17th coin graded by PCGS sells on GC for 6 figures!

an 1881 S Morgan in MS63 (with a bean!) no less. Thought to be the earliest graded PCGS coin still in the original holder. Anybody else think this is slightly over the top, at $119,062.12 all in??
link to Reddit thread with photo: https://www.reddit.com/r/coins/comments/1mn48eb/the_17th_coin_ever_graded_by_pcgs_auctioned/

 

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Looks like the Reddit thread has hit all the major points I'd make. I'm just as happy that my collecting interests don't draw me into bidding wars with the very very rich.

My 1881-S, handed to me by my grandfather, is a 62 at best. Not interested in trading.

 

Those collectors are mentally ill. I don't like "rattle holders" at all. Twenty-five years ago I used to pay have them re-holdered.

These guys just paid about 1,000 times what the coin is worth. It's an example of more money than brains on steriods.

 

Of course, there are lots of people in the country to whom the coin is worth $1, and they probably think we're mentally ill.

 

Sounds to me as if the bidding was on the slab instead of the coin.

 

I am talking about paying over $100,000 for an 1881-S which is one of the most common dates in Mint State in the whole Morgan Dollar series. Even if the coin is an MS-65 in an MS-63 holder, it's not worth that.

 

I think it's the ultimate refutation of "buy the coin, not the holder," LOL.

 

Yeah, but the coin could be a 1966 Lincoln cent in MS61, and the slab would probably still get the same bids.

As others have said, this is strictly bidding on the slab. Neither of us are slab collectors, so to us, it's nuts. But if there are two or more slab collectors willing to drop six figures on an "oldest known" slab, that's where this price comes from, and that's where there's potential for a speculator to get an even higher price in the future.

 

What's to stop CAC from not putting a sticker on another rattler?

 

I'm assuming even the bean is irrelevant to value here. The only thing relevant is the serial number 17, and the only thing that would diminish its "value" is a slab surfacing with a lower serial number. No one cares if that slab holds a circulated LMC or a Stella. (Okay, a Stella would matter. Let's say "...or a high-grade CC Morgan".)

 

Is my coin at least worth 50k?

 

I love the comment someone made, "That looks like a MS-64 to me. Should crack and regrade."

 

If someone wants to pay that much for a slab they deem historic, that's OK. Lots of things have their value in the history rather than the intrinsic value. That 1794 SP-65 dollar? Only worth about $35 in silver these days. Oh, well, if someone wants to pay more because of it's history, that's fine, too. That old painting for $100? Oh, it's a Rembrandt? That'll be a few million more.

 

Why not slab the slab to authenticate the holder? :-D

 

Pretty sure we had a thread going down that path a few years ago...

 

The sad part is, whoever paid $120,000 for that coin is likely a loaded, snobbish PCGS loyalist who wants the coin for nothing more than bragging rights, pats himself on the back for something he just went down a Grand-Canyon size hole to get, then goes to shows shaming dealers who didn't want to drop the $500,000 he's likely wanting out of it, muttering to himself that "the coin market must really be down nowadays, as I can't sell a single thing I've got", all while that coin is his only one as all his others were sold to a collector he ripped off, just to get this one coin that he'll likely lose on even if he digs out of his excruciatingly ridiculous hole an inch at a time, in a time of him being convinced he's the best collector the world had ever seen.

I know that's being oddly specific but that coin is such a so-called rarity that it's sickening. That's one reason I've never bought a Rattler holder. Everyone goes freaking nuts over them for a coin that you could buy in another PCGS holder for 1/2 of the price or less. I've tried but always get smoked like brisket.

 

It was an impressive result.
What makes it more interesting is that (according to Ian, who owns GC) the person who consigned this coin sent it in with a bunch of other rattlers not knowing there was anything special. Ian called to congratulate the consigner. That must have been a fun experience!

 

It’s just well that you didn’t get the rattler. I have one in my whole collection, an 1864 Large Motto Two Cent Piece.