Found this beauty at a local coin shop. Probably around an XF-40. But the best thing about an honest coin like this is that you can hold it in your hands without fear. It's not like it's an MS-64 or MS-65 which are so delicate that if you breath wrong around them they might lose a whole grade. I love holding old gold. Puts a smile on my face.
My scale says it's 0.135 Troy OZ total weight. Specs are 0.1344. Were these not 100% precise with weight? Dimensions are all good. Plus it comes from a highly reputable well known shop, so I'm not worried about authenticity. Just wondering whether my scale is ever so slightly off or whether the mint back then was "Oh well, close enough to specs, send it out!"
Very nice. I've yet to find an Indian. Something to be said about buying graded though. There is said to be more fakes or copies then original pieces.
Yeah, I'm not interested in buying plastic. I get all my bullion from APMEX. I bought this one on a whim from this coin shop because I know they've been in business for 40+ years and have a tremendous reputation here in the area. They deal in everything from Bullion to numismatics materials, to ancient coins, and rare notes. It's not a fly by night operation. I've bought some real gems over the years (I first bought from them 20 years ago) and never had any issues. I trust these guys. Plus I'm not a novice, while this is my first quarter eagle in my personal collection, I've held enough of them in my life to know what they should look and feel like. I'm just wondering if my scale is just a hair off or if old US gold coins ranged slightly in weight (ie...it wasn't a perfect science down to the last 0.001 of an ounce)
That's the weight in gold, but these are only 90% gold and the rest is copper. You just gave me the gold weight in them, but these are not .999 gold. The full weight including the copper is 0.1344 Troy oz.
Nice quarter eagle, there's some scratches but that ain't nothing, adds character! Hope you paid a good price!
The nice thing about a coin with character like that, ie...XF-40 or around there, is that they are not safe queens. It's ok to hold them once in a while, something you wouldn't want to necessarily do with an MS or an AU coin. So I don't mind some scratches here or there and a little honest wear. It's still beautiful enough that it's a nice example, and the holding it with bare hands is a huge PLUS. As far as price, $420 cash. I looked the prices in a recent catalog and price is listed as $490. My guess is that probably slabbed ones will hit that high, so I think paying $70 less for a raw example is fair. Plus with these coins there's not a huge price disparity between VF-35 and XF-45, so I felt confident that even if I misgraded the coin in my head, the difference in price is not enough to make me feel terrible. I definitely would not buy raw if the difference between one or two grade levels was hundreds or thousands. In that case I'd probably buy slabbed and then crack it out (that will make most US collectors scream in pain, LOL). I'm no expert grader by any means. Just a long time collector with a love for old coins and bullion/bars.
Better functioning search today. U.S. $2.50 Indian Specifications: Size: 0.1209 Ounces Denomination: 2 1/2 Dollars Gross Weight: 4.18 grams, 0.1344 oz. Troy Actual Gold Weight: 3.76 grams, 0.1209 oz. Troy Fineness/Composition: .900 Gold, 21.6 Karat Diameter: 18.00 MM, 0.7086 Inches Thickness: 1.2 MM, 0.047 Inches Specific Gravity: 17.17
Well, I ran it through a SIGMA machine and it checks out, not that I doubted it, so that still leaves me with my original question of whether my scale is not accurate enough (despite calibrating it and it appearing to check out just fine) or whether the mint came extremely close to specification on these old coins, but there are slight variances on all of them depending on the batch. My money is on the mint back then having a looser tolerance (ie. 0.01 or so) being "close enough". Either way, this is not a critical thing, just me pondering an issue probably 99.99% of collectors these days wouldn't give a darn about, especially when just about everyone and their mothers buy slabbed coins today. I'm one of the few who buys raw bullion and raw old coins, and will avoid coins with super high numismatic premium due to grade. And in the rare instance I buy a coin from my local coin dealer that had no business being slabbed (ie. a super common gold coin in a very common grade or a super common Morgan in an average grade --coins that the plastic adds no premium to) I use a hammer to free them from captivity and stick them in an airtight instead.
