This coin currently resides in a straight graded PCGS holder. What would you grade it at? What do you think PCGS graded it at?
Straight grade? I'm not even sure that it's a coin. All I can think of is struck on one of those planchets that was soaking in sea water in a keg on the trip across the Atlantic. But I can't recall what coin that was. I suspect PCGS will call it a "mechanical error."
I can’t even tell what type of coin it is, if it is a coin. Is there a grade below P-1? I never thought about it but this item makes me think it a AP grade but I’m not sure how that scale goes. AP is Almost Poor.
PCGS called this monstrosity AG3. I firmly believe this coin should have been put in a details holder.
I figured it to be a Summers Island (a.k.a. Bermuda), but that was mostly based on the fact that it's the only coin in the Red Book that could be this bad which could get a grade. I saw pieces of the ship which helped lead me to that conclusion. Using Dr. Sheldon's orginal scale, this piece would have been less than Basal State-1 because it is totally corroded. How it got a AG-3 from PCGS is beyond my imagination. I have a 1799 cent which is straight graded VG-8. It's corroded, but everything is there to the level of a VF. My 1799 looks like an MS-60 compared to this.
I agree with you 100%...... I mean, if PCGS wants to stay "the best", then why would they even holder that period? That pitting can't be mint-made. LOL, VG-8 bid is $12,000, but for an "AG-3" like that I might give you $100 for it. There really should be an AP-0.5. This one would be AP-0.5 details, falling between these two (P-1 vs ungradable).
Do you recall which coin it was where barrels of the planchets were corroded by sea water but they struck them anyway? Or am I misremembering it?
I have read that the planchets which were used for the 1799 cents were soaked in seawater before they arrived from England. It was common for ships to have some seawater in their holes, and if the planchets were stored there, they got a bath. The speculation was that the mint cleaned the planchets before they struck cents on them, but damage was done. It one of the main reasons why 1799 cents are seldom found with nice color. Adding to the problems for that issue was the fact that the dies were incorrectly mounted in the coin press. That usually resulted in weakness in the date area and the corresponding place on the reverse. Sometimes the “LIBERTY” is weak, and the date is strong, but that is the exception.
I knew it was a Sommer Islands coin because of how nasty it is- they usually are. Most are detector finds, and Bermuda's climate and soil conditions were not very friendly to them over four centuries in that environment. I guess PCGS "graded it on the curve" and gave it some leeway because of that. Not saying I agree with that- I certainly wouldn't deem it worthy of a straight grade.
PCGS GUIDE VALUE 6,500.... nope hogge money because of the porcine image on the front of each coin. (Copper metal)
