Interesting Finds

[Travis Hale]

The 1926-s is especially unique mint error.

[Travis Hale]

[Travis Hale]

[Travis Hale]

[Travis Hale]

[Travis Hale]

[Just Bob]

Actually, the '26-S is damaged. Someone placed another Lincoln cent on it and whacked it with a hammer. It could also have been done in a vise or press. That is why the letters are backwards and incuse.

The '31 does look like a lamination error, though.

[Mohawk]

I agree with Bob that the 1926-S is a damaged coin and not a mint error of any kind.  The 1919-S looks damaged to me as well and the Morgan is definitely cleaned and it also appears to have environmental damage of some sort, possibly related to whatever chemical agent was used to clean it.  The Barber Dime appears to be problem free, though, and the 1925 cent possibly is too, but I can't really tell from the picture.  It may have been cleaned, I'm not sure.  And, I also agree with Bob about the 1931.  It does appear to have a lamination error. 

[bsshog40]

I agree with the 26-s as damage and same reason for it. I also agree that the 31 might be a lamination error, hard to tell by pics. I not sure what you're seeing in the rest as most look like damage and/or environmental damage. The Morgan puzzles me with the color. If its a gold color then it looks like it once was a plated morgan that the plating is wearing off. 

[Conder101]

The 1925 is a "woodie" caused by non-homogeneous alloy that is then stretched out in the rolling process.  1931 is a lamination.  The others are all damaged.

[Mohawk]

12 hours ago, Conder101 said:

The 1925 is a "woodie" caused by non-homogeneous alloy that is then stretched out in the rolling process.  1931 is a lamination.  The others are all damaged.

Ah.....I was wondering that about the 1925, but it was hard for me to be certain from the photos.  Hearing you say that Conder makes me feel good about my instincts there!

[Travis Hale]

The 1926-s is a different alloy from copper. Even the weight is different. The Morgan is gold, but couldn’t be deterioration since only one side has the black. Very interesting learning about the “woodie” though. Thanks

[Edthelorax]

The unfocused pictures make the Barber dime and Morgan Dollar look like counterfeits.  The low resolution make it look like there are raised bumps at 5:30 7 o'clock and between the E and D of United on the obverse of the dime.  The reflections off the letters on the reverse make them look uneven and sloppy. I can't tell what the die crack looking thing is in the ONE.

The off color of the picture makes the toning on the Morgan look like Chinese antiquing that is trying to cover whizzing done to remove surface pimples like it make it look like there is next to the star at 7 o'clock. 

I look at thousands of pictures of Lincolns in all grades, sometimes the picture makes it so that Lincoln doesn't look like some guy I know, but a cousin of his.  That is how I feel about the 1925. I don't know how else to describe it.

My intention is not to put down your photography, but convey why good photos taken with a decent camera in high resolution are so important. You need to show the real details so others don't let their mind fill in blanks and make up things about the coin, like my mind did.

[Travis Hale]

I used my iPhone 7 Plus, but the restrictions for uploading didn’t do my pics justice. Sorry. 

[Mohawk]

14 hours ago, Travis Hale said:

The 1926-s is a different alloy from copper. Even the weight is different. The Morgan is gold, but couldn’t be deterioration since only one side has the black. Very interesting learning about the “woodie” though. Thanks

Corrosion and damage can change the weight of coins, which I am certain is what happened to the 1926-S cent.  Is that all that makes you think it's a different alloy?  From what I am seeing, there is nothing to indicate that the 1926-S is anything other than the standard bronze composition.  If that Morgan is gold in color, then it's definitely plated and corrosion can happen on only one side of a coin, just like it has on your Morgan Dollar.

[Travis Hale]

I cleaned the Morgan the proper way & this is how it turned out. I’m assuming gold plated? Where these done by dealers at the time? Because it really preserves the coin coating it in gold, but I’m just wondering if it was done privately or by the mint.

[Just Bob]

If the Morgan was plated, it was done after it left the mint.

Question: when you say that you cleaned the coin " the proper way," what do you mean? How did you clean it?

[Travis Hale]

Tried to give a better picture of the front.

[Mohawk]

That's definitely post mint, likely in the modern era.  There are numerous companies that gold plate coins and sell them to people who don't know a lot about coins for huge premiums when what they are selling is just a damaged coin.  Your coin is now worth silver value, at best, because to any serious collector it is essentially destroyed.

[Travis Hale]

I leaned the only way without touching. Practices done by the NGC & elsewhere. I promise though, I never clean coins as a matter of practice. I felt with this coin it was the only way & last resort type thing to do. I got it free from a garage sale anyway. I always love the odd coins. Found a Saint Gaudens at a garage sale not too long ago for $1. Had it graded & sold for $1800. Never hurts to look.

[Travis Hale]

There is a possibility still to remove the gold coating & only grade the preserved silver coin....

[Mohawk]

And, you say something else that is a bit concerning....mentioning the proper way of cleaning coins.....there really isn't one.  There is professional conservation, but the key word there is professional.  While some very experienced collectors may be able to conserve coins on their own, most cleaning undertaken outside of professional conservation settings will only irreparably damage coins.  By implying that there is a "proper way" to clean coins, new collectors could become misinformed and unknowingly damage or destroy their coins, hence why I feel this needs to be addressed.

