Grade new (old) Commemoratives

bobbeth87 · 07-02-2009, 07:56 PM

I love the old commemoratives and picked up one today Lexington. What grade would you give it? It does appear to have a small scratch on the reverse that I didn't know about. Hopefully, I did OK with the price.

I probably should have taken it out of its 2x2...

bobbeth87 · 07-02-2009, 08:00 PM

Here are a couple of other commems I picked up a month or so ago.

I got the Stone Mountain for about $30 including shipping and the Booker T for only 7 bucks (I love the slight toning on the Booker T., I think it enhances this design)

What do you think?

Also, post some of your old commems

tmoneyeagles · 07-02-2009, 08:01 PM

I'd say EF40-EF45, although commemoratives aren't my thing

But I do know that these can go for under $100 in MS64, so please don't tell me you paid too much...

tmoneyeagles · 07-02-2009, 08:02 PM

AU50-55 on the Booker T
VF35-EF40 on The Stone Mountain

bobbeth87 · 07-02-2009, 08:10 PM

The Lexington was advertised as a BU. I got it for $60. It is very nice in hand, I'm very pleased with it. The picture isn't so great. I may try another one in the sun. But, please give opinions as a learning experience for me....

tmoneyeagles · 07-02-2009, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbeth87

The Lexington was advertised as a BU. I got it for $60. It is very nice in hand, I'm very pleased with it. The picture isn't so great. I may try another one in the sun. But, please give opinions as a learning experience for me....

I don't know about BU...
Kind of a stretch... I don't see any luster, and see wear on the coin as well.
Close but no cigar... considering that you could get a MS64 for less than $100, I don't know if $60 was so good...
But hey it is better to learn the hard way, and it is still a nice coin

bobbeth87 · 07-03-2009, 01:44 PM

It definitely is not BU, and it appears to have been cleaned as well. It has nice detail though and still a nice coin.

Anyone else have old commems or care to comment on the above.

kanga · 07-03-2009, 07:40 PM

I've got quite a few early commemoratives.
My opinion is that their design lends itself to a soft-looking strike.
That was just the nature of the beast.

I leave the grading of these to the TPGs.

bobbeth87 · 07-03-2009, 11:53 PM

I talked to the seller of my Lexington and told him that it was NOT BU. We negotiated $20 off or return it, so I took the $20. I like the coin and for $40, I feel better about the purchase.

I'm surprised at how little response this thread received.....I guess not too many people like the old commemoratives. I think this was a pretty good coin for $40....not a great deal, but a pretty good one. Thoughts?

jaceravone · 07-04-2009, 12:10 AM

Im here Bobbeth! Just a lurking. Based on the pics supplied, looks like the Lexington and Stone Mt. are probably EF coins. The Booker T looks may be unc. If not not unc, then AU. As kanga mentioned, some of these lend themselves to soft strikes and the Lexington has a terrible strike and I have never liked it. I bought my first Lexington as Unc and it looked like yours. When I got it, it was cleaned and shined up. That was about 4-5 years when I didn't know better. Now I am a little more choosy. As far as the prices go, I don't buy early comms unless they are uncs. There are too many for you not to be choosy. Overall, I think you did ok on the prices.

Mark Feld · 07-04-2009, 12:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbeth87

I talked to the seller of my Lexington and told him that it was NOT BU. We negotiated $20 off or return it, so I took the $20. I like the coin and for $40, I feel better about the purchase.

I'm surprised at how little response this thread received.....I guess not too many people like the old commemoratives. I think this was a pretty good coin for $40....not a great deal, but a pretty good one. Thoughts?

There are a lot of classic silver commemorative collectors. But there are also large quantities of many of the designs/types available, and most of them are choice uncirculated or better.

RedTiger · 07-04-2009, 12:29 PM

Lexingtons are readily available. $40 is a decent price for that coin, $60 is too much. I'd vote AU50, though that is more of a guess, as it is not an issue I have studied or shopped for.
I have a few classic commems, no Lexington though.

Classic Commems are hard to learn to grade, because each issue has its own learning curve. Each issue has factors such as availability, strike, high points, percentage of coins put away, that makes for a lot to learn for 50 issues.

Prices have been steadily trending down for the series. For the common issues it is a good time to be picky on quality and price.

bobbeth87 · 07-04-2009, 12:55 PM

Thanks.....I probably could have done better, but I've tried to pick up on several over the past 3 months and all that had this detail were well above $40. I'm glad I got the $20 off because after I saw it, it clearly was not BU....so, I'm pleased.

I really want the Pilgrim now.....I just really like that coin!

RedTiger · 07-04-2009, 04:03 PM

Ebay items 170352157734 and 260434960412
closed at a similar price, and are similar in quality. The scratch makes it a wash at $40. A NGC MS64 went for $98 (item 390060155082).

Again, because the prices have been going down, it is a good time to comparison shop. Many dealer asking prices are at the old higher prices (vs. currently lower auction results).

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