Newbie with questions about 1987-D Lincoln Penny. 0

[Carlos B.]

Hello. I'm a long time collector who made their first submission to NGC a week ago. I would appreciate feedback to ascertain whether I'm on the right track when identifying errors and varieties. For instance:

1987-D Lincoln Penny

Weight: 2.49g

Diameter: 18.6mm

I believe I see doubling in the close-ups I provided. 

Thanks in advance for any and all replies.

[Greenstang]

That is known as DDD (Die Deterioration Doubling) and adds no value to the coin.

[JKK]

Other than a little blurriness, though, credit for good photo cropping. You cannot imagine the craptacularity of photos we are presented with daily, huge pictures of tabletop or cloth of which the coin is maybe 2% of the area, asking us to agree with phantom error assessments no one can actually see. Your photos made it possible to give you a quick and confident answer, as 'Stang did.

[Coinbuf]

I'm sorry to say that you do not have doubled die coin, as @Greenstang noted you have a coin that exhibits extreme die deterioration doubling.  If you submitted this and payed for variety attribution I fully expect that you will receive your coin back with a grade but no attribution, which will no doubt be very disappointing.  In the future I suggest that you might want to do some more research before you spend money on non errors and/or things that NGC does not attribute.  One such reference is Variety Vista, VV link by checking here you can confirm that you have a true known variety.  Please note that to qualify your coin must match the reference photos shown on VV perfectly, sort of is not a match.  Then second you need to check the NGC Variety Plus listings NGC link to see if NGC attributes the variety that you think you have, NGC does not attribute every variety or Morgan VAM so its important to check before you spend money only to find out latter.

Had you checked these references first you would have known that your coin does not match the two DDO's that VV lists (they have no DDR's listed for this date/mm) and that NGC currently has no DDO for this date/mm that it will attribute.

[Carlos B.]

Thanks everyone for your answers.

[Carlos B.]

Hello again. At the risk of sounding obtuse...I followed advice and checked these at the link provided and found no exact match for DD...I'm trying to ascertain what is going on in the smudgy areas magnified. More DDD? Damage? Thanks for bearing with me.

[Coinbuf]

Yes your 1990 suffers from the same die deterioration doubling as the 87.   This is very common on the zinc cents from 1982 to current that are copper coated.

[GBrad]

Hello Carlos B. Here is an informative link from Error-Ref regarding Die Deterioration Doubling (DDD). I have another external link on my computer at home with some great visuals but can’t remember it at the moment but will try to add it here later. DDD, MD, etc… can be exhibited in many different fashions. The internet is your best friend for researching errors, varieties and other things that are worthless doubling. Just spend some time learning the different types of machine doubling, DDD, and so forth and it will better prepare you with knowledge and insight into what to look for and what is the real thing and what is not. 

http://www.error-ref.com/?s=Die+deterioration+