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 Replies: 18 / Views: 861 |
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New Member
United States
35 Posts |
I am a fairly new collector and this is my pride and joy so far. I took a set of pics with flash and a set without. The flash shows the luster better. It has a very nice cartwheel luster that the pics don't do justice. Would this be worth sending to get graded? Lastly, I thought I read about a type of coin error where a rim dent on one end causes a light strike directly opposite. Though I don't remember what that is called. Is that present here on the obverse (if I am remembering correctly)? Or is that just a regular ding? Thank you!     |
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Moderator
 United States
187446 Posts |
 to the Community! |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11880 Posts |
Welcome to CCF grading. As a new collector, this coin should provide a valuable lesson that many, more experienced collectors have learned. I do not recommend you send this in for grading. My grade for this coins is AU details cleaned with rim damage. The surfaces do not exhibit luster in my opinion. It shows cleaned surfaces that are unnaturally shiny for a coin with original surfaces. In addition, the rim is damaged below the date. The 1957 cents were made of copper-nickel alloy that is substantially thicker and harder than bronze copper coins. The rim shows a flat ding that would require some substantial force to inflict.
I hope this doesn't discourage you. Most long-time collectors have gone through these experiences and gone on to study our hobby to be able to select attractive, unaltered coins. It takes time and experience to acquire the skillset to recognize problem coins. Fortunately, it is easier than ever to look at hundreds or thousands of coins online from the comfort of your home to learn this skillset. This grading community has helped me tremendously in this regard over the decade that I have been here. Hope to see you here going forward.
IN NECESSARIIS UNITAS - IN DUBIIS LIBERTAS - IN OMNIBUS CARITAS THE MAN IN THE ARENA, Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne Paris on April 23, 1910: " It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." My coin website: https://fairfaxcoins.com |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7613 Posts |
Welcome to the Community!
Your coin almost has that "whizzed" look. Whizzed coins were a "thing" that infected the coin hobby back in the 70's and 80's and then kinda died off. Unfortunately, they still appear on the market now and then.
Whizzers would take a lightly circulated coin and use a buffing brush/wheel/tool and lightly "buff" the coin to give it the look of an "Unc" coin. It fooled a lot of collectors back in those days.
I'm sorry you got taken advantage of, but use the knowledge you learn to prevent it from happening to you again. We've all been down this road! Don't be discouraged.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19108 Posts |
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New Member
 United States
35 Posts |
I appreciate the feedback. Learning is what I am here for! After looking up some stuff on whizzing, I think it probably is.
It does have luster, though it isn't really visible in the pics, but it looks wrong. It is kind of like a pinwheel shape that that expands and contracts as you tilt the coin around in the light.
I understand the cleaned coin sentiment, and I thought I was getting decent at picking them out. Usually, they are abnormally shiny. I guess where I get caught is AU and greater grades. Because if you look at PCGS value view (which I have been using to try to estimate grades), unc coins and many AU coins are shiny. So I guess I haven't learned to discern unc shiny vs cleaned shiny on high grade coins. Any advice is welcome.
Well, that is a bummer, but live and learn. Maybe I'll get some of my money back. Or I'll just keep it for 40 more years haha. Good thing I am focusing more on silver rather than high grade coins the past 6 months!
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10472 Posts |
Quote:
. My grade for this coins is AU details cleaned with rim damage. The surfaces do not exhibit luster in my opinion I agree. The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the pictures was that something seems off. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
7933 Posts |
You've got an attractive, historic coin. I would be proud to have that coin in my collection. You've also got some great advice on not wasting your money on grading in this case, and how some bad actors in the hobby have behaved in the past to take advantage of novice collectors. I think the error you may have read about is die cracks or Cuds. If the striking pressure pushes metal through a die crack to create a Cud, then the force exerted 180 degrees away is a bit less and results in a weakened impression. As others have said, this looks like a whack to the rim (post-mint damage). Keep learning here! Edited by tdziemia
02/02/2026 8:23 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
73579 Posts |
To CCF! I agree with above. Errers and Varietys.
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New Member
United States
35 Posts |
Thanks everyone. And thanks tdziemia for helping me feel a little better about the coin :) I am not sure if I'll keep it. But whatever happens, it is a valuable lesson.
Regarding a details grade like this, would it lower the coin's value by one or two grades? And is it as straightforward as AU down to XF or VF? Or is it so many points on the Sheldon Scale or? Thanks again.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10472 Posts |
Quote:
Regarding a details grade like this, would it lower the coin's value by one or two grades? A "Details" coin will always stay the same grade but what happens is the price and desirability of the coin may go down. So it may sell lower than price list value and it may have fewer people bidding on it in the details condition. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1747 Posts |
I think numismatic student nailed this one. Welcome!
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
18627 Posts |
i think everyone here is in agreement about your coin. discerning when a coin has been cleaned is one the most difficult assessments in collecting imo. there are so many ways a coin could have been cleaned. the only way to learn this is by looking at slabbed coins that have the designation and stay plugged in here where you will get hundreds of combined years experience. purchasing raw coins today can be an expensive learning experience if you get it wrong. if you continue to pursue the hobby I suggest if you are thinking of buying a raw coin of any real value, post it here first. happy collecting |
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New Member
United States
35 Posts |
Appreciate it guys. Anyone want to take a stab at its worth? I'll just be honest about my costly mistake and tell you I bought it for $250 thinking it was in the AU range. The ebay seller did not list it as cleaned or whizzed. This was a seller with at least 5000 coins listed and 35k total sales. So you know this guy was not a novice and very likely knew of the condition. So I figured I could probably return it. He only had 3 negative feedbacks out of many, many feedbacks. I brought it up to him hoping to work it out before forcing a return and he actually started threatening me. Like threatening to physically come to my house and "get even" if I did anything that would hurt his business. I did a background check on him and he has 4 felonies - grand theft, fraud, etc. So that left me in a conundrum. $250 is not enough to want to put my family in danger, though I highly doubt the guy would really do anything. You never know these days though. So I let it go, for now. We are moving soon, and I will probably take action after that. Crazy story though. This was a learning experience in more than one way. Edited by VasoB
02/06/2026 1:53 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2001 Posts |
My personal feelings about "details" coins is that the value is generally half of what the straight grade would be..In other words, say a straight grade AU would be $200, then an AU details would be about $100. If you have the opportunity to return it you should. Be smart and be able to show proof that the coin was returned and received by the seller. He sounds like a scam artist and threatening is not acceptable. You may also want to share the seller's ID so the rest of us can avoid such a fool.
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New Member
United States
35 Posts |
heirloom_heritage was the seller. Here are a couple better shots since I found a better setting on my phone for coin pics.   |
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Replies: 18 / Views: 861 |
Posted 02/02/2026 4:48 pm
