Ever Been a Crackout Victim?

Crackout Victim? You know, the last guy to own a coin before someone cracked it out of it's holder and promptly submitted it for an upgrade. I bought the rarest of the Jefferson Nickel varieties in July 2010 for $5,175.




The 1942-D over Horizontal D is the undisputed king of Jefferson varieties. The re-punched mint mark was first punched horizontally with the curved side facing down and then corrected. The over mint mark is visible to the naked eye and plainly seen under a glass. Only 122 coins have been graded in all grades with only a scant 14 graded in mint state. Heritage described the coin as "Dusky golden-brown toning overlies this satiny, unabraded, and nicely struck near-Gem." This is a very nice way of saying that the luster is completely muted on the coin. There is some remaining luster on the reverse but the obverse is completely flat. The coin is very clean and if the luster were better, this coin would most certainly be the highest graded 1942-D/D in existence. The strike is very good and the steps are stopped only by the softness under the 3rd pillar that typically plagues the series. Using the quarter step method, I grade the steps 5-5-2-5. Formerly FS-027, now FS-501: CONECA: RPM-001. In MS64 the variety has a population of 5/5 with all 5 higher graded MS65 and the PCGS price guide in MS64 is $7,000 (7/10). Here are the Heritage photos and link.



1942-D over Horizontal D Jefferson Nickel PCGS MS64 $5,175

In September 2011, I had a very bad feeling about the way my job situation was going and decided to liquidate most of my high value coins including my 1942-D over Horizontal D. For whatever reason, the Heritage photographer really yucked this one up and I ended up losing almost $900 in the sale, photos and link below.



1942-D over Horizontal D Jefferson Nickel PCGS MS64 $4887.50

So if losing money on the transaction wasn't bad enough, now I find the same coin in yet another Heritage Auction, but this time it resides in an MS65 holder and will most certainly sell for $8,000 or more.



1942-D over Horizontal D Jefferson Nickel PCGS MS65 ?

Anyone want to venture a guess as to how much this will sell for in it's new holder?

If you have a crackout victim story of your own, please share it, I could use the camaraderie.

 

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You spent 5 grand on a Jefferson Nickel?

 

BTW - good thread

 

Paul were you a victim or were they smart enough to crack it out and upgrade it?

The way I see it is you're unhappy that you lost money on the coin (and I can't say that I blame ya, I wouldn't be a happy camper either), but to call yourself a victim when you had the opportunity first and missed it sounds like sour grapes to me. Why didn't you upgrade it and then sell it for a profit instead of a loss?

 

Actually Mike, I had the thought of upgrading the coin when I purchased it in 2010. As you can see from the various photos, the surfaces are very clean and certainly gem quality. Based solely on the photos, one would believe it is the spotting that kept the coin out of an MS65 holder. But once you see the coin in hand, the reason for the MS64 becomes clearly evident. One look and all thoughts of upgrading the coin disappeared from my head. It was a solid MS64 mind you, but I agreed completely with the originally assigned grade.

And I have news for ya, if I had upgraded it, I wouldn't have sold it.

 

Everyone is a victim these days - NOT!

 

I'm wondering if it didn't get a slight "bump" for being such a rarity? Adds to the prestige of it. Somebody's gamble paid off. If you agreed with the grade, I see no reason why you would have sent it in. There's no guarantees in the upgrade game. Seems like people either win or throw a lot of money down a hole and risk losing stuff in the mail on top of it.

 

I'm sorry this one didn't work out for you, but hopefully next time the upgrade will be in your favor.

 

C'mon guys, give him a break over the term used. He's not looking for sympathy. He's just seeing if this has happened to anyone else and sharing the story. This is a pretty interesting occurrence and an interesting thread (for a change). I'm glad you're back Lehigh.

 

paul is constantly a victem. Just last night a full house beat is 2 kings.

 

It sure looks like he wants sympathy.

 

Thanks for sharing, and I bet seeing it in a 65 made you lose your appetite. One more confirmation that the TPG grade inflation is alive and well, and one more reason I will never get sucked into the registry set game.

 

Good idea thread though I would phrase it differently. You could also get feedback on the PCGS forum.

I recently bought a better date gold coin at auction and upgraded pocketing a tidy sum. I brought the coin to a show to get a few dealers to give opinions. A couple dealers said it was an AU, overgraded, etc.. Now it resides in the next higher holder with advantage to me. How many dealers do not know how to properly grade coins? A lot, betcha!

Heritage Auctions are leading market makers. They know what will upgrade and what isn't worth the try. If you had sent the coin to CAC and then run it at auction demanding better images, you could have made a bundle. If it is a condition census coin and very rare, it could sell very strong.

 

Ouch.

Let your pain be a lesson for all of us.

Thanks for sharing what is certainly not a pleasurable experience.

 

In my opinion the OP knows his series well. In past years I have appreciated his sharing knowledge and excellent photos of various Jeffersons. Therefore I have no problem with the use of the term victim.

 

I sold a cleaned, corroded coin in an NGC slab to a guy on Ebay. He cracked it open, put it in a basement slab and declared it problem-free. He slapped a BIN price tag 4x what he paid for it. I don't know if he ended up selling it but maybe that makes me a crackout victim as well!

 

The title seems to be tactical...and besides helping to attract people, it is there to near the "share it" convocation to his other paragraphs.

7,600$

 

Seems to me 'Crackout Victim' is not so much a term to say he was a victim, but simply a term to say he was the last to own the coin before someone chose to crack it out for an upgrade and succeeded. Doesn't mean the coin actually should have been upgraded, but for whatever reason, it was. Doesn't mean that if the new owner sent it to CAC that it would be confirmed as the higher grade (solid or a plus).

I can see that as not being a victim, but simply the losing person on the money side due to circumstance - in this case. In other cases, it might mean that the coin should have been recognised as a higher grade and the new owner was correct.

But you probably rarely or never hear of when someone was a 'Crackout Victim' and the new owner lost and the coin graded to a lower grade.

 

Happens to me. Depends which side of the table you're on. It's amazing how many '64's are selling for '65 money when I'm lookin' to buy, and it's amazing how the coin is downgraded a bump or two when I'm looking to sell......

 

I had a nice peace dollar that I know was a 64 in a 63 holder. It was in a NGC holder I cracked it out because I just new it was a grade higher and sent it in with a submission that I was sending in anyway. It came back UNC details improperly cleaned. Funny how USPS cleans coins as they deliver them to Florida.

So if I understand you right, you're saying that in hand the lack of luster was the key to keeping it in the 64 grade? I see that in peace dollars a lot a coin that is dripping in luster and white with a lot of hits and marks will get a better grade than one with virtually no hits and less luster with some tone on it. Too bad but nice coin thanks for sharing.