I am looking for some opinions as to the extent polishing of this cent affects its value. While I am not an avid collector of Indian Head cents, I have accumulated a nearly complete set of them over the years, and this is one of the few that I am missing. This one was supposed to be at an auction I attended some time back. I had recommended to the auctioneer (a friend of mine) that it be sent off for authentication, and it had not yet come back when everything else was sold. About a dozen people signed up as being interested in this coin when it was returned. It was sent off to NCS/NGC, and it came back as genuine, XF details, polished. I am interested in seeing what opinions those more knowledgeable than myself in this area would have regarding a fair market value. I am still interested in this coin even though it has obviously been polished. The reverse is very dark, as these coins were in an old homemade display case that used a cottony material as backing against the coins. Indications are that these coins were put in the case around 1902, and at some point were packed into a box and stored in an attic. Attached are some pics of an 1880 in similar condition from the same sale. I tried to take some quick pics, but the lighting was not good, so I apologize for the quality. While the polishing lines are easily visible, these pictures, especially of the obverse, seemed to greatly exaggerate them. In hand it does not look quite so bad. I was unable to come close to how the color appears, which was my goal.
My personal opinion is that the polishing ruined the coins. To me the polishing takes the eye appeal away from the coin. To me the 1880 is good for a whitman or harris fold so hopefull it tones up and maybe makes the polishing look less severe. As for an 1877 I would have to see it before I determined what I would bid. I know others will pay outrageous prices(my opinion) for problem coins, but I would rather have a problem free lower grade coin. While 1877's are key dates plenty of problem free coins exist - to me(and yes I have some problem coins) I have to see them to determine if I like the way they look. Yes I have seen some cleaned coppers that I did not think looked that bad - in my opinion.
PS - you can always look on Heritage for prices on cleaned and polished 1877's. Also compare prices for eye appeal also. Just my opinion.
A cleaned coin is just that a cleaned coin. Would I take this coin? Darn right but at a reduced price do to the fact all the lustre has polished away. The coin will retone in time. Get a good price. Let us know what happens.
Darn! someone beat me to those exact words. The thing here is are you interested in selling or keeping. If your into this as a hobby, who cares if cleaned, polished, waxed, etc. it's yours. Do with it as you want. If your only interested for selling, then ?????????
My exonumia collection has many problem tokens in it, but cleaning/polishing often has little/no impact upon value for this area of collecting. So many tokens have single or double digit populations that often even holed and damaged examples are still highly sought. That is why I am seeking the advice of others where I am in unfamiliar waters. I know the rules are different with regular coinage, but I haven't played by them in nearly 40 years. Of the coins I bought at that auction, many were cleaned/polished, and on average I paid about 25% of Redbook value. Good deal? Bad deal? Personally, I was happy with them. For example, the 1880 above I consider to have XF details (polished), and I won it with a $5 bid. I had not thought of checking Heritage, I will do that, thanks.
My interests are only from a hobbyist aspect, and as I alluded to above, a cleaning does not really bother me. I do not plan to sell this should I purchase it, nor any other part of my collection. At this point my concern is determining a fair value for it before I place any bids.
I would start at half price on a polished coin of this date and type. I'm saying that without an image. How bad is it polished? What is the color? If it's red and polished to death it's worth less. If worked on lightly it's worth a bit more.
The 1877 looked very similar to the others of the same era that were in the case. I will have to see if I can get photos of the 1880 tomorrow that are closer to the actual colors. Thanks for all of the input thus far.
Of course it is very very difficult to offer pricing on an unseen coin, but if the polishing is about the same on the EF 1877 as the coin shown, I would think that a VF price would be a good starting point of negotiation ( the dark back would certainly be a further negative depending on extent). JMHO. Jim
cleaned xf 1877 are still selling for $1500 to $2000 at heritage. i thought that one look pretty good. an uncleaned ngc/pcgs 1877 in xf is only selling for about $500 higher though
