Penny coloring

Hi all, I can for the most part grade a Pennies condition without a problem. But when it comes to the coloring I'm at a loss. I have been eyeballing a 1909 VDB at a local store. It's in excellent condition. They are asking for $65 for it, and I'm wondering if hell has frozen over. The say do to its red brown coloring that's why it's priced so high. My question is what type of price difference would coloring make off the red book value?

 

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I took a quick look at NGC's price guide, and according to pricing of $65, RD would be MS63, RB would be MS64 and BN would be MS65. Does that help?

Chris

 

unless it is slabbed, or you are good at grading, pass.

 

Thanks

 

Is the coin a straight RD, RB, or BN or is it toned? Chris gave you the grades for each color designation to warrant the dealers price tag. But if the coin has attractive toning, you can throw the price guide in the trash. I sold this MS64 RB to Rick Tomaska's group for $150 a few years ago.

 

I cant remember where I saw this, but there was a copper cent photo chart, which showed approx. 15 coins, with this description.

Red coins = 9% or less brown
Red-Brown coins = 10% to 90% brown
Brown coins = 9% red or less

 

lol Here it is.

http://coins.about.com/od/coingrading/tp/Grading-The-Color-Of-Copper-Coins.htm

 

But they are wrong at least according to PCGS and NGC.

http://www.pcgs.com/Lingo/R

 

I like the chart from the link. Thank you:


Copper Lincoln pennies arranged by darkening shades of red to brown. Individual Photos courtesy of Teletrade Coin Auctions
Arranged by James Bucki

guy

 

Here is what always gets me. People can ask what ever they want for a coin, they have every right to. However, when you are looking at toned copper, going by just the grade on the slab or whether or not it's fully red or red-brown is not always the best thing to do. Some copper are toned more than others. As a result, people sometimes pay more or less, based on the eye appeal, rather than the grade. Put simply, you buy the coin, not the slab. Like Lehigh's example above, that is some beautiful toning. People pay more for toning like that. $65 doesn't sound too bad, but the eye appeal is almost always a factor in why that particular coin is priced the way it is.

It applies to nearly everything.... A monster toned Morgan Dollar in MS-64 is usually more desirable and higher-priced than a non-toned frosted Morgan with the same grade.

-Coinguy56

 

Ok. Then consider the first three coins as red, and the last three coins as brown.

 

FWIW, the biggest question I have is not whether it is 4% or 6% (either way), but just when red is dark enought to be called brown and vice versa.

 

Thanks all, alot of great info