I've been looking for a list of explinations for the Type 1, Type 2 designations on several coins. PCGS and NGC love to put these designations on their slabs, but the price guides almost always use the descriptive titles like "Clear S", "Filled S" and "Thin Letters", "Bold Letters" I could swear I found a site that had all this stuff, but I can't locate it for the life of me. Thanks in advance
rlowe, You could create an entire book on just the Type 1 and Type 2 designations alone for coins! The designation is used on almost every denomination and many of the series of U.S. coins since they were first minted! Type I "Filled S" and Type II "Clear S" is used for everything from the Proof Cent to the Proof Half for the 1979-S and 1981-S minted coins. However, Type I, II and III is used to indicate different Reverses used on 1972 Eisenhower Dollars and Type I and II for the 1976 Eisenhower Dollars. The list goes on and on and on! The Other, Other Frank
"Type #" designations are used interchangeably with "Variety #" designations whenever there are more than one significantly different versions of a particular coin. The exact meaning varies tremendously from coin to coin, so the way to find out what is meant by the designation on a particular coin is to research that coin. For example, Variety 1 Wheaties are those made on copper/bronze planchets from 1909-42 and 1944-58; and Variety 2 are the Steelies of 1943. On the other hand silver 3¢ Varieties 1-3 are distinguished by the presence of zero, two or three lines bodering the large six-pointed star on the obverse. Examples of multiple type world coins ares the Japanese 5 sen silver coins of certain years between 1873-92, and other coins of the same time period, where the Type 1 coins have separated characters "mei" and "ji" for the era name, and the Type 2s have a small connection between those characters.
rlowe: At least define the particular coin set that you are interested in studying. From there you can find the varieties.
Thanks for the responses guys. However, what I was looking for was more of a resource for looking up designations that are sometimes used by 3rd party grader and in other print media. I may not post here very often, but I am pretty much up to speed on what a "Type" designation is. It's just that, as huntsman53 stated, you could write a book on designations. That's exactly my question . Has somebody already written a book on it?, or even better is there a web site out there that addresses the topic? As far as what specific set I am studying. Well the particular coin that prompted the post was a 1976-S Eisenhower Dollar. I saw one listed on e-bay that was certified by PCGS as a Type 1, and I couldn't remember if Type 1 was the thin letter or the bold letter variety. The picture wasnt good enough to determine by looking. I wasnt really interested in buying, but it got me thinking that it would be nice if there was a quick reference that I could just put in my favorites so that I wouldn't have to try and remember. Honestly, I'm pretty lazy when it comes to such things and I'd rather point and click than think. When it comes to my personal collection, my long time obsession has been small cents, but over the last year or so I have run out of Lincolns and Indians to upgrade as I have finally completed a fully uncirculated set of Lincolns, and only have a few Indians left to upgrade. For most of this past year I have been collecting rather aimlessly with a mild focus on silver dimes. Just for fun I put together 6 sets of silver war nickels in each of the 6 major grades (MS, AU, EF, VF, VG, and G). It was fun to search out these relativly common coins in the full range of grades. Now what my 2007 obsession will be, I'm not so sure yet. I'm leaning towards Silver Washington Quarters, but that darn new Gold Buffalo has me drooling over my Buffalo Nickel set again. There a winter coin show over in Hot Springs in January, hopefully, something will catch my eye then it's all over with. At least that's what my wife says. Thanks and Merry Christmas Rlowe
Rlowe, Other than the Official Redbook, I do not know of any single book in print that explains the Type I, II, III or possible other designations for U.S. coins! I believe that you would have to purchase the "Complete Guide To XXXXXXX" for about every denomination and series ever minted (i.e. "Complete Guide To Bust Halves", "Complete Guide To Mercury Dimes", "Complete Guide To Jefferson Nickels", etc.). Like I have stated before, it would be nice if there was one single book for pricing for every denomination, series, Type, Error and Variety of U.S. coins ever minted and that Updates would come out quarterly or semi-annually until the next Volume of the book is issued. The Other, Other Frank
And the closest thing to a complete listing of types for world coins is the now 5-volume Standard Catalog of World Coins (Krause). As a matter of fact, Krause also has some basic information on US coins starting with the 18th Century, but it's not as detailed as the Red Book.