 

[Mohawk]

3 minutes ago, Travis Hale said:

There is a possibility still to remove the gold coating & only grade the preserved silver coin....

No, there isn't.  The coin is now damaged permanently.  Any process to remove the plating would likely just damage the coin even further. 

[Travis Hale]

I appreciate your input Mohawk & will definitely heed your advice. 

[Mohawk]

5 minutes ago, Travis Hale said:

I appreciate your input Mohawk & will definitely heed your advice. 

And I thank you for seeing my posts for what they are......a desire to help you and other new collectors by sharing what I've learned in almost 20 years of collecting coins continuously and almost 11 years of selling coins to fund my collecting.  Every one of us was new at some point, and we likely made mistakes like cleaning coins or buying cleaned or damaged coins.  I know I made some mistakes starting out, but I learned by having experienced people point out what I was doing wrong and how I could prevent making the same mistakes going forward.  Just some further advice....just because a coin has a strange appearance, it doesn't mean it's a mint error or a variety.  A lot of the time, the coin is cleaned or damaged or there's some other mundane explanation for what you are seeing.  Of all of the coins you posted, only one was a true error, and it was a minor one at that.  Most of the rest of them were damaged.  If I were you, I would use these coins as learning tools.  Look at them closely and try to see what the experienced people who responded to you were seeing.  Get out of the mindset that these are some kind of mint errors or other treasures.  See them for what they are: damaged coins.  Try to determine how they got damaged so that you can recognize similar damage when you are out looking at coins in the future.  I'd also look at NGC's Variety Plus and other resources so you can see some photos of actual varieties and errors on coins.  Then compare them to your damaged coins.  If you do this, you can begin to develop an eye for coins and the skills to properly evaluate them.  Then you can stop getting bad news from us on here when you post things. 

[Conder101]

7 hours ago, Travis Hale said:

There is a possibility still to remove the gold coating & only grade the preserved silver coin...

There are three ways to remove a gold plating. Scrape it off, which will obviously damage the coin underneath, dissolve it off with aqua regia, which will also damage the coin underneath, or reverse electrolysis which may still do some damge to the coin underneath but probably less than the other two methods.  Damage can be minimized by using a gold bearing solution for the electrolyte in the electrolysis.

[Numismatic, A.A.S.]

On 2/23/2019 at 3:09 AM, Conder101 said:

The 1925 is a "woodie" caused by non-homogeneous alloy that is then stretched out in the rolling process.  1931 is a lamination.  The others are all damaged.

Once again, I was taught this year's ago, non-homogeneous alloy...I have a few set aside with this....another helpful comment in our posts.  Thanks

[Mohawk]

On 2/25/2019 at 1:08 AM, Conder101 said:

There are three ways to remove a gold plating. Scrape it off, which will obviously damage the coin underneath, dissolve it off with aqua regia, which will also damage the coin underneath, or reverse electrolysis which may still do some damge to the coin underneath but probably less than the other two methods.  Damage can be minimized by using a gold bearing solution for the electrolyte in the electrolysis.

I have to ask though, Conder, would reverse electrolysis be worth performing on a 1921 Morgan, costwise?  I'm genuinely curious.

[Conder101]

The cost of doing the reverse electrolysis would be minimal (unless you chose to use a gold bearing electrolyte) maybe a couple dollars at most.  But what do you have when you are done?  A few cents worth of gold on your cathode that you still can't recover economically, and a damaged 1921 Morgan that is still just worth melt.  The same as it was before you removed the plating.  Sometimes it is worth doing.  I suggested it to a guy who had a gold plated MS 1845 dollar.  He was able to remove the plating and still get the coin slabbed.  I don't recall it if slabbed details or not.  Even if it detailed  a MS details seated dollar is still a lot better than a gold plated one.

[Mohawk]

On 3/2/2019 at 4:13 AM, Conder101 said:

The cost of doing the reverse electrolysis would be minimal (unless you chose to use a gold bearing electrolyte) maybe a couple dollars at most.  But what do you have when you are done?  A few cents worth of gold on your cathode that you still can't recover economically, and a damaged 1921 Morgan that is still just worth melt.  The same as it was before you removed the plating.  Sometimes it is worth doing.  I suggested it to a guy who had a gold plated MS 1845 dollar.  He was able to remove the plating and still get the coin slabbed.  I don't recall it if slabbed details or not.  Even if it detailed  a MS details seated dollar is still a lot better than a gold plated one.

Thanks for the answer Conder.  That would absolutely be worth undertaking with a Seated Liberty dollar, as a UNC details Seated Liberty dollar is definitely worth grading as it still has some significant value.  However, my suspicions on the OP's 1921 Morgan have been confirmed......a 1921 Morgan is definitely not an 1845 Seated Liberty dollar in terms of value.  If I ever find a plated 1947 Maple Leaf Canadian Silver Dollar or a 1948 Canadian Silver Dollar, I'll remember your reply here!