Help, please -- 1849D Quarter Eagle

I'm a non-collector who has 4 quarter eagles purchased perhaps 50+ years ago by a deceased aunt. After some online digging, one of them appears to have significant value -- an 1849D whose condition, to my untrained eye, compares well to pictures of MS60-62 I've seen online. (The other three are Indian heads from 1914 to 1926, in decent circulated condition but clearly worth at most a few hundred dollars each.)

I'm debating how to proceed with the 1849. My instinct is to get an NGC or PCGS certification and then try to sell it via ebay, teletrade, etc. (I have a 100% ebay reputation from many non-coin sales & purchases.)

I'd welcome advice or alternate suggestions from collectors & dealers that might help with this. Is there a way to work with a dealer that wouldn't cost a major percentage of the coin's value? And is it worth paying for certifications on the other three coins if I plan to sell them online?

Thanks!
Joel

 

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That coin in MS-62 would definately be worth getting it certified. Gold is hard to grade though, and grading in general is difficult for people without experience. If you could get some good pictures and post them here, there are people who can give you a good idea of about what grade it will get. Good luck.

 

yes, pictures would be good, chances are your grade will be above or below.

 

That is potentially a VERY valuable coin. Pictures please.

 

Personally, if I were in your shoes, I would contact Doug Winter: http://www.raregoldcoins.com/contact.asp He wrote the book, literally, on Dahlonega gold, and is one of the "good guys" in numismatics, in my opinion...Mike

 

Pictures

OK, here they are. Please be charitable about the quality, since I'm a newbie at coin photography, and I can see that a lot of the details went missing in the process.

 

After seeing the pics, you REALLY need to contact Doug Winter, or another authority on the value of this coin. It could potentially be worth quite a bit of money...Mike

 

p.s. these coins are commonly weakly struck. The coin looks AU/MS to me, too, but an in-hand evaluation of an expert in southern gold (or much larger and higher quality photos) would be necessary to get more specific.

 

p.p.s. if this is a real coin, and in the grade it appears to be, it could be among the finest examples known and worth well north of $10k. For the third time, PLEASE get it examined by a professional.

 

Thanks, Leadfoot, I'm pleasantly aware of what I've potentially got here. I found this in the back of a desk drawer of my 90 year old mother -- she remembers getting it from her older sister (my aunt) shortly before her death 15 years ago.

My personal addiction is wine collecting, so to me it was a little like finding a case of 1945 Lafite Rothschild stashed in the back of someone's 50-degree basement.

Joel

 

WOW - :bow: - I would listen to Mike!!! If that's real, and in MS condition, you could buy a nice car with that one coin. That is a BEAuitful coin. I am sorry to hear of your loss and wish you the best with what ever you do with the coins (keep us posted). Don't handle them without cotton gloves and then only from the edges and pleeeease don't drop them! I'm sure the group would love to see the others. If you have time, please share. :thumb:

Best Regards

Darryl

 

You are most welcome!

However, I would like to warn you from getting your hopes up. There is also a possibility it is a counterfeit, or there are other problems (whizzing or cleaning) which could significantly impact the value. However the POTENTIAL is there for this to be an amazing find -- perhaps the best find I've seen in several years.

Regardless, PLEASE keep us updated...Mike

p.s. I've asked an acquaintance and a specialist in these coins to take a look at the pics. Hopefully they will post to this thread, or share with me their thoughts, which I will pass along (provided they agree).

 

p.s. listen to Darryl -- DO NOT TOUCH THE COIN WITH BARE HANDS, DO NOT DROP THE COIN, and most of all DO NOT CLEAN THE COIN.

 

THAT is a beautifull coin! It almost seems too good to be true.

 

Thanks, all. It IS a beautiful coin -- even a total layperson like me can appreciate that.

Mike, I instantly thought about the possibility of it being counterfeit at first sight -- because (as Adam says) it simply looks too good to be true for its age. But if that's the case, it would have to be an old counterfeit, since my aunt and mother have had it for at least the last 60 years. (And Darryl's condolences are premature -- my mother is still alive and kicking at 90.)

