What makes a PR69DCAM not a PR70 DCAM?

The difference between  a PR69DCAM coin and a PR70 DCAM coin is not very much.  Sometimes it is really just a matter of opinion and sometimes sending a 69 back for reconsideration will cause it to come back as a 70.

In other cases, the defect is obvious. Here is one of the PR69's I recently got back from PCGS.

Do you see the dark spot above the "D"? In this photo, it looks like it could be a piece of thread or dust, but it really is on the coin. So is the other spot above the "T".

Other 69's aren't so easy to see.  In these coins, the defect appears as a reflective spot, but you need to tip the coins to see the spots and they are very hard to photograph.

Just below "L", above "in" 

Below "L", above "i" of "in"

Same area, but fainter - shows as slightly brighter here

But then there is this one.

I've tipped this every which way under a light. I've looked at it with a 5x glass, a 10x and even 20x.

I can't see anything.

I enlisted the support of my eagle-eyed, highly attentive to detail wife. If I have the slightest spot on my clothes, she'll see it. She can walk into the living room and point right at the one tiny spot I missed when dusting.

I showed her the 3 PR70's and the 69's where I had been able to pick out a defect. She agreed with me about those and didn't need a magnifier.  Then I showed her this coin.

She looked at it, hesitated, and looked again. She asked for the magnifier. She tipped it and turned it and sighed.

"Wait! I see it above the stitches!", she exclaimed. I handed her the two PR70's.  She examined those and decided that no, what she saw must be intended to be on the coin.

She spent a few more minutes.  "There's a tiny, tiny vertical line above the "N" of "ONE DOLLAR", she announced.  I took the glass and the coin back, but could not see it.

"It's there", she said. "You have to tip it just right, but it's there."

I looked again. I could not see it. I tried the 10x loupe again - I saw nothing.

Finally, under 20X magnification and with some adjustments to the lighting, I was able to faintly make out this mark.

That must be it, because neither of us can find anything else!

Note:  All my coins are in a safe deposit box.  I keep nothing in my home. 

Contests and giveaways: http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html

Pocket change part II

We last saw this 1804 replica round on April 23rd (http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/04/pocket-change.html).  It still had mirror fields then and although it was nicked and scratched, it retained much of its original luster.

Today it's starting to look pretty ragged.  There are still reflective surfaces, but there is also much more insult and abuse.  It's not quite a month since I put it in my pocket.

I wonder how many years to wear away that "Dexter Hendrickson" on the ribbon?  That refers to two of the owners of a particular 1804 dollar: James Vila Dexter and Leon Hendrickson.  Strangely, though , this replica is missing a "D" that should be in the second cloud from the right (see Book Review: Mark Ferguson's "The Dollar of 1804").

July 2014 - Luster is starting to go..

Note:  All my coins are in a safe deposit box.  I keep nothing in my home. 

Contests and giveaways: http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html

A Fine Eye for Detail

I really don't know how I bought this coin without being more aware of the carbon mark on the obverse.

I certainly SAW it.  But somehow it just didn't register with my brain as undesirable.  I think perhaps I was entranced by the reverse, which has nice detail - better than some MS66's I've seen selling for $1,000.00, give or take.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I generally do not notice detail. The other day we were with my daughter and her husband and were walking by a river.  We were standing staring down at the river and everyone was making appreciative noises. I looked and saw flowing water, which is what I thought they were all admiring.  It turns out that this river is one where herring run at this time of year and the water was absolutely choked with them. I just didn't notice!

So, I'm a "big picture" guy.  That's probably from having very poor eyesight that was not corrected until I was well into my school years - I imagine my brain never learned to process details well because I couldn't see them. Whatever the reason, I know I can easily miss things.

Someday I'd like to buy a better Type I Buffalo.  I like the design and don't care that much about Type II.  I'll need to force myself to look carefully, though.

Note:  All my coins are in a safe deposit box.  I keep nothing in my home. 

Contests and giveaways: http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html

Pocket Change

I bought a .999 slver round last week and carelessly dropped it onto concrete as I opened the package. It was in a plastic flip, but that broke open on impact and the coin suffered a nasty edge nick.

Oh, well. I put it in my pocket and mentally wrote it off as pure melt.

The rounds new friends in my pocket

But when I got home, I thought that it might be fun to document its condition as it bounces around in my pocket over the next few months or years. How long will it take to reach XF40, how long for VG20?

I snapped a photo after it had been in my pocket just a few hours.

First day

I'll be photographing it from time to time and posting them here.

Here we are after two days.

This is after four days in pocket.  Liberty's cheek is taking a beating.

And this is after five days.  The reverse is starting to show a few insults,  though the obverse is plainly taking the worst of it. The mirror fields are still visible on both sides, but it looks like they'll be gone soon.

Note:  All my other coins are in a safe deposit box.  I keep nothing in my home. 

At night, I take it out and lay it on my dresser so it can accumulate some dust and better air exposure.  I think it's having a fairly normal coin life, missing only the indignity of being swallowed by a vending machine now and then.   It might be getting a bit more jostling than most as I walk briskly for an hour or more most days and can hear it and the other coins clinking as I go along - I imagine most coins get long periods of rest from time to time.

But we'll see how it goes.  More at Pocket Change Part II.

This week's Coinweek Giveaway: http://www.coinweek.com/~cd53550787d934d

Also multiple contests going on at http://www.moderncoinmart.com/forum/forums/contests/