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.
Think you found a 1943 copper penny? Odds are, you didn’t. This post breaks down why the real ones are so valuable, how fakes are made, and what to check before you get your hopes up.
Shopping for coins online can feel like a minefield. This guide breaks down the most common red flags to watch for: sketchy titles, suspicious slabs, too-good-to-be-true pricing, and more. Learn how to spot trouble before you click “Buy.”
If you’ve spent any time looking at coin listings online, you’ve probably seen the word raw used to describe a coin. It shows up on eBay, Reddit, dealer sites, and even auction houses. But depending on who’s using it, the meaning can get a little fuzzy. We’ll break down what raw really means, what it…
If you’ve spent any time looking at coin listings or browsing collector forums, you’ve probably come across the terms “uncirculated” and “mint state.” They get tossed around a lot, sometimes as if they mean the same thing, other times like they’re completely different. And depending on who you ask, you might get a different answer…
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,”…
Some coins earn their color the hard way. They sit in envelopes, albums, or mint sets for decades, slowly picking up hues from their environment. Others take a shortcut. They get dunked in sulfur, baked in ovens, or blasted with heat just to grab attention and a higher price tag. That’s fake toning. At first…
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…
If you hang around coin collecting communities long enough, you’ll eventually run into a coin that looks almost too good. The shine seems unnatural. The details seem off. You flip it around in the light and feel like something’s not quite right. That’s usually when someone drops the dreaded comment: “It looks cleaned.” In this…
A details grade is assigned to a coin when a grading service determines that the coin has been altered or damaged in a way that disqualifies it from receiving a straight numerical grade. The grader still evaluates the coin’s level of wear (VF, AU, MS, etc.) but the final grade includes a note explaining the…