A grading test...

coppercoins · Site Admin

See if you can accurately evaluate this coin. DO NOT reply to this post with answers - you would ruin it for everyone else if you have it right. Click on the link below the images to see if you're right...just remember, the difference in value between red mint state grades is HUGE!! Just post comments, please.

Click here to see if you're right:

http://www.coppercoins.com/lincoln/1911/1911s_grading_test.html

Robert · Senior Member

Well I was wrong! Shocked

eagames · Expert Member

Do the fields on the reverse look bumpy? Confused

Dick · Expert Member

Ed, do you mean, like a sand cast? That was what I thoufht at first. Then I decided it was not a cast. I thought it was a '41-S, which was altered. NOT!
Dick

Gabe · Senior Member

Lol.. I was right!

coop · Expert Member

It looks like an early 70's design instead of a 11.

Dick · Expert Member

Coop, you have me confused! How could the design be "an early '70's"? The profile looks like it is okay, and the wheat was not a '70's rev. Is there that much difference in the profile(s)? I did think it was a very well struck coin, and indicated as such.
Dick

Dick · Expert Member

Don't feel bad, Robert, I was too! And very surprised at what I found out.
Dick

eagames · Expert Member

Most fakes have "not quite right" portraits for the year.

I see what Coop mean't, this portrait looks more like a 1970s. If it was a 1972 it might look right Wink

Dick · Expert Member

ED, I was going to compare the profile of this "coin", with one on the 70's-S, and check the profile, but couldn't find any full face pgotos.
Dick

cladking · Member

Anyone who misses this one by much shouldn't consider getting into dealing.

Dick · Expert Member

cladking, I'll keep that in mind! Laughing

I have never sold a coin, and like as not, never will. At least not in this lifetime!
Dick

daviscfad · Advanced Member

I am missing it what was the dead giveaway of it being a fake??

coppercoins · Site Admin

See all the 'bubbles' on the reverse? This is a sign of a fake die, probably spark erosion. Second thing is the shape of the mintmark - way off what it should look like. The next thing is that the portrait itself is a lot softer than it ever was in 1911. The shape and size of the date digits are wrong...it's also too sharp.

Basically the obverse of this coin was struck with a hand cut and tooled die. The reverse was struck with a die made by a crude 'copy' technique using electricity.

The surface of this coin on the obverse is prooflike, and the reverse is very mottled.

All these things together make this coin look just 'wrong'. Very few experienced Lincoln cent people would ever be fooled by this work of art.

daviscfad · Advanced Member

Thanks for the reply coppercoins... I have a lot to learn about Lincoln Cents