I recently won this 1921 Peace dollar on Teletrade (picture is from Teletrade, with permission). Graded AU50 by NGC, the winning bid was 111$ plus 5$ shipping (no reserve auction). I think it was an interesting buy on my part. It is in no way a "clean" coin (as I knew already), but I liked it anyway. 1921 Peace dollars are very hard to get a good strike, even in the (graded) MS63 coins that I have seen in person, the hair lines clearly visible on my 22's & 23's were missing. Furthermore, a low grade 1921 peace dollar would have cost me at least 100$ (greysheet bid for a VG coin) as the curve is very flat, so I would rather get the higher grade dirtier coin (plus it can go into my registry) than the lower grade "clean" coin. I am happy with the purchase and would like to see what it looks like in hand. Your thoughts are welcome; this was my thought process, and I would love to know what my fellow collectors think about it.
Congratulations on winning it. I saw it as well but decided not to bid. It is a pretty good strike and you got it at a decent price. If you are happy that is all that matters. Let us know how it looks in hand. TC
Inquisitive - just keep this in mind, and you probably already know it but based on the wording of your post I just want to make sure. But when someone speaks of a coin being "clean", it has nothing to do with whether the coin is dirty or not. For example - if I were to say that is an exceptionally clean coin, what I mean is that the coin has very few if any contact marks. In other words, the coin could be dirty and still be clean.
Doug: Thank you for pointing this out. I was actually refering to "clean" more as eye appeal vs. contact marks. That's why I like being here, to learn. In regards to contact marks, there looks to be a prominent one on the cheek (hey, it was graded AU50), but otherwise looks good. Thank you again.
Not a bad coin. Not sure I like it in 50 plastic, but still a nice coin. That said, the strike is quite nice, and if you like the coin and the price, who are any of us to say otherwise!
That was part of my point (the third paragraph), that I paid 'F' - 'VF' money for it either way, since the curve is so shallow.
