification and an eagle eye. Is my loupe of 30X enough to identify these markings or should I be investing in another tool to aid me? Thanks, Bonehead Report this Post to the Staff

coppercoins Pillar of the Community United States 7629 Posts	Posted 12/19/2011 05:13 am First thing first. Doubled dies and repunched mintmarks are NOT errors - they are die varieties. What you should look for is anything out of normal. That will take some experience - figuring out what's normal. Best place to look them up - http://www.coppercoins.com Report this Post to the Staff
Maineman750 Pillar of the Community United States 3592 Posts	Posted 12/19/2011 06:06 am You should be able to see just fine with a 10x or 15x loupe. Report this Post to the Staff
John1 Moderator United States 56855 Posts	Posted 12/19/2011 06:43 am I think a 30x is too much. I use a 14x and like it a lot. Here are some sites I use. http://coppercoins.com/update.php http://traildies.com/ http://lincolncentresource.com/ http://coinsandcanada.com/ http://doubleddie.com/ http://koinpro.tripod.com/ http://varietyvista.com/ http://errorvariety.com/ http://www.coinsite.com/html/userrorprices.asp Put these in your favorites and you will be good to go. John1 Report this Post to the Staff
chickenboy Valued Member United States 87 Posts	Posted 12/19/2011 10:03 am Like the others said you need to research and find out what YOU want to look for. There are a few dozen major varieties that everyone hunts and then there are countless minor varieties that you'll have to decide if you are going after. Flip around all of the sites that John listed do a search in this forum, people have posted their list that they look for. If you think you have something different then coppercoins is the best place to look them up. What coppercoins said above is the best advice though, to find varieties or even errors you have to have a basic understanding of what normal is. That takes a lot of time and practice but most people are here to help so post coins when you think you have something. Die Deterioration and Machine Doubling (MD) are very common struggles for people so search for those topics in the forum and read up. Report this Post to the Staff
BuffaloBonehead Valued Member United States 333 Posts	Posted 12/19/2011 10:50 am Thanks guys. I'm glad to hear that 30X is overkill. I was worried that I was going to need something just short of an electron microscope to see these variations. Report this Post to the Staff
coop Bedrock of the Community United States 62064 Posts	Posted 12/19/2011 11:57 am I use a microscope to search coins with. It helps for searching/imaging/identifying coins. But you will find that at first nothing. But after looking several times your eye will be trained on what to look for. RPMs: https://www.coincommunity.com/forum...-1MM-002.jpg https://www.coincommunity.com/forum...001l_big.jpg https://www.coincommunity.com/forum..._1MM_001.jpg https://www.coincommunity.com/forum...s1mm001e.jpg https://www.coincommunity.com/forum...2_RPMpnt.jpg https://www.coincommunity.com/forum...s1mm003e.jpg Doubled dies: https://www.coincommunity.com/forum...itage_01.jpg https://www.coincommunity.com/forum...R1938S_1.jpg https://www.coincommunity.com/forum..._1DO_003.jpg https://www.coincommunity.com/forum...-coop-01.jpg https://www.coincommunity.com/forum...itage_02.jpg https://www.coincommunity.com/forum...-1DR-002.jpg note the dot on EPU on this next image https://www.coincommunity.com/forum...OOP_001a.jpg https://www.coincommunity.com/forum...__DDR-01.jpg https://www.coincommunity.com/forum...__DDR-01.jpg https://www.coincommunity.com/forum...M_DDR-01.jpg These are just a few die varities that get our hearts pumping when they are under our glass. Sometimes it is good to compare examples that catch your eye to other examples for the same year/mint mark. Sometimes we think we found something when it is just normal for the design for that year. So here a few examples of a side by side comparison. This helps to identify the doubled dies from normal coins. https://www.coincommunity.com/forum...ERSE_EPU.jpg https://www.coincommunity.com/forum...SE_E-PLU.jpg https://www.coincommunity.com/forum...RSE_UNUM.jpg https://www.coincommunity.com/forum...T_GRAINS.jpg https://www.coincommunity.com/forum...SE_LINES.jpg These are what I mainly collect. But knowing what is out there to look for. Occasionally a new variety maybe found. Take your time with them. It takes time for the eye to identify what is normal with what is actually die doubling. There are some coins that are called errors, but are just machine malfunction coins made from normal dies. Sometimes die wear/chips/cracks/breaks are called errors. But it is actually die wear from continued use. So set aside what isn't normal and then you can ask questions. Most of the threads on this site are about coins found and they also may help. The search feature will help you find threads that deal with a comparison of your coin. Feel free and ask questions. Some here maybe able to help. Report this Post to the Staff
jdavis18 Pillar of the Community United States 554 Posts	Posted 12/19/2011 7:59 pm Great pictures and a nice collection Coop. I have been collecting for a few months now and I think I finally have a decent hold of things. Report this Post to the Staff
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