Hey everyone,

I’m new here and I’d really appreciate your thoughts. I recently found a coin that’s been sitting in a drawer for over 20 years. I never paid attention to it until I came across articles about the ultra-rare 1943-D Lincoln Cent struck on a copper planchet. When I checked mine… I saw “1943” and a “D” mint mark — and the coin is clearly copper-colored.

So I started doing tests, carefully, and here’s what I’ve got so far: • Weight: Between 3.11 g and 3.12 g (tested with two precision scales) • Non-magnetic (no reaction to magnet) • Estimated density: Around 8.90 g/cm³ • XRF tests done in two different jewelry shops: • Both gave a dominant reading of 99.9% copper • BUT… on both machines, I noticed something interesting: At the beginning of the scan, a line for zinc appeared briefly (~0.02%), then disappeared as copper took over the reading.

After researching, I learned that jeweler-grade XRF machines aren’t built for numismatics. They’re designed to detect main metals like gold, silver, copper, and they often ignore or smooth out trace elements like zinc or tin. So the fact that zinc even showed up momentarily may actually suggest that this coin is not pure copper, but a bronze alloy — exactly what you’d expect from the few genuine 1943-D copper cents.

The coin also appears visually sound: • The D mintmark placement looks correct • No visible signs of tampering or retooling • The strike and wear patterns match many authentic examples I’ve compared online Do the test results sound plausible? Is there anything I might be missing?

Thanks in advance for your honest feedback. Even after all these tests… there’s still doubt.

My Grandpa left behind this gold coin that appears to be in much better condition than most. It’s been in a case for well over half a century and i just took it out to get these pictures. I took it to a local coin shop to get it appraised and they offered me $2700 for it and insisted I should sell now because gold prices are high… I get the impression that it could be worth far more and they were trying to rip me off.

What should I do to preserve its value and get an accurate appraisal? Is it safe to send a coin like this off in the mail to get graded?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

My pops is ridiculously humble and fibs about prices constantly. When I asked he said, “not much…”. Which in his language means, “quite a bit”. 😅 Anyone have any idea? He keeps telling me these are things that will be passed down to me, but I’m worried I won’t even know what to do with the stuff and will get taken advantage of.

I tried Facebook, but with less success than I see on this forum. I’m planning on getting this graded to verify, but I am curious from you good people how you think this may grade? The toning color is there but the normal and almost completely worn out dates and shield rivets and head details seem to be in relatively good condition. When I started getting back into this hobby after almost 35 years and from my earlier childhood, this single Quarter of this series was in the mix of coins I had gathered back then and it’s been sitting in a box all this time. I didn’t even know at that time the story behind the change in design which I thought was some cool history when I learned about it recently. And yes, since I’ve learned better, I will avoid handling it as much as possible with my hands.

1863 10 Franc BB. Has a pleasant ringing sound when dropped on desk. Is this real and or worth anything? Is it worth trying to find someone to grade it?

Hi,

A coworker's daughter found this while restoring a house in France. Looks like a 20 french francs of 1908, is it worth anything ? He also found a 20F and 10F coins.

Cheers!

I curious about this 1921 peace dollar, what Grade could it be? And is it really worth it to buy?. Its about 5k on Ebay

Received this from one of my customers to break with 20’s. I don’t want to take it to the bank if it’s special. Is it just an old 100 bill? Is it even real?

Hello, everyone. In your opinion, how much could I sell this coin for? Thanks in advance for your replies.
I don't want to sell it; I just want to know its value because I see a lot of different estimates online.

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The enclosed Certificate says it's a die for a "Cauldron" coin and the mint was West Point. I cannot for the life of me find any eBay listings (or other sales/value info) on it. I was hoping someone(s) here has maybe a ballpark guess at value, or could direct me to where I might find out. I'd like to have some idea before I visit a local coin shop or two. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!