26-S Lincoln Has Me Stumped - Coin Community Forum

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Author	Replies: 7 / Views: 1,310
SpringCypress Pillar of the Community United States 666 Posts	Posted 08/28/2008 08:55 am I found this cent in an album. The average grade of cents in this album was G-4. On first glance this cent looks like it's been polished... which would have gone right along with the rest of the coins in the album. So I never gave it much of a second thought. Today I was pulling cents from albums to roll up (trying to make some room). Anyway after pulling this one, I stopped to look at it closer, I'm not sure why... probably because it looked so different from the others in the album. Long story short... This one has me stumped. The Reverse is strong. With very little wear on it. The what lines are all there and well separated. The only letter on the reverse which stands out as being different is the M in America. Otherwise all the lettering is Bold as well. It's the Obverse that has me stumped. It looks polished, but there is definite separation between the cheek and the jaw. In God We Trust is very strong. The Date is strong except for the 6. The rims are super strong. The overall shinyness of this coin doesn't show up in the scans... But it is quite shiny... I've come up with my conclusion as to the grade, but I'd like to hear some others (BadThad, feel free to join in). Report this Post to the Staff

SpringCypress Pillar of the Community United States 666 Posts	Posted 08/28/2008 08:56 am I'm not real happy with the scans... I'll try to take a picture of it later. Report this Post to the Staff
mklpatrick Pillar of the Community United States 580 Posts	Posted 08/28/2008 4:45 pm What type of album was it in, and how long ago was it placed in this album? From the looks of it, I would say the obv looked similar to the rev when it first went into the album, but that looks to be a big ol' thumbprint across Abe's head to me. Would oils from the skin over time cause the surface to look like this? As for the wear issues on either side, I have no clue, unless it was an unusual strike to begin with. It's a strange one for sure. From north to south it looks like the center 80% of the obv is fine as far as wear but the left and right edges look like they've been worn almost smooth. Report this Post to the Staff
mklpatrick Pillar of the Community United States 580 Posts	Posted 08/28/2008 4:46 pm Wait SC...is this from one of those albums you picked up in Bellaire? By the way, I stopped by there yesterday and scored a pretty nice 1860 IHC from him. I didn't take any Barber halves, though, so no need to worry about that! Report this Post to the Staff
SpringCypress Pillar of the Community United States 666 Posts	Posted 08/28/2008 4:55 pm It was in an older whitman folder. Whoever owned it was a HEAVY smoker. That's the big reason I was pulling all the cents out of it. The thing reeked. I could smell it sitting at my computer across the room when it was in the bookshelf. The scans aren't going to work for grading. I'm going to have to take a picture. This thing looks like it's been polished on the obverse. The reverse is close to being what it looks like but not quite. I'll post pics at some point this weekend. Yes it was from the guy in Bellaire. Glad I got there last Friday. Spent a little less than $40 on what appears to be around $300 book. Report this Post to the Staff
BadThad Bedrock of the Community United States 19943 Posts	Posted 08/28/2008 7:09 pm Looks like it's an EF coin. The 26S's were often from worn dies and can have indistinct strikes. I'd say the obverse die was pretty worn. Look at the coat, just below the mint mark. You can see a rough spot from die wear moving toward the rim. This is a common place for die wear to show it's ugly head, it gets jagged there. It's hard to judge from pictures, but the obverse may have been polished and then the coin retoned. I've seen albums where someone got the brilliant idea to just polish the obverse, since many albums only display that side. Lincoln Cent Lover! VERDI-CARE™ INVENTOR https://verdi.care/ Report this Post to the Staff
SpringCypress Pillar of the Community United States 666 Posts	Posted 08/28/2008 8:26 pm That was my thought on the grade too... Either that or AU. I'm stuck here though... I could be convinced that what I initially thought was polishing is in fact luster on a very worn die. The color is correct for luster... I'll get better images soon. It's a real iffy cent. Report this Post to the Staff
BadThad Bedrock of the Community United States 19943 Posts	Posted 08/28/2008 8:36 pm I forgot to thank you for posting a Lincoln! I needed a fix! LOL Lincoln Cent Lover! VERDI-CARE™ INVENTOR https://verdi.care/ Report this Post to the Staff
	Replies: 7 / Views: 1,310

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