My ignorance is showing -- what is "whizzing"? Is there an obvious way for me to see whether it's been done?

I'll take and post photos of the 3 Indian head quarter eagles in another thread in the next couple of days. But they're nowhere near the condition of this one.

Joel

 

Whizzing is using a rotating wheel (think Dremel) to artificially produce luster on a coin that is not lustrous. Typically done on XF or AU coins to make them appear MS. A telltale sign would be hairlines visible under magification (although harilines could also be evidence of a cleaning or even circulation, so be careful). To an expert, whizzing would be immediately obvious. I only mentioned it as being one type of problem the coin could have that would make it worth less -- I don't see any evidence to suggest this is the case.

 

Hi Joel - I was actually referring to your Aunt, I did not see your post right before mine and thought that she might have recently passed. Good for you mom my mother-in-law will probably outlive me and she turns 80 next month...

Whizzing is like buffing - done to shine a coin up and try to remove minor surface scratches. Experience and a loupe help, an obviously worn coin that is too shinny might be one indication. Post large enough photos and people here can tell you.

Don't worry about the condition of the others, I know everyone would love to see them and maybe we can tell you something about them you didn't already know.

Best Regards,

Darryl

 

Your instincts are superb, Boris ! The 1849-D is a valuable piece. Get it certified.

It's hard to tell from the photo, but it doesn't appear to be cleaned. It has clear evidence of wear (Libby's hair above forehead, eagle's feathers), so I think it's XF, quite likely AU. Very spendy.

It has a nice strike - the word LIBERTY and the coronet are crisp all the way out to the tip. Nice coin with clean fields and good eye appeal; Dahlonega is not known for good crisp strikes like this one.

I would recommend NGC with instructions to send it to their brother division NCS if necessary - that way there's no way you waste time, insurance, and postage (registered mail on this one). It will come back slabbed one way or the other.

I think there's reason to be optimistic on this one, Mr. Gudinov !

 

Get it certified directly or through an expert?

Since first posting here, I've had contact with several reputable folks about evaluating / marketing the coin.

It's starting to make sense to me that marketing a valuable coin may be best done through someone who knows what they're doing. But before that happens, it needs grading, so I have some idea of what I've got and what it's worth. So the immediate questions to resolve are these:

(1) Even if I eventually market the coin through a dealer or auction house, is there anything to be gained by initially sending the coin for certification through an "expert", as opposed to on my own? In other words, will they receive better treatment, or somehow be able to better present the coin for grading?

(2) NGC or PCGS? 900fine's suggestion here is for NGC -- is there a reason why? I've also been told that it depends on the characteristics of the particular coin which place might grade it higher. Is that true? If so, that might be a good reason to make use an "expert" for submission.

Joel

 

Mixed opinions on this one. I am told that the graders have no idea where a piece came from - they simply grade the thing and move on. Others perceive a bias in favor of The Big Dogs, in which case I would submit it raw to Teletrade or Heritage and have them submit it.

The only reason I favored NGC is the risk that it will be considered altered in some way - whizzed, cleaned, etc. - and won't pass muster. PCGS and NGC have similar standards, but NGC has a brother affiliate named NCS which will slab it as AUTHENTIC and give a "details" grade. At that point the coin can be sold by the Big Dogs (Teletrade or Heritage).

PCGS, on the other hand, will simply return the coin to you in a plastic flip ("body bag") - so the whole exercise gained nothing.

I have no reason to suspect your coin would be body bagged ! It doesn't look cleaned - it looks fine. But I have only pictures to go on.

If "strong eyes" say it's not a problem coin, PCGS is a fine choice - roughly equal with NGC.

Excellent question. I dunno. I'm sure interested in the forum's opinions, though.

Very perceptive questions, Mr. Gudinov ! Oh... thanks for helping our Russian friends through the Time of Troubles.