Sometimes you find cool things at a coin store

nwcs

I was pillaging a local coin store where the dealer thinks he's very good. He's OK, but found some nice pieces here for between 30 cents and 2 dollars. (Except for the proof, which was at a standard proof set price). So what do y'all think? The pix were taken through saflips so that's where many of the hairlines come from. If y'all have opinions on these guys, I'd enjoy reading them.



1951 Washington
1961 Lincoln
1972 Roosevelt
1970S JFK - Obverse Reverse I was surprised to find a cameo, maybe deep cameo?

KlectorKid

nice finds and u are lucky u are by a coin shop that has toned coins, in the coin shop by me all they have is blast white coins

nwcs

Well, this guy has a lot of cleaned items as well (incluing one orgeon comm. he called AU with luster but was clearly whizzed), but these were in his "junk" pile. I found even better looking stuff the last time for <$2 and sent it to PCGS so hopefully I'll do OK. He uses fluorescent lighting which makes it hard to grade accurately (I'm sure most in-store dealers do this on purpose because indirect lighting hides flaws). But I learned a few techniques to help identify marks in fluorescents.

BlueCole

tell me how to find marks under floursecents!!! (sic) I love looking thru the 2x2's of cheap stuff and finding pretty coins. It allows me to walk out with lots of coins, but lets me wife think we still have lots of money in the bank account. Does the front of the Rosie have the goldish clad toning?

B.

nwcs

The roosie actually has a soft pastel red look in parts on the rev and the obverse. If you didn't know better, you'd think the coin was a proof! It's that sharp. I thought it was till I saw it was a PA coin and 1972!

The tricks, I've found, for fluorescents are really simple:

1. Always look at the coin at shallow angles (not direct on)
2. Use light sources where they are. Display cases sometimes have incandescent bulbs, so orient your looking towards them, or use the light coming from the door, or bring a small flashlight
3. Use a loupe, by magnifying the image, slight flaws that are covered up by fluorescents become more obvious
4. Always assume one grade less or more from what you see.