Standing Liberty Quarter Pattern: PCGS blew it; Heritage and NGC got it

Coin from an old collection submitted to Heritage via its NY office who sent it to PCGS. It came back with a details UNC grade as a regular issue 1916. It was sent to Dallas where Zeke Wischer took one look and saw it was a pattern. It was sent to NGC, who confirmed it as Judd-1989, and graded it PF61. Second known. Key difference is olive leaves existing beyond the horizontal line in the L of LIBERTY. See pic and see link.

Cal

link: https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/2018/07/second-1916-quarter-pattern-attributed.all.html

 

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OOF!

 

Not looking good for PCGS! With all the differences it has with a regular 1916 Standing it could of been a counterfeit and now their mistake of not seeing it as a JUDD-1989, it won't be in their holder! You never know what could walk through you're grading room so keep your eyes wide open!

 

Oaf........sometimes folks get too big in their britches...........

 

Im sure it was just a lable error on PCGS's part

 

Yeah Mechanical error ofcourse !!
Just another black mark against PCGS.
They have so many of these marks, they are blacker than old coalies azz.

NGC rules !!

 

In reading the article it appears Heritage didn't get it right the first time either. It wasn't until it came back from PCGS and inspected by Zeke Wischer that they knew about the possibility of the coin being a Pattern.

Is it possible that whoever submitted the coin to NGC put in a notation of Zeke Wischer's findings? If so, maybe NGC would have missed it also without the notation. With a total known pop of 1 at the time it would easily have been overlooked.

 

From what I've gathered, the coin was consigned raw along with some others from an old collection to Heritage's NY office. The NY office is not where Heritage's real numismatic experts work; they're in Dallas. In NY, there is probably just some preliminary sorting to determine whether coins might be fake and whether they are worth grading. Those deemed worth slabbing go off to PCGS or NGC. Not the least surprising that the NY office missed noticing the coin was a pattern. Coin was probably returned from PCGS directly to Dallas where it fell under the eye of Zeke Wischer, who had a an "aha" moment. Rest is history.

Yes, I'm sure Heritage provided NGC with evidence that the coin was a pattern, which made life easy for them. We'll never know if they would have detected it on their own. I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall to hear the conversation that must have occurred between Heritage and PCGS after Zeke made his discovery. Good chance Heritage gave PCGS a chance to make good on their goof, but got rebuffed. So coin was sent to NGC.

Cal

 

Reading the article it appears that it's missing the initials of the sculptor next to the date as well for identification....


Going to have to check my 1916's over to see if I have one.... oh, wait

 

‘Tis but a “Mechanical Error”

 

Not so fast. Looks like someone else with credentials disputes NGC's grade. Quote from the article.


“Second, all examples of this pattern were made on a normal toggle press so they would be ‘the natural product of the press.’ Since all ‘proof’ coins were made on a hydraulic medal press, the Hayes and candidate J-1989 cannot be proofs, except by extension of imagination.

“My conclusions are that candidate J-1989 as illustrated and described by NGC is a newly identified example of Judd 1989, and it was deliberately struck on a normal toggle press and therefore not a “proof” example. (The Hayes coin is also not a ‘proof.’)”

Maybe when someone grades it for a third time the label will be correct. Try sending it to ANACS on one of those specials they run. If they catch a local show with ANACS present then no shipping.

 

Whether it's a proof or business strike can be argued endlessly; so can the numerical grade. Historical mint records aren't always correct or complete, particularly regarding pattern coins. It's possible to strike a proof quarter on a toggle press, just not the usual practice at the time. Ultimately, it's down to examining the coin.

Cal