I'd like to purchase a gold half eagle. The eye appeal of the coin is off the charts, at least to me. Buying the best coin I can afford is important. My 2007 Red Book has good guidelines for dealer prices. Could any collector give their opinion on this coin in VF-20, EF-40 and AU-50? Date and mintmarks are not that important. Dealers web sites seem to overprice the coin. eBay is expensive, add in shipping and it doesn't seem to be feasible. With gold bouncing up and down ( up $26.00 today ) can I assume dealers will take this into consideration? If you'd like please comment on the eye appeal of the half eagle.
It is a beautiful coin. No doubt about it. For me it was a must have. Had to get one. I was able to pick up a 1909 about a year ago on a dealer bid board. Not the best example out there by any means but it's mine. If you start watching prices and shop around you can see the prices are moving. The thing to look out for is fakes. It would be a terrible experience to fork over 300 bucks and find out it is not authentic. Mine came with a return policy from a reputable dealer. Maybe that's all you can hope for and just take the plunge. Of course then I had to get a safe deposit box to store trinkets like this!
$20 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle ~ BU Arguably the most beautiful coin ever designed. A bit out of my price range.
This is one of the hardest coins to grade. Must be at least VG I would guess. Maybe F-12. I didn't pay any more than F-12 money for it.
Sined - I've got to agree with you on the beauty of this coin. In shopping around, I wanted to get a slabbed version because I did not trust my eye for forgeries. I bought a 1911 NGC MS-60 and thought I might submit for an upgrade since I thought it looked great. Well, I was disabused from that notion when I showed the coin to David Lange of NGC when I was at the Central States show in April. He told me that it appeared the coin's face showed evidence of being lightly swiped or polished. He said that my Indian might not even maintain the 60 if resubmitted! So, I was upset about that but also relieved to have an expert's judgement that I had a problem coin despite the slab. I found a buyer for my coin at the show and then bought a PCGS MS61 1909-D (I too didn't care about the date) from a dealer there. I carefully inspected for wear and field scratches. I wanted a MS since I wanted to capture fully the feather detail. Anyway, I love this type and want to get the $10 Indian too. I think those two are better, IMHO, than the St. Gauden's coin in terms of design that appeals to me. My recommendation is that you should be very careful to be sure you get a real coin and that you don't overpay for the condition. The 1912 picture you posted has a strong reverse with only slight wear on the top of the wing. On the obverse, it looks either XF or AU to me. Beyond the scratch at the top of the coin, are there other scratches in the fields? I think the picture is hiding this somewhat given the wear in the feathers.
This was a coin I had been staring at in books, on websites and ebay for the last few years. To finally have one was a dream. I've had to previously sell of some of my more expensive coins in order to pay other bills but this is one that I will never be saying goodbye to. Go for it, you'll hold it in your hand and stare at it for hours.
I have heard that sometimes the top grading firms grade cleaned, wiped coins. The motive is unclear. Either the coin slips by with the cleaning unnoticed, or some trickery/bribery has been pointed at by other collectors a bit more cynical. Also I have heard that a cleaned coin is graded because it still has market appeal. Anyway today at my coin dealer I looked at a nice 1857 Seated half dollar graded XF-45 by NGC. No mention of any cleaning on the slab. Just a straight XF-45. But darn it the coin looks cleaned. Well then you run into the whole nightmare of fake slabs too. It's a unanswered question in my mind why an obviously cleaned coin would be graded by a top company.
I took some pictures of my Indian Gold (this is the PCGS MS61 coin that replaced the NGC MS60 1911 polished one) today using natural, indirect, afternoon light. I wanted to post them on this thread and I'm sorry but I don't know how to make them side by side or how to resize them into thumbnails. Perhaps someone can give me a quick pointer? Here ya go! Isn't it beautiful?
I think the reason that question exist in your mind, and the minds of many others, is because a lot of people don't really understand the policy that the TPG's follow in regard to cleaning. The major TPG's will absolutely slab cleaned coins, there are literally millions of them slabbed by NGC, PCGS, ANACS and ICG. But, there is major distiction - they will not slab coins they deem to have been harshly cleaned. In other words, some cleaning is acceptable and some cleaning is not. It is in this judgement that people get confused.
I guess what bothers me is that some companies like ANACS place the designation [cleaned] on the slab and the others don't.
ANACS makes it even more confusing. They will slab cleaned coins and not say a word on the label. The only time they say anything on the label is when they think the coin was harshly cleaned. But not all cleaned coins are labeled as cleaned coins by ANACS. And then there was the period when ANACS did not label even harshly cleaned coins, they just used a different slab for them. And then they changed their policy yet again and put all coins in the same slab. So a collector has to know all of this and be able to tell one ANACS slab from another if he wants to understand exactly what is what with ANACS slabs. And if you don't then it is real easy to be very confused by the situation.
I love the Indian Gold designs! Maybe it is my heritage (I am better than 1/8th Cherokee) or just tired of seeing so many different versions of the Liberty designs. However, there is no denying the overall beauty of a strongly struck, high grade Indian $2.50, $5.00 or end $10.00 Indian Gold Coin! I have been watching this one (see link below) for several days and if I can see fit financially, I may bid on the coin. For a Raw coin, it is one of the best Indian Quarter Eagle Gold pieces that I have seen! Check out all of the pictures as some of the pictures look a little screwy (don't know what lighting or possible Photo program the Seller used) but the other pictures really show the quality, condition and detail on the coin. And no, I do not know who the Seller is, have not purchased from him or her before and I am not promoting this Seller's items! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=150254694128&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=005 Frank
Victor, IMHO, I think what looks like wear on your' 1909 Quarter Eagle is more a result of compression and storage! Yes, there is wear but from the looks of the coin and what looks like heavy wear, makes me believe that the coin was possibly stored in a roll of coins with coins on top of and under the Quarter Eagle and spent a lot of time getting jostled around. If you purchased the coin at below F-12 prices, then I believe that you did okay as I think that it might actaully go as high as an F-15 with the right Grader! Frank
