1909 S Penny Grade- Red Brown Or Red? MS Or Au?

Coming up on a mile stone,contest time?
John1

Sorry I got nothing to offer you guys my collection is too small. If I had a job and was older maybe but when you're 14 and have no collection then it's pretty hard to offer something. Thank you guys so much you have really helped me with coin collecting and I have a lot more knowledge now

100 post
Congrats
John1

Definitely need better pics.

The "old school" difference between AU and Unc is a function of whether or not a coin actually saw circulation.

That's not really the case anymore, practically speaking, as there are coins that never saw circulation that may look pretty beat up, and high end AU's that may have been handled and pulled out of circulation while still looking brand new.

That being said, we need some better photos. It looks shiny, red, and it looks high end as far as a lack of wear, but the pictures are just too far off, too blurry, and you cannot make any kind of an informed judgment about things like AU/Unc or cleaned/original without being able to get a good look at the surfaces.

As someone who's been buying coins for 30+ years (online for 20+) I tend to always assume that a coin has been cleaned, no matter what the seller says, or no matter what their feedback is, unless the photos are truly amazing and it is one of a (very few) sellers that I would absolutely trust 100% even sight-unseen. So bid accordingly. Sometimes you get lucky when you're digging through listings and find a diamond, but don't be too disappointed when you get a dud.

If you follow Panzaldi's excellent advice you will have much better photos.

Also, it's been said, but I'll say it again. Handling coins with your bare hands (at least for coins of this nature) is ill-advised. Your hands contain lots of oils, invisible to your eyes, that leave unseen marks when you handle coins. You may not even notice anything for years, but one day your beautiful red copper might develop an ugly fingerprint or palmprint from careless handling. I don't have a problem with carefully handling my 150+ year old heavily worn large cents, ancient Roman coins, silver stacks of junk Morgans, etc. but they are not in most cases coins thar are likely to suffer any further injuries on my behalf that haven't already been done to them since they were new.

Don't ever think you have to have an amazing, museum-worthy collection to be a part of CCF. I think the first coin I ever posted here way back in 2015 was either a 1988-D Jefferson nickel or an 1854 Liberty Seated quarter, but suffice it to say that my collection at the time was 25+ years of odds and ends pulled from change, from Dad's blue Whitman folders, and local coin shop purchases from the "10x face" (junk silver) box and the bargain bins. (The most expensive coin I had purchased at the time was probably less than $30 for a 1856-O Liberty Seated half dollar, which I still have, or an 1848 Large Cent, which I also still have. That was real money to a 12-13 year old boy who was making $5 allowance a week and needed money to spend at the drive-in on coneys and shakes, or on the ice-cream truck.)

My apologies, then. I thought you already owned the coin.

In that case it's a bit more concerning. Professional coin dealers (and educated numismatists) should know better. The poor-quality photos are another sign that the seller may be up to no good. For a "better" coin such as this one, if you want to earn the most money on your sale, you are going to want the best photos, unless you have something you don't want buyers to see.

If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. I'd hold off on purchasing it for the above reasons alone.

From those pictures I would say AU details, artificial color. Likely dipped.