I know I am going to take some lip for purchasing this uncertified coin. I posted a craigslist add wanting to buy old cents locally and an older man replied saying he had this that his dad gave him when he was young. He also had a few common date Indians, a bunch of wheaties, some buffalo nickels and a lot of "junk silver". This was the only one I was interested in buying. He didn't have any kids to pass it down to. He wanted $50 for it (don't worry, I was fair and gave him a lot more than that!). I attributed it to Snow's PF-3 1886 Type 2. In his attribution guide, Richard Snow describes this date and variety as "Planchets have a bit higher alloy and tend to be a bit paler when untoned. It can be difficult to distinguish this original color with coins that have had their color artificially enhanced. Because of this it is very difficult to find certified full red examples.These were likely struck midyear after most of the full sets were distributed and many remained unsold at years end. If this is the case, then these probably ended up being sold to David Proskey and others for face value. These coins toned a deep brown with purple high- lights and when attractive, command a great premium." My questions to all you professionals......should I send this in for grading? It looks nice, but the colors might through the graders off. A disclaimer....I am still learning the whole photography thing with coins. I took a ton of pictures and am attaching a few I thought were the sharpest. I took in varying angles of light to show cameo surfaces. Thanks!
Beautiful coin. Doesn't look like the color is artificial at all to me. The colors won't throw the graders off at all. I think any IHC proof should be sent in for grading.
And if for nothing else to verify it as a proof coin. Some of these are tough to tell if a proof or not. And good for you for paying a fair price.
Yes, I would submit it if only to get it in a holder that will help preserve the coin, as well as make it more liquid should you choose to sell it. Nice coin, btw.
Good for you for paying him more than what he asked for in this case. It would have also been ok to pay what he asked for, but I think you did a good thing. And very nice coin!
Nice coin, good to hear you were fair with him. But like others have said giving him what he asked for is okay too.
Excellent point Mark. It certainly is tough sometimes to distguinish between a well struck IHC and a proof. In fact, I couldn't even give my opinion on if this coin is a proof. IHC collectors probably could, but not me.
Here are a few more pictures I took with a digital scope. They are in my opinion much worse than the ones I previously posted, but they might show the mirrored surfaces a little better. The LED lights reflect off the surfaces 100x more than any uncirculated cent I own. I am 99% sure this is a proof, but will send it off to NGC for verification. Just wish I had a few more coins to send them!! Thanks for the replies everyone.RR
It was stored in a generic plastic holder. Its not air-tight and I doubt it was even opened in the last 50 years until I opened it this weekend. Any scratches in this picture are on the plastic. When he replied to my ad, he said he had a shiny one in plastic and I was thinking a slabbed coin at the time.
NGC posted their grade today. It came back as PF63RB. There were no comments such as Cameo, etc....I really hope it comes back with a star after the letters, because it really is a crazy colored, visually appealing coin! Will post pics in slab when it comes back!
Here are the pics in the NGC slab. These are the "high quality" pictures NGC will provide for $10. Not a great deal in my opinion.....thought they were going to photograph the coin, not the slab. Guess that was wrong for me to assume that though.
