Some of you may remember this coin. It was a coin a customer of mine had inherited. I had the coin certified for him to NGC and it AU58'ed. He decided at that time to keep the coin being a collector and all. Months go by... Recently he contacted me and asked if I would be interested in purchasing the coin to which I replied "heck yes!" A couple of days later he comes and presents the coin to me RAW again!?!?! He had cracked the coin out of it's NGC holder and put it in his SLQ book. A little strange but I have seen it before. We continue the transaction and a deal is reached. I then decide that of course I want the coin in a slab again. I send the coin back to NGC.... it comes back improperly cleaned... (imagine my surprise) I was wondering if he had damaged the coin somehow after having it in his album... I received the coin back and studied it for more then an hour and was unable to find anything wrong or different about it. So I decided to send the coin to PCGS and this is the result. AU55. I'm happy with it as it currently sits. After it went into the NGC details holder I showed it to quite a few dealers that I trust and not a one could figure out why it was in that holder... but some of them wanted to buy it for a discount in that holder... (of course). A fluke??? Did NGC see something (the second time) that myself and about 20 experienced dealers, themselves once, and PCGS didn't see??? Anyways it was an interesting story for the coin. Enjoy the new pics!
That tells us how inconsistent the graders are, submit coins 3 times and get 3 different grades. There was a different thread about another user resubmitting many coins that have been graded before, 1/3 came out the same, 1/3 was grader higher, 1/3 lower.
Nice coin! I don't see any obvious signs of cleaning in those pics. That is one of my dream coins right there.
That is one sweet coin!!! I am still learning to discern the 16 from the 17 Type I without looking at the date so that I might find one in a junk box. I consider it a key although technically it's a pattern.
Sure they did, the question is did they see something that wasn't there? Why do you call it a pattern?
Thanks for the story Dutchman , if it was dipped I can't tell . And Mike there are known patterns of the 1916 like J-1796a , which are different from the 52,000 struck , so why call the 1916 a pattern . Rusty
Matt, that isn't improperly cleaned, it is properly cleaned... LOL! Seriously though, it looks original to me, a nice AU, and I would grade it AU55. Enjoy your coin buddy!
dutchman, that is a phenomanally beautiful coin!! The mild toning adds a lot of appeal to the already radiant luster!! Cleaned?? I would pay "cleaned" money for that coin any day of the week(if I had it).....
Based on what I can see in the pics the rev does have some hairlines that might lead some to think the coin had been improperly cleaned. Of course the same kind of hairlines could also be the result of rough handling, slide marks, flip marks - just about anything. Don't forget folks, cleaning is a lot like toning in that many, many coins have been cleaned over the course of their lives, and sometimes that cleaning is deemed market accpetable and sometimes it isn't. And whenever a grader, or anybody else looks at that coin, any marks or signs of cleaning can be interpreted as having been caused by various things, so it depends on who is making the decision at the time. It is also a matter of degree. A coin that has been lightly wiped for example may be slabbed on one day and bagged on the next - depending on who it is that is judging it.
I once submitted a low grade (Fair 2) 1800 half dime to ANACS, a half dime which has evidence of a plug, and also does not show liberty so one cannot determine whether or not ist is a Libekty variety or the Liberty variety. They body bagged it and I don't know why.
AHHH, yes I see it know. Someone used a Q-tip to clean out her ear. doesn't it make you want to call them and ask what they are talking about?