Share My Excitement Plz! New Purchase

Hello to everyone - I've been lurking for awhile....this is one of my favorite places to watch and learn. I'm a returning collector from my childhood and, as I reach my mid-life crisis, I'm looking to the hobby to rekindle my old passion and to meet new people.

I visited my first show in St. Louis this month and my objective was to acquire my first Seated Dollar (I won't be able to afford too many of these). The show had about 130 tables and most of the seated dollars were harshly cleaned.....very sad and very disappointing. I did see a beautiful $3500 version that I would have died to own, but I just don't have that kind of cash.

There was one dollar, however, that was calling my name. The mintage on this 1847 is only 140,000 and it was sold as AU condition. Will the experts on the board indulge me with your grading skills? What grade would you assign? (Forgive the pictures, my first time ever shooting a coin)



Obverse detail



Reverse



Reverse detail



OK, what do ya think?

:hail:

 

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WOW - welcome to the forum, nice way to start. Well not sure how to grade these, looks real nice to me. Nothing bothers me on that coin - so AUish looks like a good grade to me. Very nice coin!

 

Is the coin more lustrous in hand than in your images? If so I like it as an AU, if not it has likely been over-dipped. Either way it has great details and you can get a good idea of what the coins looked like when it was new.

Nice pick up.

 

BTW, welcome to the ranks of a posting member, lol. We will enjoy your input.

 

Welcome to the forum, great way to return! First off, glad to see that you are learning before you are buying! Seems like you know a few things about the Seated dollars, very good. :thumb: Secondly, very nice detail on her, I'd grade her AU, except like Cave Troll said, is there more luster in hand, than the pics show? If so, nice coin. If not, still a nice coin, just messed with IMHO. :thumb:

Phoenix

 

Very nice. Did you get that at the show at the airport hilton in St. Louis? Myself and fellow forum member tcore were hanging out at that show. I found a couple nice coins to take home too. Welcome to the forum, and don't be a stranger.

 

Welcome aboard. That's a nice coin you bought to restart the hobby. The only Seated Lib dollars I have are either holed or counterfeit.

What do you plan to collect? Seated Lib dollars are quite expensive to collect (as you surely know). That coin would look great in a type set.

 

Cleaning?

I don't think it has been cleaned, but if so, it would have been a long time ago and only lightly. The pictures don't pick up the toning throughout the fields which gives it some luster (this especially doesn't show well with the reverse pictures).

I've got a lot to learn in photography. I took these pictures without a flash using mostly natural light from a nearby window on the left of the photo.

My local coin club president who viewed it at the show thought it was an AU-53. And, yes, I did buy it at the show at the St. Louis Hilton. I was very pleased with the price!

And, for those who might visit another board, I may post these pictures, inexact as they are, again because I'm a proud papa.

 

Gorgeous coin. I would grade it at a minimum of au-53. 55 definitely is not out of the question IMO.

 

Another pic

This still doesn't do the coin justice, but might help a little bit in showing some of it's luster!



The other coin I purchased from the show is an 1850 Braided Large Cent which I would grade in AU, but not on the early copper grading scale that a very nice dealer explained to me at the show.

My plan is to, ever so slowly, to try and mimic this collector's 7070 set (hey, I'm dreaming big, but I know there is no way I'll do what this gentleman has done - I only kept his link and I don't know who to credit - needless to say, he is an inspiration):

http://mysite.verizon.net/w2up3/dansco_7070/type_set.htm

My next conquest is to purchase a Draped Bust Large Cent, but I will have to save to afford the condition I would like!

 

So you are a type collector. Cool.

 

Welcome to the forum and nice coin.
I own but one myself in similar condition so I say MS70!
Just kidding but AU no problem.

 

Welcome, and very nice type set.
That barber dime is beautiful!

 

Welcome to the forum of rekindled coin passionists. lol. Very nice coin. I don't have any of these as of yet. You're making me interested in them though.

 

welcome to the forum and nice dollar!

 

welcome to CT. I like it as a Au, I'd trade you for my 1865 in EF-45. Your coin looks great, nice pick up.

 

"Nice Coin." Greetinga and Welcome to the forum.

Take Care
Ben

 

Congrats. Like others, I wonder where the luster is. A nice coin, regardless.

 

Don't wonder......just bad pictures........I'm a rook at taking macro pictures and my lighting was very poor. Anyway, you'll just have to take my word that there is some luster that just doesn't come through . Heavily lustered? No. Slightly lustered? Yes, as I would expect an AU coin to possess. Realizing you don't have that visual evidence, Leadfoot, what level of AU would you grade the coin under the assumption that luster exists?

Thank you to all.......I am :hatch: just emerging back into the hobby. Taking it slow, learning as much as I can, going for quality over quantity, trying not to get ripped off, and looking for value (I paid $560 for this coin, down from his best offer of $650). CDN has this series rising and I'm just juiced to own one.

 

I do not agree with your assumption, but I'd grade the coin AU 50 or 55 details, but would likely net down the coin to XF 45 for the luster or lack thereof....Mike

p.s. I suspect the reason why you got the coin for what you did (essentially high-end XF money) is because of the lack of luster and likelihood that the coin was dipped or cleaned at some point robbing the coin of luster. If that coin was a true AU, it would likely fetch twice the money -- part of the reason you should be "wary" when buying coins for "a good deal". Generally (but not always) there's a reason for that.