Steve’s ongoing Box of Twenty Thread

Blast white versus lots of toning

I just got this walker in the mail today. This is the kind of coin I’m trying to load the box with. This coin is so nice I’m wondering if it could cross as an MS 67 to either PCGS or NGC. Walkers are not my specialty though and I really don’t know. To my uneducated eye it looks as good as other 67s I’ve seen.





And here’s a colorful ANACs shilling of Queen Victoria’s son, Edward. Because Queen Victoria lived so long, Edward’s reign was very short, which makes his coinage interesting. Then his son, George’s reign was fairly long followed by a somewhat short reign for George VI. Queen Victoria’s long life set up a pattern of long-lived monarchs followed by short-lived monarchs. I think that will continue when Prince Charles finally becomes king.





I’ve considered crossing this coin, but I’m concerned that I would get a questionable color designation. What do you think?

Thanks for looking

 

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If you set a minimum grade you can't end up with a details coin. The coin may not cross because they think it should be a details coin or a lower grade, but it will come back in that slab.

You would have to send that to PCGS though if you wanted to do a crossover. NGC only allows crossovers from PCGS, PCGS allows them from any.

 

Thanks for the good advice, guys. Can you specify a minimum grade higher than the grade on the ANACs holder? I can't understand why the coin isn't at least an MS-63 personally. I'll have to look at it closer, though. FWIW, I know some people love the smaller ANACs holders, but mine is "fried". Someone put a sticker on it in the past, and someone else tried to use solvents to get the sticker off, which slightly melted the plastic. It bugs me.

 

No. The grade on the holder is the highest minimum

 

Last two of my “new” coins came in.

I got home and found these waiting for me after a hard day at work. I have to say I’m really enjoying collecting like this.

First I saw this error nickel eBay and had to have it. I thought it was a good price compared to others. I didn’t realize until after I committed to this purchase that I already owned a loose error cent that I’ll likely send off to be graded. But I like this one better because of the silver color and the portions of the actual coin look gemmy to me. So I guess the grade includes the bag marks on the planchette. I never knew that!



And then I got this gold piece. As a Vicky chaser I love this. But it also seems like a good gold coin to purchase right now when you consider weight and numismatic value. I love the reverse of this one! It’s my avatar.

I had to stretch to buy this one but I’ve never regretted doing that with a nice collectible.

 

I realize one of the interesting aspects of a box of 20 is the diminishing marginal improvements that you would see with coins in the collection. Here’s an example.

Suppose that you started a collection by purchasing coins in the $300 range until the box was full. After the box was full you spent $300 upgrading the coins. Now the coins in the box are $600 coins which, for the sake of conversation, are twice as good as before (or 100% improved) from when they were $300 coins.

After the average coin is improved to the $600 range you then upgrade again by spending another $300 per coin. This time though, the additional $300 improvement creates only a 50% increase.

As you can see there could even come a point where $300 would be a drop in the bucket and would not significantly “move the needle”. In fact that $300 might not even cover the cost of upgrading if you lost eBay fees every time you upgraded.

I guess one way to combat this in the future might be to trade two or even three coins to upgrade just one coin.

Just something to think about...a mental exercise.

 

Audience participation wanted

The next grouping of coins is in play for a submittal to grading services. Or I may keep them in the box and not submit them. I understand that ancient collectors don’t like slabs but some of my ancients are kind of high grade and I’m pretty sure I’ll be selling them eventually.

When we talk about original toning this is what I think original toning should look like on a coin that’s 170 years old. This is extremely dark gray toned. Does it look like it was cleaned in the past? Would this get a details grade? Worth grading?

By the way at the top on the reverse that is not a jewelry remainder. It’s a minor rim ding on the edge of the coin.



Next coin: I’ve already put this coin up for sale elsewhere. It’s a South African “Tickey”. And it has a mint mark comparable to our “W” mintmark so very few were made. I do like the train but it should be owned by someone who understands it.



Now for the ancients. I bought these about 15 years ago. I bought them because they were in such high grade relative to what I’ve seen before. I would appreciate any estimates on what kind of grades these might bring in.

I may have these mixed up but I believe the one on the left is Constantine the first and it was minted in Turkey. It’s Sear 3888 I believe. Roughly translated it says “glory to the army”. The one on the right is Sears 3984 and is Constantine the second. The back, roughly translated says “Divine providence at the 11th hour/last minute ”





Last are these coins of Alexander the great. I believe these are lifetime issues but I would appreciate any guidance on these.



For what it’s worth I just purchased two coins off eBay. If I keep the coins above in the box, then that will fill the box at 20 coins and upgrading will begin.

 

Wow, I just learned that my copper Constantine coins aren’t really worth much. I’m kind of surprised. I just assumed they were worth more because their condition. I guess these won’t make their way into the box and I will likely sell them.

 

So I went on a trip for work today and went to a coin shop. Surprisingly they only had one coin I was interested in. Another 1865 Florin. I think it will grade better than my XF45? I plan to keep whichever one grades higher. Have to sell one because that’s the limitation with a box of 20.

 

I like both of those too!

That Peekaboo line sounded familiar and I figured out why.
You helped dub my Lincoln cent in the thread below.

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/have-i-turned-into-an-error-collector.346834/

 

It certainly does!

 

Does this look cleaned to you? Seems like the marbleization stuff is toning .

 

It's hard to say with just pictures. Does it looked cleaned to you?

 

Nice project!