Cud or Die Chip?

"Cud" is perhaps the most misused term in numismatics unless you include descriptions of coin grades offered by eBay sellers.  Getting good information out to new collectors is the task as hand.  The experienced collectors are constantly charged with teaching the novices.  It is up to the novices to seek out good information.

A cud is a piece of the die that has broken off, as seen on the Half Dime on the right. 
A die chip is a small bit of interior metal that has flaked away, as seen on the Lincoln Cent on the left.

All too often I see die chips being described incorrectly as a cud.  Be a better collector: employ the correct term.

I have a video explaining things in a way that maybe easier to understand.

Further Reading
Ken Potter has an excellent article on the subject on his website:
What Is A Major Die Break (or Cud)? And What Isn't!

Vernacular Coin Names

Vernacular: the common language, non-grammer, politically incorrect, slang.  The kind of language people use day to day in less than professional circumstances.

The new Dollar design has already developed a vernacular name.

I present to you the Innovation Planchet

Not every coin is well accepted by the population.  The Flying Eagle Cent and Susan B Anthony Dollar are great examples.  The new Innovation Dollar is not produced for general circulation to the public, but for the collectors.  The feedback I have received has complaints about an empty, unremarkable design. 

The new nickname is much more widely accepted than the coin by the collectors upon whom the coin is marketed.

There was a suggestion that a neti pot would make a better design.
I'm kinda thinking I agree.
This is a minimalist design with more computer graphics than artistic impression in the design. 
The US Mint, in its ongoing drive to pursue sales, has failed to offer the collectors a collectible coin.

Coin Roll Hunting The Caribbean

If you find yourself in the Bahamas looking for rolls of change at the bank, you are in for a long day of walking around.  I recently went on a much deserve and needed cruise-clear the head and all that, and get some sun.  I had a chance to get off the boat at the first port of call in Nassau.  One of the first
things you'll encounter is an onslaught of fellows offering taxi service.  I was reminded of the myriad of street hustlers around 4nd St in New York City,  I had it on good authority fron someone I met in an elevator that there was a bank downtown-close enough that I could walk it, no problem at all.

Being the trip was a family reunion of sorts, I'd not seen my sisters in over a year, the original plan was to do some shopping around the local establishments.  Nassau, if you have not been there, is similar in many respects to some of the top tourist traps I've found myself visiting.  T-shirt shops, diamond merchants, Brick-a-Brack, and of course Ice Cream.  No destination worth it's salt is without ice cream in an assortment of flavors you never heard of, even though it's probably a flavor I've had under a different name (Adirondack Moose Mint, Tropical Paradise, Great White North Vanilla).  I was with my brother and his wife, and my older sister with her husband.  This means we gotta stop at every stop, look at every thing there is to see, and touch as many things as possible even if there is no intention of buying a thing.  Thats what the ladies do.  Look and touch.  It's their way.

Bahamas $1, $5, $10

After an hour and a half of marching, looking at jewelry in which I held no interest and no intention of purchasing at...HOLY HANNAH, $15,000!!  Who on earth needs a necklace like that??  After an hour and change I looked across the street to see, of all things good in this world...A BANK!  I think this was ScotiaBank.  Nova Scotia?  I got no idea where there home office is, but here was a branch

Same bills flipped over

in front of me and surely, SURELY, they had rolled coins.  Picking up a number of rolls was on the top of my list.  That and going through the Super Turbo Slide on deck 14.


So I head on in...

Bear in mind, this is NOT the United States.  Things are different.  Not knowing the difference I got in line.  I waited for 30 minutes to get to a teller only to find this was not the line for the tellers.  They could not help me but sent me down a corridor to where the tellers were, as well as the considerably longer line to get to the tellers.  So I got in line and waited my turn.  And waited.  And waited.  About 45 minutes in I got to a teller who explained they only carry US coins and to try the Central Bank, only 3 blocks away, up the street then turn left, 1 block ahead, can't miss it.

So I head on over...

BU Rolls!!

Turns out, the traffic situation on a busy little island in the North Carribean tourist trap brings unexpected bursts in volume.  It's the taxicabs.  Those boats get into dock, the traffic surges as people get a cab from the hustlers to explore the town.  So they have barricades between the traffic and the pedestrian walkways to keep people from getting run over in the middle of their vacation.  Turns out, along with my boat was another from Norwegian Cruise Lines and one with Mickey Mouse on the side that also pulled into dock right about the time I set foot on the island.  I found my destination, but it was across the street. 

