New To Coin Collecting And Have A Question On The 2017 Lincoln Penny?

to the CCF! Please include a full pic of the obverse and reverse to better help us see what your seeing. Why? There are some issues with the 2017 P "stamped" Lincoln Shield cent.

Windjewel! Glad you decided to join the coin community. As a newer member myself, to both the forum and collecting coins in general, I want to give you a few tips and general info that will hopefully help you out and give you a little headstart on the research and information you will undoubtedly be doing in the near future. These are things I learned myself through trial and error, research, and a lot of great input from members of this community. The very first thing, which I didn't fully understand for a while was the difference between machine/mechanical doubling referred to as (MD) and actual doubled die (DD). I thought I knew until a member on here explained it to me in more simple terms, unlike when you see the technical definitions explained in terms you aren't familiar with when your just starting out. One of the easiest ways to tell is if the numbers or letters (devices) have a shelf-like or stepped appearance. This means that the doubling is uneven. if you were to view the devices from the side they would look like stairs more or less going up or down. There are some exceptions, but genuine DD devices are generally the same height, width, etc. It looks like the coin was stamped and then the die was turned or moved in a certain direction ever so slightly and stamped again. That's where people new to the hobby get messed up. They focus on the doubled part and assume if something looks like it was struck twice or there are two of them it must be a DD. I know I did. Then it was explained to me. The coin is actually only struck once. It's the image on the die itself that has the doubling. In the process of making the die that has the negative image of the coin on it, the image itself was doubled in certain areas when it was being made. So when that die is put into the press and starts cranking out coins, it's only htting them once but it's leaving the doubled image. That's why they are usually the same height and affect the exact same side of the devices. If you see doubling that might affect the left side of one letter and the next letter over it affects the other side then more than likely it's MD. The same goes if it affects both sides. Another thing to realize is that because it is the die that is doubled, then it is almost certain that there will be multiple coins showing the same exact doubling. That's why Jim said you should always show both sides of the coin. All the dies are unique and each have their own little marks and dings in them. That can help with identifying because all the coins stamped with that die will more than likely have the same markings in the same places, kind of like a finger print. Another big help is obviously good clear pics and a description in your own words of what you are seeing and where. An example being "there is doubling on the left side of the b in liberty and small crack running from the edge of the coin around the 9 o'clock position towards the center". Also if something is raised or not can make a big difference. Every little bit of info helps. The easier it is for other people to understand what your trying to convey, the better help they can give you. I know this ended up being pretty long (I am sick in bed with a cold and have nothing else to do) but once I learned these few things and understood them better it became a lot more enjoyable and there wasn't so much disappointment in finding out everything you think is special is mostly crap. Plus it should help with seeing things you maybe would have overlooked before. One last piece of advice is to check out doubleddies.com. it is a super resourceful place to learn all there is to know about DD'S and they have the most thorough list I could find of all known DDS for pretty much every denomination of U.S. coins. Plus you have the forum. Just remember to include the details and description. I hope you don't take this the wrong way, I just want to help out my fellow rookies. Good luck and happy hunting.

You could have made several post out of that one but I don't know where you would cut it. You are giving good advice. I think it might actually carry more weight coming from a fellow new comer.

windjewel:
Until you learn more feel free to post anything you want more info on. Many of us get the most enjoyment from this site when we are helping new comers.
Looking forward to your "Oh! Now I see" moment.

Sorry I forgot something.
to CCF and collecting.

yeah. I was trying to just touch on the best of but it got a little carried away. When I first started a lot of people would tell me things and why or how they happened, but it would be in a seasoned collectors vernacular. I did a lot of reasearch in the beginning but again it's hard to know what some of the stuff is they were talking about when you don't even know the lingo. These were things that once I had the combined general knowledge about things got a lot easier and way more fun.

to the Community!