Coin Talk

Several weeks ago I bought this NGC 1827 XF45 on eBay for $245. The reason I paid that much was because I recognized it as the overdate 1827/6. Upon getting it in-hand, I noticed that it had pretty severe artificial toning. (Don't let the seller's pics fool you. It was chalky, blue toned. Not dark and grey like the pics). I was at a loss what to do since I didn't feel like joining NGC just to send it back in to have the overdate added. So I cracked it out.


Seeing it out of it's holder, the artificial toning looked even more pronounced, but I couldn't see hairlines from cleaning underneath. I really think someone just decided to try and add some color to it. So I used some heavily watered down dip and lightly touched it to the surfaces, attempting to remove the fake tone. It took a while, and I was in no hurry.

When I was finished I thought to myself, "Well, now it's going to come back as cleaned." I was disgusted...

I had an...

Many times I have logged on here and elsewhere to find people talking about New Orleans or “O” mint Morgan Dollars. Invariably, the discussion turns to strike quality and the consensus is that they are poorly stuck coins. While it is true that New Orleans has turned out its share of poorly struck coins, this is not always the case and I feel that "O" has gotten a bad rep. I thought I would post a couple examples as well as a little data I have collected from some research on the topic.

Based on my own experience and collecting information from various sources…this is what I have learned. First, let me point out that I have read many texts about the Morgan series and my views have been influenced by many of those books. I must give credit to the Comprehensive Guide and Encyclopedia of Morgan and Peace Dollars as well as Whitman’s A Guidebook of Morgan Silver Dollars as well as several other books I am forgetting. These are two books that I highly recommend for...

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

In addition to coins, I'm very fond of meteorites, and therefore any "sacred stones" from antiquity pique my interest. These show up on a number of coin types and I was very excited to acquire this hard-to-find early example from Kaunos.




Kaunos was a prominent trading center in Asian Minor alongside Lycia and Caria. It was mentioned by ancient authors specifically because of how its customs and language differed from Caria but until recently, it was not possible to decisively attribute any archaic or classical coinage to it, which is abnormal considering its importance during these periods.

Thanks to the persistence of academics and archaeologists across the world, our understanding of ancient history is constantly evolving. This coin is a perfect example: until the 1980s, little was understood about the Carian language. Egyptologists were able to aid in the deciphering, using Carian inscriptions...

Posted this in another thread, but I think its important for beginners to read and know, so I'll add a bit more and start a new thread for it.

Ok, first we're going to start with seeing the cartwheel. This can be tricky at first, because it takes just the right wrist movement to be able to move the coin and get the fluid cartwheel effect on the luster. Once you get it though, you will appreciate the beauty of it! Go get a slabbed, uncirculated coin (by a Top TPG - PCGS or NGC) and a strong light source. Hold the coin at an angle, so that it reflects the light. You should see the coin shining. Now, slowly and gradually, turn the coin. Notice the shine move? That is what we call cartwheel luster - if you turn the coin in the right way, the "spokes" of luster will appear to rotate around the coin like a cartwheel. Practice at this until you can see the cartwheel luster. Practice at this before reading the rest of this thread. Practice at this before buying anymore coins. If you can't...

A few weeks ago, I was at a coin show at the Metrolina Fairgrounds in Charlotte. While there, I found a dealer who had a box of large cents priced at $15 apiece. Now, being the cheapskate that I am, I had to look at every single one of them. Most were later-date, lower grade coins, but a few caught my eye. I decided to only buy one (though I kind of wish I had bought another that was in reasonable condition for the price). This one had a counterstamp on it, and I had no idea what I was doing. The dealer must have been feeling generous, as he sold it to me for $12. I notice a lot of dealers are like this to the YNs, BTW. They take good care of us. So, yesterday, I decided to try and figure out who or where it came from. Turns out, it is a pretty well-known and common counterstamp, but it is still not certain who exactly it comes from. It has a Brunk number of T-387 (I found this info in an auction listing), though that statement means almost nothing to me except to...

A member sent me a PM with the question of what books and web sites I would recommend to help him learn to grade. Now at first glance that would seem a kind of simple and easy request, but it really isn't. That's because there is a whole lot more to it than that. And my response to him prompted me to post this for everybody to read in the hope that it would help several people as opposed to just one. I've discussed all of this many, many times and in many different threads. But with a subject like this I don't know that you can post it often enough. So here we go.

To learn how to grade coins properly and accurately takes time and a lot of work. It begins by reading everything you can find on the subject, and there's a lot to find. Both in the form of books and on-line resources. Then you have to study what you read, learn it, get to know it, become familiar with it. And that's still just the beginning. Then you have to look at coins, in hand, tens to hundreds of thousands of coins -...

I’ve never been to Georgia before and was really looking forward to seeing Atlanta. I also checked the weather reports twice before I left so I would know how many layers of clothes and coats I would need to bring! Luckily, the weather was quite mild compared to the week before when all the snow storms were pounding that area of the country.



I left beautiful sunny SoCal early Wednesday morning. I’m always in awe when we head into the skies and fly over the beautiful California coastline















Even though I try to use the same airline so I can collect points for upgrades, this time I was flying on Delta airlines because they...

I took home two new denarii in recent weeks one Republican and a Septimius Severus.

I have want a coin with a Pegasus for awhile and I saw the opportunity for one in the most recent Frank S Robinson sale. To be honest I think I stole this one a little bit.

Q. Titius, 90 B.C.E. AR Denarius
Obv. Head of Bacchus
Rev. Pegasus flying
Ex. Boston MFA

Yesterday (Tuesday, June 17) I received the early bird notice from CRO around 10:59am. Usually I'm not somewhere where I can take a look at the offerings immediately, but yesterday I was lucky that I was. I saw one new offered piece there that just blew me away.

Something close to my heart, of course, in that it was a horse design. But, it has a lot more going for it than just that. It was also square (a Klippe), had amazing toning on both sides, and had a super-cool city scene on the reverse of the coin that I just fell in love with. All of this wrapped up in a coin about the size of a USA quarter dollar. A mere 8 minutes after I received the email, I shot an email off to John Agre at CRO, and within an hour (and a lunch break) after that the deal was sealed and paid in full.

I will just say that John is a class act. He entertained my request to see a slab shot so I could get a reference for the size of the coin. He answered a few questions I had immediately -- I mean,...