A Year in the Life of a Seated Dollar (in pics)

Earlier this year, I renewed my interest in this great hobby after being away since a child. One of my first objectives was to find and buy a seated dollar since I liked large coins, the series had low mintages, and I loved the eagle on the back. So, off I went in February with a mentor to my first coin show in:



Ah a wonder to behold - around 300 dealers and I searched the bourse carefully seeing many examples. Even to my untrained eye I could tell that many for sale were harshly cleaned. One dealer that I asked who did not have one said “Oh, those are going for moon money” which was kinda cool since I’d never heard that term before! Alas, I found one from a dealer from Iowa. It was calling to me and I found it irresistible. I had my mentor examine it and, after telling me it had an old cleaning, he helped me negotiate a price for XF money. I had no illusions that it would grade, nor did I care then. Here are pics of the coin:



Scratch on reverse shield is on the plastic:



I posted about the coin here at CoinTalk and asked for opinions about the grade. Lots of varied opinions were offered, after all, it is a challenge to grade from pictures. I remember Leadfoot was especially instructive as to pointing out the insufficient luster on the coin which hurt its chance for a higher grade.

As I gained more knowledge about the hobby and watched CDN prices rise for my acquisition, I decided that I’d try to see if I could get it certified. So, when I attended the Central States show in Chicago in April, I went to see:



Certainly, this well know guru would give me insights on my coin and its chances with NGC. After taking a moment of his time to kindly review, David Lange said that he felt the coin was an AU and would likely certify with his company (of course, there are no guarantees). Thus, I was excited by this possibility since getting the coin in a slab would enhance its future salability – not important to some, but it was to me.

In August, I had my mentor send it in to NGC for certification. The coin was reviewed and I received this back in the mail:



I was depressed, but I still liked my wonderful dollar with only 140,750 minted. After all, just because NGC didn’t feel the love didn’t mean I needed to abandon my appreciation for this lovely lady. So, I dropped the issue of having it slabbed.

Time passed and as I read the various coin boards regularly, I became familiar with the excellent reputation of Mark Feld, a vest pocket dealer out of San Diego:


http://www.markfeldcoins.com/

In November, I asked him to send to PCGS on my behalf and I sent my dollar to him for review. He was dubious it would slab, but if so, he felt it would grade at AU. There was a chance it would end up in a “Genuine” holder. He generously took the coin with him to the Baltimore show to get the opinion of other dealers. They suggested it was XF and to send it in to PCGS and so Mark did.

In December, the coin was returned to me as this:



Yeehaw! My objective was realized and I am glad it made it into their plastic, especially with an AU grade. So, just because a certification service body bags a coin doesn’t mean it will never certify. I guess that is the lesson of this post!

So, my Seated Dollar has had quite a journey in 2008. From an Iowa dealer to be sold at a St. Louis, MO show to my home in Indiana to then be reviewed in Chicago, IL and sent to NGC in Florida, back to Indiana, and lastly to both a CA dealer (with a stop in Baltimore) and PCGS in CA before coming home for XMAS to Boiler nation! (got to insert that Purdue reference)

I wonder if she received her frequent flyer points?

 

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Wonderful post and good lesson. Thanks.

 

Wow, what a lesson. I have to think about this before I post more. Many different lessons here -- veracity of TPG's original cert, potential of multiple submissions, original quality of your mentors grade... etc. A lot to think about. Thanks.
John

 

Glad for you Cat , nice guys do finish 1st , beautiful coin BTW .
rzage

 

I very rarely nominate a thread. This one is worthy.

Why? It shows how fickle grading services can be (the "good" ones} while showing the beauty of a raw coin.

Nice coin Dan.

clembo

 

NGC also does it for world coins

 

you would think a lot less of them if you saw how stupidly they grade indian coins. sigh its a tragedy

 

Great story, and one I'm sure many of us can relate to. Thanks for sharing your experience!

Two questions....

I gotta ask you, did your opinion of the coin change from the time it was first bodybagged at NGC and then slabbed by PCGS?

Has this experience changed your perception of NGC being more tight than PCGS (the common assumption being the opposite is true)?

 

p.s. cleaned or not cleaned, slabbed or not, that's a well above average seated dollar, IMO.

 

I must admit that I really don't care for Seated Liberty coinage, but this thread was a real pleasure to read. I loved every bit of it. Congrats on getting it graded. Fantastic Thread! :high5:

 

No to question one. The coin is the coin, regardless of the plastic (however, I do really hate the new NGC holder).

Regarding question two, I have only sent a handful of coins for certification so my perception is uninformed and incomplete. However, I have learned a lot about coins and grading since I bought the coin (with so much more to learn!). I think with some borderline coins, the TPGs are more often a crapshoot.

 

Great story with lessons for all to enjoy

Hello Catbert,
The seated dollar is WELL ABOVE average and you provided a great story! Thank you for the posting.
Very best regards,
collect89

 

Catbert,

My question is: Was the coin submitted to PCGS with your name or Mark Feld as the Submitter? If the latter, then this was probably a case of PCGS certifying and grading the coin due to the person's reputation and who you know. Mark Feld is well known in the Coin Collecting and Dealing circles and I believe that PCGS would be more apt to certify and grade a coin submitted by him than someone virtually unknown to them. Also, if the latter is truly the case and had you submitted the coin to PCGS instead of Mark, there is a high likelihood that it would have come back Bodybagged!


Frank

 

Frank - I made the same supposition, but was told by Mark that the graders do not know who submitted a coin. It is completely anonymous and he should know!

 

My question to everyone is - was the coin improperly cleaned? What is the real definition of improperly cleaned? As far as I am concerned I can see the cleaning, but it is still a nice looking coin. In my opinion I do not have a problem with it in this slab.

 

These were my thoughts as well. This was very interesting for me. I was surprised that PCGS slabbed it after NGC rejected but maybe I shouldn't be.

 

Catbert,

That is not totally the case! Many times, the graders are advised that a big submission is coming in from a regular customer and they sometimes know who it is by the writing included in the mylar flip. Also, talk spreads through any Business no matter how small or large it is. Due to some folks reputation such as Mark's, don't you think that news of a submission from him/them would eventually make it's way into the Grading Room??!!


Frank

 

very interesting.