Anatomy of a coin buy -- and my color-of-the-rainbow Matte Proof Lincoln collection

1913 Matte Proof Lincoln. (PCGS PR64BN) "Taste the Rainbow!"

I have an incredibly lucky million-to-one shot story on how I was able to acquire this striking 1913 Matte Proof Lincoln.



It started off with me finding this 1913 Matte Proof Lincoln on CoinFacts .... and then deciding to target this (for attempted acquisition) because, along with my other two Matte Proof Lincolns, this new addition would allow my small 3-coin MPL collection to cover the full spectrum of the rainbow (red-orange-yellow-green-blue-indigo-violet). Something which I thought would be an incredible feat and cool to look at.

I started off my "cyber hunt" on the PCGS Cert Verification page, hoping that the current coin owner might have this coin in a registry set, and if their email option was switched on, I would be able to send an email query to the coin owner. However the PCGS Cert Verification page listed no related Registry Sets.

Next, I started to wonder if my attempts to "cyber stalk" would be considered illegal or unethical so I posted my efforts on a thread on the PCGS-run Collectors Universe Coin Forum. I was hoping for two outcomes:
1.) getting feedback if my attempts to contact the owner might be frowned upon
2.) hoping that someone might recognize the coin and know the owner

Then when I hit a dead end on that thread, I emailed my good friend Robec asking him if he knew any methods of hunting down a coin owner in order to make a purchase offer.

It turned out that Robec actually photographed this coin about 5 years ago and recognized it (good memory!) and not only that, still had the email address of the owner (at that time).

Unsure if the email address would still work, he sent a query email to the "years-ago owner" of this coin.

We were both shocked when that old owner emailed Robec within the hour, that he not only still owned the coin, that he was at that very moment filling out the paperwork to consign this coin to Heritage Auctions for sale. The seller then pulled the coin and said he would sell it directly to me. Two days later I met the coin owner in a shopping mall parking lot about 30 miles away from my house, where I exchanged an envelope with $995 in cash for this beautiful violet 1913 Matte Proof Lincoln (a 1.66x color premium I was more than happy to pay). (The seller was actually driving from NJ to Ohio and passed within striking distance of my house).

I actually felt SO LUCKY over the previous few days' events that I went and bought a Powerball Lottery Ticket because I thought I must be on a huge lucky streak to have all this good fortune on my million-to-one shot paying off. (No I didn't win the lottery.)

What were the odds that Robec had photographed that coin 5 years ago and would remember it? And that he still had a 5 year old email address of the coins owner at that time? And that the old email address still worked allowing contact with that old owner? And the the coins owner still HAD the coin in his possession? And that the coins owner was at the very moment in the process of filling out the paperwork to sell the coin on Heritage? If that is not the longest of longshots, I don't know what is.

In any case, this is the latest update to my little 3 coin Matte Proof Lincoln collection:



I know it's silly, but one of the reasons that I wanted to buy a 1913 Matte Proof Lincoln as my 3rd coin was it would give me 1 coin in each row and each column of my digital coinboard. I am a sucker for symmetry and I just like the way that looks.

So here is my rainbow spectrum covered:


ROY G BIV
Red (1914 MPL)
Orange (1909 MPL)
Yellow (1909 MPL)
Green (1909 MPL)
Blue (1914 MPL)
Indigo (1913 MPL)
Violet (1913 MPL)

It's pretty amazing what that sulfur-laden tissue paper in which the U.S. Mint wrapped these coins (before shipping them out) did to these early proofs. It seems no two coins toned quite the same way.

It's also interesting that colorfully toned and attractive 1913 MPLs are actually kind of rare. Most are either red (RD) or red-brown (RB). This lavender colored brown (BN) 1913 is very unusual for that year.

I hope you all enjoyed my little coin tale!

 

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A beautiful coin and a cool story of it's acquisition. One thing you cannot help but notice is that the early Lincolns had a wonderful high relief compared to these modern shallow spaghetti haired monstrosities.

 

They are soooooooo beautiful! Great story!

 

Beautiful.

 

Luck has nothing to do with it. Who you know has everything to do with it. Very nice new coin, and I think you got a smoking good deal on it also -- I would have thrown $1K at that coin in a heartbeat.

 

This was a definite case of the Perfect Storm in reverse.

Who you know is important for sure, but without a little luck, such as old contact still being current and coin still in possession, this happy story would be just another footnote in the "where are they now" chapter of missing coins.

You can also add cosmic timing to the scenario. This 1913 could very easily have been consigned any time during the last 5 years. As it has turned out most, if not all, of the coins I photographed for this owner 5 years ago are now owned by someone else.

The chance of this coin still being in his possession and being consigned the very day that WL began his search is mind boggling.

I love stories with happy endings. The coin couldn't be in better hands.

 

What a beautiful set of coins! Congratulations! When I read your post and viewed the beautiful spectrum filling coins, I wondered if you ever found a replacement for the "PCGS 1892 Genuine Toned Quarter Dollar Coin"?

Regardless, those cents are beautiful toned specimens!! :thumb:

 

Beautiful coins and wow, what a story.

 

A Collectors Universe Forum member named 960coins, came up with a cool new term for this type of collecting ...

"Spectrum-based Collecting"

Might this be the start of a new trend?

One thing is for certain ... it's a difficult task! Especially if you limit it to PCGS and/or NGC graded coins.

 

No I never did! But thank you for your generous purchase last year!! You made my whole year.

 

Awesome story, sometimes things just work out the right way. Beautiful coin.

 

Congrats! Great story!

 

Sure, there was some luck involved but I would like to use the story to validify one of my favorite sayings.

Chance favors the prepared, hardworking, and knowledgable....

Beautiful coin

Mike

 

Excellent story.

 

Amazing coin! It's splendid