Hi All, New to this thread but would appreciate any thoughts you may have. I'm posting 3 pictures of a 1861-S Liberty head $2.5. One (obviously mine) and two others from reputable auction houses. What I fail to understand, is how a stamped coin (all 1861, all from the same San Fransisco mint) have such major discrepancies in the size, space, alignment etc.. Could anyone please point me in the right direction? Some sell for $500 ($25k last sold 1861-S 2011 MS62) one rare liberty is on the market for $1.6M. A bit confused at the moment. Thanks in advance.
Different dies. Only some of the devices will be on the hub, the rest, including the date and mm are engraved on the die. As this was done by hand, different dies can have different spacing. These differences create die varieties. As die making has become more uniform on modern coins, it has become harder to tell coins struck from different dies apart, except when the dies deteriorate in different ways. There are still plenty of moderns with die varieties though (like the Washington quarter reverses for example).
I believe that in the 1860’s, mint marks were punched by hand by mint employees. So, there is a margin of error. As for the size, the mint used hundreds of dies per year, so some dies had different sized mint marks, letters, etc because they were engraved by hand. Coins are graded on a scale from 1 (the worst) to 70 (the best). Most of the time, higher grade=higher price. So, an MS62 Coin May sell for 25k, but an MS69 may sell for 2 million. As for your coin, it would help to have clear photos of the reverse and obverse. It looks like the reverse has been cleaned, which hurts the value.
Thanks, Colin Unfortunately as you may have seen, my coin is set in a ring which all coin lovers would hate. I have been told by a jeweller that it is done well an should not have caused any damage, but I will have to have it removed and take the risk that the coin will still have a value after removing. Thanks for you help.
Thanks Jaelus, what are your thoughts on the rarity of the coin? As you may have seen, mine is set in a ring so I am wondering if it is worth getting professionally removed and graded? Or just keep and give to the kids.
That coin in the ring is still going to have condition issues on the exposed face from being polished over time, even if they remove it from the ring without causing any damage. Perhaps XF40 Details.
The 1861 dies were from a hub so the only positioning differences should be in the date and mintmark.
The coin most certainly has damage and will not grade cleanly. A jeweller's perspective on damage is very different than a numismatic perspective on damage. Can you see the date on the other side of the coin? If not, how do you know this is an 1861? Honestly, I would consider leaving this in the ring, it may in fact be more valuable as a ring than it will be once removed.
