I had a friend drop by the office today with a box full of coins he wanted me to evaluate. I had to laugh because there smack dab on top was one of those darn Golden Ike dollars that caused such a stir on the forums a while back. Nice and pretty in its plastic holder with the words; Dwight D. Eisenhower 1890-1969 Memorial Dollar Guy handed it to me, and told me to give him a buck and it was mine. Then another, more exciting coin lay underneath it. Just thrown in with all the misc. silver and copper was the nicest 1865s Twenty Cent piece I had ever seen. I have checked it with every grading book I own and they all tell me the same....UNC! I just can't find any wear on the coin, the reverse is just absolutely beautiful with not a mark or rub on the breast or wingtips. And the nicest full LIBERTY you could ever want. To add to its beauty it has beautiful light rainbow toning obv & rev. I told the seller this baby needed to get slabbed and not be in a hurry to sell it, we will see. An added treat was that right next to the 20c was a 1866s Seated Liberty quarter in the same or better condition with the same toning. Sort of like a matched pair. After that discovery the rest was pretty boring and common. It was a pretty fun way to spend the afternoon and for my trouble he sold me a 1968, '71, '72 proof sets for $10 and threw in a 1966 special mint set for free, all still unopened in their original packaging. Oh, by the way the Kennedy in the '66 set has the nicest doubled profile you ever saw.
Already on its way to the dealer for his opinion. I will try to get them back and post a scan (camera's broke) if not, I will get an image when they come back from being slabbed.
Ok, got the coin back. Here's the best I could do with my scanner. Color's bad, details sort of show, I'll descibe it best I can. The bright shiny-looking areas are from the scanner light and not rubs. Obv., all folds are crisp in drapery, no evidence of wear on tops of legs. Clasp on shoulder is crisp and clean. All hair details visible and LIBERTY is strong and full also with no sign of wear. Hardly no contact marks on the figure or in the fields. Rev. tells it all I think. Look at the breast (the highest point on the 20c piece) not a sign of any rub. Wing tips and wing feathers all crisp and clear. Again, hardly any contact marks. The 1895s pieces were notorious for weak strikes but this one has a super strong rev. and a sharp obv. I wish you could see the true color. I brightened the image to bring out the detail but in doing so lost the wonderful light rainbow colors.
WOW oh WOW again...will just not sell at all?? I would ask for sure...when I bought part of a hoard the guy made the last offer...if he will sell let him make the last offer because its good in two ways...he might make a lower offer than you were going to...he can't say that you ripped him off ;--) Speedy
He wants to sell them asap. Trouble is, he knows what they are worth and wants them certified for that reason. From what I read we are talking like a $350 difference from AU ($350) to MS60 ($700) and then another $400-$500 or more for each tier of the MS scale for the 20c piece? The quarter comes though at around $300 in AU55 and jumping $200++ for each tier in MS. Figures were taken from CoinValues magazine. If I wasn't saving for vacation, I'd probably jump on these but, alas, not meant to be this time.
I would be interested to see how they came back... It seems odd that a couple of coins like that would end up in a box full of average stash and novelty pieces.
They are off to ANACS so we'll see. Besides these two, the only other interesting pieces were the proof sets, SMS and a couple low grade "Black Eagle" silver certificates. The guy could have easily got ripped off, knew nothing of what he had. Offered the whole mini-collection to me for $50 until I set him straight.
Now I know what a dealer would have done...they would have said...."are you happy with $50?" and he would have said "yes" and that would have been the end... Speedy
