Featured 1858/7 Flying Eagle Cherrypick

I was quite surprised when this fell into my lap. I saw the die chip above the date, and I immediately knew what this was. This Die pair was significantly misaligned at some point in its use and struck these coins very weakly. Bill Fivaz has verified my find and thought it would grade AU-50. I was in the EF range, but this is the first of this variety I have handled.

The planchet has a lot of “woodgrain” streaking.

 

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Awesome pick, Congrats!!! Broken right wing is a definite match.

 

Great find. There was a time 10 years ago when these went for big time money. They go for much less today, but I'd still die to find one. Well, I did once.... but it was a VG. LOL

 

It is definitely the strong variety. The 7 is extremely clear even without a loupe. Let me get another picture.

I also thought cleaned, but Bill said no. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

A PCGS MS-65 Strong Variety with the same strike weakness.

 

Looks original to me.

 

Different lighting.

 

Neat find! Is the weakness due to weak dies?

 

Weak strike and misaligned dies

 

Don't send it to PCGS right now. They graded every coin in my last order 1 grade lower than expected.... 1 grade lower than they used to. NGC has been getting WAY more business from me. And their economy service is nearly 3 times faster. 21 actual days as opposed to 50 something for PCGS!

 

I was planning on sending it to NGC. I have an accumulation of coins waiting to be sent in.

 

PCGS has been a mess for a long time, variety attribution is a joke, slow as molasses, and silly grading.

 

Very nice find, TC!

 

I've never sent a coin to PCGS, but from what I've heard they're very slow and are grading one grade lower that you would expect. Send them to NGC.

 

I also can confirm suspicion about 1 grade lower from PCGS recently. If they are going to do this, I wish they would change the label to prevent further confusion.

 

A beautiful coin, but in my half vast opinion, a weak strike but EF45.

 

Over the years, I have cherrypicked 3 of them:
1- F
1- VF
1- XF

 

The lower grades and longer turnaround is definitely not good for the quick seller or dealer, but couldn't one make the case that the more conservative grading is good for long-term reputation and therefore value? If what I've heard is accurate, loosening of grading standards is what significantly hurt ANACS and ICG reputation and values.