PMD stands for Post-Mint Damage. It refers to anything that happened after a coin was struck. It doesn’t matter if the damage occurred at the mint or in someone’s pocket. If it didn’t happen during the minting process, it’s not an error. It’s damage.
Before you post your coin to Reddit, stop and ask yourself if it’s something you could figure out with a quick search. Most ignored posts have the same problem. They show no clear photos, give no details, and ask no real question. This guide shows you how to do better so you actually get answers, not downvotes.
The term “BU” gets thrown around a lot in coin listings, but it doesn’t mean what most people think. It stands for “Brilliant Uncirculated,” but there’s no official standard behind it, and sellers use it loosely. This post breaks down what BU really means, how to spot a true uncirculated coin, and how to avoid listings that lean on buzzwords instead of condition.
eBay can be one of the best places to find coins, and one of the worst. The problem isn’t the platform itself, it’s the flood of listings from sellers who either don’t know what they’re doing or know exactly what they’re doing and hope you don’t. One of the biggest issues is grading terms. “Uncirculated,”…
The fields of a coin are the smooth, flat areas that surround the main design. On most coins, this means the space behind the portrait on the obverse and the background around the eagle, building, or symbol on the reverse. They might look like empty space, but fields are one of the first places a…
Every now and then, you’ll come across a U.S. coin that looks a little too shiny for its own good – mirror-like surface, strange hue, sometimes even “golden.” If it’s a common date, has no mint error, and doesn’t make sense for the coin type… odds are you’ve found a plated coin. A plated coin…
A common story pops up in the coin collecting world: a grandparent saves coins for decades, and when they pass away, the family wonders if they’ve stumbled into a small fortune. But more often than not, what’s left behind isn’t a curated collection, it’s a hoard. And there’s a big difference. Let’s break down why…