I agree with you there! I believe the OP coin would grade out at least a AU-55 and possibly cleaned and worth what it sold for but if that is all it grades out at, it wasn't an awesome deal. That's the problem with buying online, you can always see the problems a coin has until you have it in hand. I've bought several coins I thought were higher in grade but once I had them in hand, I realized they were a lower grade. Since then, I've made it a habit to undergrade anything I am bidding on, just to be on the safe side, unless it's already slabbed by one of the better TPG's. When the IHC comes in, you gotta post pics and if you send it off to have it slabbed, you gotta play the Grading Game with us when you get it back. Ribbit
Actually it is just a box, not a COA. I am going to do some research to see if they came in Mint boxes originally.
You cannot really see the box. I will have to wait until I recieve the coin to take better pictures. These are not the greatest.
IHC proof Article http://www.cointalk.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=29796&stc=1&d=1213877982 Good article. It does not say anything about boxes, but does say that they could be purchased individually from the mint. It also explains the reasoning behind why the proofs tone differently than the regular issues. It could be that this guys is mistaking the holder it is in as a "MINT BOX". Also I found out the 1890 proofs are semi-scarce. I have some questions emailed to rick snow who is an expert on IHCs.(Eagle Eye Rare Coins)
The 1890 is beautiful , & at a great price for a regular strike let alone proof love the toning too . Good catch . rzage
That holder did not come from the mint. Without pics of the complete holder, it's hard to even guess when that holder was made. There were presentation sets (not individual coins) sold or given away by the mint in cases, but the cases were quite different. They looked very similar to this one -