error coins Finding Possible Errors

[swhitehurst69]

Good Morning all.  Im wondering who, how, etc to ask if anyone can validate potential new errors found in pre-1985 coins.  For instance when I was looking thru piles of old coins (takes forever as you all must know) I cam across a 1982 Jefferson .05 with a completely filled in mint mark and possible doubling in LIBERTY. I looked through a handheld 100X and its there.  Now its possible "no big deal" error or not?  Additionally have a 1980 with a no tall on the 9 - Ill have to check it more carefully be im 100 sure the tail is missing.  and since the coin has fully clear date otherwise and not much wear?? is it something or nothing.  Im a date/mintage collector and such but starting to like errors - where can I start with these. i cant find anyone or anywhere else to validate or confirm - even if someone tells me to ignore.  Help - any direction would be great.

[K.D. Lewis]

i have an old cherrypickers guide, vol 4, 2001 that has an excellent section on Jeffersons and buffs varieties but only goes to 1968. i believe that a newer version has been printed. great diagnostics. 100X? some prefer a 10x or 5x. if it takes a 100 times magnification to see, then it might be questionable.

[swhitehurst69]

Excellent point and I'm sure the resolution is not that great it's a handheld eyepiece but it can bring signatures pretty clear. Basically mint marks take 1/3 of the viewing area , but anyway it's a start. I have a few odd-off types that I just can't get good info on. I'm realistic enough to know nothing is a "omg that's it" type of find but a completely missing tail on a 9 in 1980 (looks like 1080 with a tiny 0) when all other features are strong. Anyway thank you. Maybe I'll find a good way to post pictures next

[asdfgh]

I believe what you are seeing on the no tail 9 is a filled die. Happens  a lot. Not worth anything extra. Same with the filled mint mark. There are plenty of things to find on coins that add no value. Die cracks on modern coins. Filled dies and fill between letters like the IE in liberty being solid. Most errors that are collected are true die errors. That is the die was not made properly causing a doubling to exist on the die. Those errors cause the error to exist on all the coins made by that die. Like listed above, look at the Cherry Picker guides. There is much much more to this topic.