Expert: Ronald Fern - 1/30/2011

Question
QUESTION: I have this 1990 no S lincoln cent with the errors you can see in the photo. I suppose it can be proof error. What is your opinion?

ANSWER: Hi Rogerio:

Thanks for your question. Only the reverse photo was attached. Based on that, your coin does not appear to be a Proof strike. I can not see any error. If you want to send a photo of the obverse, I'll revise my answer, if required. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_(United_States_coin) for more information on the U.S. cent.

You may want to check eBay listings under errors in coins & currency from time to time to see if coin is listed and what it is going for.

Please remember to go to the experts site to rate this answer. Check the nomination box on the rating page below any comments you may have.

Thank You and Good Luck in your collecting.

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QUESTION: Of course there are many big anomalies in this reverse. If you observe accurately you can see holes around the memorial and above-below the letters.
Thanks
p.s.There is nothing abnormal in the obverse.

ANSWER: Hi Again Rogerio:

Thanks for the photo of the other side. I looked at the prior photo again and even enlarged it. I see nothing other than what I'd expect to see for normal wear on the photo. What you say are holes around the memorial and the letters appears to be dirt or grime to me. It is possible that the copper plating may not have properly adhered to the zinc blank. This would be a minor error at best, and not worth much, if any of a premium above the face value.

Thank You Again, and Continued Good Luck in your collecting.

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QUESTION: I have almost a thousand of lincoln cents and I never had seen something alike. There is no dirt or grime in the coin. What appears to be dirt are holes. You can see clearly above the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and below ONE CENT that appears to me a incuse of the letters. I don't think is a big error but only something I had never seen before. Anyway I am grateful for your answer. I have others lincoln errors to submit you.
Thanks!

Answer
Rogerio:

I looked at your photo again under magnification. I still can not see what you are referring to. As a general rule of thumb, if you can not see the error with the naked eye, it is too small to be worth a lot of money. The exception would be a major doubled die. It is possible from your description that you may have a clashed die error or an error that had a dropped off letter fall onto your coin prior to striking, but I can not see it from the photo you supplied.

This is not the forum to ask a thousand questions on your Lincoln Cents. Please pick the major or unusual ones to ask questions on.

Sometimes people try and fool you into thinking you have a real error coin. Here are two links for you to see what type of non-error coins exist.
See link: http://coinauctionshelp.com/page15.html
See link: http://conecaonline.org/content/OhNo.htm

For examples of real errors see: http://www.coinsite.com/html/userrorprices.asp or http://minterrornews.com/priceguide.html

Please remember to go to the experts site to rate this answer. Check the nomination box on the rating page below any comments you may have.

Thank You Again and I wish you Continued Good Luck in your collecting.