XF45 VS AU50 w soft reverse strike

Here:

http://www.seateddollarvarieties.com/1840.shtml

 

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Top coin for your humble narrator here.

 

Oh, fun. Thanks, SuperDave. The XF45 is an OC-3. The reverse is clearly PB. No doubt. 350 estimated survivors, R-3. Thanks much.

 

Between the two, I'd choose the top coin. The surfaces are just generally much better. But, really, I'd wait for (and be prepared to pay for) a better one altogether.

 

I like the first one better. However, I would wait for a more-appealing example than the ones posted here.

The second coin is as low of AU as you can get. It has also been cleaned, and there is a scratch and rim ding at 9:00 on the obverse.

 

I much prefer the top, XF coin. seems to have a better patina and overall more "natural look" to it.

 

I agree.

If the choice were between the two coins, and I *had* to choose one of those two, I would easily choose the top one. The bottom one just looks like puke. The top one is slightly better - but the old dip and baggy surfaces bother me (the big marks above the eagle are particularly off-putting).

Luckily, there are thousands and thousands of other choices. Pass on both of these, and find something more original and eye appealing.

 

Sentiment appreciated. Unfortunately, for a set collector there are not anywhere near thousands and thousands of choices of first year of issue, 1840 dollars. They were only minted in Philly, had a reasonably small original mintage (about 61,000). In fact, their might be 2,000 existing, of which it's quite likely that 90% are much worse, heavily cleaned, much lower grade, etc. The next 5% or so are extremely expensive. Finding decent coins from 1840 isn't like collecting Morgans and I'm not in the 12,000 to 20,000 dollar market for this coin - which is what uncirculated coins go for. A high grade AU might bring mid 2 thousands. A decent XF45 about a grand. I wish you were right, but not in my price range. This 45 is one of the best I've seen so far. Many are really a mess.

I guess this is the obscure set collector's dilemma - as opposed to type collecting or set collecting where there are thousands to choose from.

I checked the CAC status on this issue. 7 1840 $1 with CAC - 25 finer. That's not many. CAC status is a pretty good indicator of the availability of high quality coins - not absolute, but a good indicator. And not all CAC stickered coins are "nice". So I guess that narrows it even further. Thousands? I wish!

But thanks, all of you who have been answering. I'm not so experienced with silver - great help all around!

 

This site is a recent effort, online in the last couple months, and the coolest thing to happen in numismatics in 2016 as far as I'm concerned. I'm a variety-hound, and it always irritated me that nobody was doing much with Seated Dollars.

Well, they have been.

 

I'll throw this one out there. Bought at auction about 7 years ago. In retrospect, probably an old dip and some retoning since.

 

Sorry, I thought you were buying for type (my assumption). I didn't realize you were looking specifically for the date.

The principle still stands, however - there are original examples out there, and it would be better to pass on these and wait for another one.

 

Thanks, never knew that; however, that "green" is something BAD and sniffer or not should have been seen by a grader UNLESS it became "active" after the coin was slabbed. Whatever it is, IMO it should be returned to TPGS and removed.

EDIT: Just looked at magnified OP coin again. IMO, That is the typical green contamination 99% of professionals would classify as PVC (no matter what it actually is).

 

Besides the things already listed above, I don't like the looks of the rim of the bottom one between 9:00-10:00, or the gash further up that Liberty is directly looking at as if she, too, disapproves.

 

If images are accurate, XF coin all day.

 

The top coin has a much better look, IMO.

 

Problem for a collector is that if I buy that coin I could never sell it - or certainly not without mentioning the green problem, which would likely mean a loss of 50% of its value. So it's a deal killer for me. Maybe PCGS would give the owner a letter saying it has been thoroughly tested and it can't be PVC contamination! No chance of that, is there?

 

One would think they'd have caught it. If we stipulate that's true, then what is it? Ain't toning. Ain't alloy impurity. And we regularly see good darn reasons not to believe PCGS is infallible here.

It's quacking. I see a duck. Wish I had the money to buy the coin and find out for sure.