There's no justice I tell ya.


After a detour of about a half a block to find an opening in the barricade and a crosswalk and working my way back I found the door to the bank and let myself in uninvited.  There was a security guard standing at attention behind a desk.  He pointed my in the direction of the tellers.  It was a pair of guys behind glass busily counting money.  I explained what I needed.  They explained they don't have rolls.  Turn out they use kraft envelopes into which the coins are counted by hand.  OK, I say, I'll take one of each.  I scored a 40 count bag of 25¢, 15¢, 10¢, and 5¢.  Nothing larger, and no pennies.  It's

what I wanted most.  This is so unfair.

They said I should try ScotiaBank, and the bank right next door, the Royal Bank of Canada.  Off I go again...

Having tried ScotiaBank already I knew where to find the Royal Bank.  It was right next door, but
around the corner from my earlier approach.  Seems to me they coulda told me when I was there earlier.  No matter.  I went in, ask the guard, also standing at attention behind a desk, and found the right line to stand in for another hour before I found myself in front of a pleasant, congenial teller who was more than happy to fill my request.  I scored 20 rolls of brand spanking new BAHAMA PENNIES.

I'll keep one for myself.  I'll use a couple of them to add to The BIG Show, and I'm sure there will be folks more than happy to take one off my hands.

New Year, New Blog

Our good friend and fellow youtuber Amy Smith has taken on the mantle of responsibility in creating a new blog: The Canadian Coin Collective.

If ever there was a need for good information, this subject is on the top of the list!
Ms Smith intends to offer sound information on Canadian Coins and address inaccuracies on other sites. 

Fact of the matter is, information about Canadian coinage is scant.   You have a better chance of finding a valuable Canadian coin in your pocket change than a website on the subject.

This is a blog from which I expect great information to flow.  Besides being a stickler for accuracy, Smith preaches doing one's due diligence: Investigate, study, discuss, cross reference, inspect, verify, and document.

Smith has a youtube channel in which she often discusses Canadian coinage as well as coins in general.  I recommend you watch her videos and subscribe to her channel.

My Flying Journey

Guest Blogger  CJ Langbecker.  

My journey with the Flying Eagle started with research of the coin itself as I wanted to put together a type set of the small cents, opening a proverbial can of worms with a coin that has a low mintage run, but hosting a sizable quantity of collectible varieties.

The Flying Eagle Cent, the first small cent of the US was minted from 1856 to 1858. 1856 has the lowest mintage of the series with an estimated 2,000 minted.

1857 was the year that carried a significant mintage numbers (17+ million) and also the year that caught my eye.

While researching the available specimens of the 1857, I reviewed several sources to get an estimate of what varieties exist, conditional rarities, survival estimates and current market value. A particular variety or set of varieties really drew my interest: the mule die clash: A mule clash would be a die clash with two different denominations. For the flying eagle there are three significant clashes: Liberty Seated 50 cent piece (Snow-9), Liberty Head $20 (Snow-7) and Reverse clash with Liberty Seated 25 cent (Snow-8).

The theory of how these muled clashes comes from die researcher Chris Pilliod, from installed dies being cycled once in the machines.

CJ has a series of videos on Youtube
CJs Coins & Crafts

The Snow designations come from Rick Snow, a numismatic that has over 20 years of experience specializing in the Flying Eagle and Indian Head cents. Mr. Snow is a founding member and officer of the Flying Eagle and Indian Cent Collectors Society.

In a right place-right time situation, I had the opportunity to get a Snow 9 for a great price.

This was the catalyst that made me dig deeper into the varieties and also to look into the Snow designations. In the following few weeks, I was able to use my research to obtain un-attributed DDOs (Doubled Die Obverse) for the average price of a non-variety Flying Eagle.

I currently travel an unworn path; while reviewing the Snow designations, a particular variety Snow-16 has me curious. The pickup point for this variety is a very clear die chip on the body of the eagle. The enigma for this coin is that it is a die variety (technically an error on the die that continues to strike coins, thus die variety), but is not attributed by some of the grading services. The variety is not in the PCGS listings with a single one graded by NGC (VP-007). Both PCGS and NGC have several of the Snow designations (or Fivaz Stanton equivalent attribution). The question that this begs is how would one define rarity of this coin to determine value? The answer would initially be reviewing past auction results of the corresponding grades to determine market value and getting the best grade for the money.

I aim to obtain a specimen of the Snow-16 variety for further review. Could these little known varieties lead diamonds in the rough? Time will tell.