This Corona Virus lock-down, which seems to be and in fact might be endless is getting to me and my wife. Her patience is at an end, especially with respect to her 91 old father who is having memory and health issues. She is his main advocate and yet the lock down makes her job 10 times harder. On a recent trip the hospital, they managed to lose all of his clothes and his expensive hearing aids. She's unhappy; I'm unhappy. So to get my mind off of this manure, it's time for a diverstion. Guess the grade on this 1864 copper-nickel cent. The mint made these coins early in the year before the decision was made to change the weight and composition of the cent to something simlar to the Civil War tokens. Here are the unflattering "dead on" shots of this coin. And here are the angle shots, which show the luster and more of the color. So what would you grade it?
I think it's a 65 and well struck for a Cu-Ni. Full feathers and very close to full diamonds with only a couple of small ticks noticeable. Nice die crack on reverse between K9 & K10.
Time for the reveal ... This is one of those unusual "duel endorsement" coins where Eagle Eye and CAC both had a look at it and liked it. It has mulitcolored toning which is very attractive from certain angles. I paid a premium for this coin which, at the time was Grey Sheet "Bid" for a CAC approved example of this coin. BTW, these copper-nickel cents do not get a color grade. There is no "Red," "R&B" or "Brown" designation. These coins started life as white colored pieces, like the modern nickel. Here is an example of a copper-nickel cent with most of its original color. If these coins were get a color designation, it would start with "White." This coin is also an MS-64, but it does not have any fancy stickers.
In the old days this coin would have probably been cracked out and sent in for another round of grading. Today CAC is the new crack-out for some people. A gold CAC sticker can be better better that an extra point on the MS scale. Some collectors hang on every sticker CAC stalls.
That coin is definitely a gem. I did not get a chance, but it is 65 all day long. Beautiful coin! The CACis vindication.
Gem in the market today, if this is any indication of what has been a steady loosening of the system I don't know what is.