How Can This Happen??

What a jaw dropper. Taking a breather at the office and plundered the Heritage Auction site. How in heavens name can a 213 year old half be this immaculate? Jeez what a stunner! It isn't odd for a coin to take my breath away. But jeez this has to be the loveliest lady I ever laid eyes on..... Does it get any better than this??

 

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You, too, can bid! (assuming you don't already own the coin)

 

Yeah.... If I could figure out how to collect the life insurance on my wife before bid day!

 

Lol...isn't that why coin collectors get married?

 

https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/1-1DNCU

PCGS MS 65 CAC which was the Pogue coin and is quite the looker

 

That coin must have hid away somewhere for a very long time. It would be interesting to know where.

 

Well... That was certainly an answer to my question!

 

And really... That is where my mind was. I am a blast white kind of guy anyway. I own a lot of early-mid 19th century halves. The lack of toning.... Everything about it makes a fellow wonder how this could have been preserved in such an immaculate state. I don't think for the most part folks in the 19th century were paying much attention to optimum storage conditions for their coins.

 

I am NEVER going to marry a guy who has any interest in collecting coins, stamps, books, tools, fishing lures, cuff links or even pocket squares.

 

((((Putting all that stuff away that she mentioned)))

 

I'm with you. That coin checks all the boxes. Great detail. Great history. A hint of toning, but not too much (I'm not a big toning freak). Definitely way out of my league.

 

Time machines, and don’t let these guys tell you any different.

 

Dad always taught us that a toned coin was a damaged coin (PM surface alteration). He added that toning often hides other unsightly blemishes and should be avoided.

Dad would say, "The goal of collecting uncirculated coins is to find (and store) examples in a condition as close as possible to the moment they fell from the die."

I don't know if he was right or not ("Toners" disagree), but I still follow his advice. "Brilliant Uncirculated" (BU) used to mean something. Today it means AU-58.

 

I'm almost afraid to ask...what would you like his interests to be?

 

I collect almost everything you mentioned plus a few you didn't. My wife married me knowing this and she's happy with me. She gets upset every time I mention that she should trade me in but she just gets upset and says I'm I keeper despite my faults. Guess it pays to take care of your mother-in-law. lol

 

That is s beautiful coin Randy. Looks to have been tucked away shortly after it was minted.

 

Not to start a debate with toning enthusiasts ("collect what you like!") but I'm in your dad's camp.

I like a mint state coin to bear a reasonable resemblance to the state it was in when it left the mint. A little golden toning around the perimeter is OK and can often be quite attractive (as with the coin Randy posted), but I find heavy toning to be a distraction rather than an enhancement. And, to your dad's point, it is a form of damage.

Just one collector's opinion.

 

That IS a nice one -- even considering that it was struck recently and with technology developed in the industrial revolution.

Here's a lovely lady -- on a coin the size of a dime -- almost as fresh as when she left the mint 1850 years ago. Look at all those metal-flow lines!

 

OPs coin is just a second mortgage away!