1907 St. Gaudens High Relief mistake?

My girlfriend had her st gaudens rated by PCGS five or six years ago at MS65. On the slab it also says "High relief-flat Ed." It's grading number is 9136.65 series 71
What we noticed before she gave in the coin was that it had a lettered edge. In the slab we can no longer see the lettered edge -(it looks kind of silvery) and there is no mention of the lettering on the slab. The coin has no motto and has 14 rays over the sun and two folds on the right leg
Questions:
1) Can coins ever be switched by PCGS for lesser coins if they think we wont know the difference?
2) Could this coin have been mis graded because they didn't mentioned the lettered edge/
3) There are two kinds of lettered edges as far as we can tell- small letters and larger ones...but we understand that both of these lettered edges are usually (only) mentioned for the ultra high relief coins. Her coin is graded as only "High relief". There seems to be a very large difference in value for the different coins...!!!
Any enlightened info? What to do?

 

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Welcome to CoinTalk.

You cannot see the edge of a coin in the old holders. The "silvery" thing you are seeing is probably a reflection of the holder.

1) Anything is possible. Sure, PCGS could switch your coin for one of lesser value but I HIGHLY doubt they would risk their EXCELLENT reputation just to rip you off. PCGS is in the business of grading coins, not ripping off customers.

ALL 1907 St. Gaudens High Relief Double Eagles have lettered edges. Why would PCGS mention something that is present on every example of the coin?

The odds of your coin being an Ultra High Relief are EXTREMELY SMALL. I HIGHLY doubt PCGS would misattribute an UHR as a HR.

I think you should take a deep breath and enjoy your very nice coin.

 

Aren't the UHR Reliefs for that year, unique? (EXTREMELY RARE)
Even the high reliefs for that year are pretty good in value
I don't think they messed up, and you probably have a nice HIGH RELIEF coin.
I think Hobo just about nailed this one...
Enjoy your coin! (I sure would!!!)

 

Second log in for questions about St Gaudens...

First of all I want to apologize for not saying a nice hello to the folks on this forum. Hello! And thanks for your time...
Question about all high reliefs having lettered edges... We couldn't find documentation about this because the many sites that we visited only mentioned lettered edges on UHR. Thus our confusion.
We both are stunned at this coin- not for the value it might have- we have very little idea what it's worth except to know something in the thousands, but rather it seems to have been minted in the heavens.. It is such an amazing creation...shimmering and with such simple magnificence..
The sad truth is that it must be sold for her daughters kidney transplant. Where should my friend sell it?
Thank you for your feedback. LB

 

I'm sorry to hear about your girlfriends daughter...And selling this coin will help, and my prayers are with you

I must ask, could you post pictures of the coin, and tell us whether this coin has NUMBERS or ROMAN NUMERALS, on the coin.

 

My understating is all the 1907 HR coins have letter edges. The reason they list the lettering for the UHR is because there is a known UHR example that doesn't have lettering. So, since there are two varieties for the UHR coins they need to note in the documentation. There is only the letter edged HR so there is no need to mention it.

 

Not unique, but close to it. To my recollection, the UHR's were all proofs and would not be designated MS65. The one I recall which was PF69 sold for almost $3 million dollars (see link below). Excuse me if I don't believe that you have a million dollar coin and don't know it. Your coin is undoubtedly a high relief St Gaudens Double Eagle.

http://coins.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=392&Lot_No=6522&type=&ic=

In regards to your inquiry. I would definitely sell a coin such as yours through Heritage. This is a monster coin with a value near $50K. It will automatically be entered into a signature auction and will probably be a featured item in the auction. I have listed two links to some high relief Saints that were sold by Heritage recently. One with a flat rim like yours, and the second has a wire rim. I have also copied the catalog reference for the wire rim which explains the difference between the two coins.

http://coins.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=1104&Lot_No=2509

http://coins.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=1110&Lot_No=2365

1907 $20 High Relief, Wire Rim MS65 PCGS. Price guides and reference books divide the 1907 High Relief twenties into two subtypes: Wire Rim and Flat Rim. In reality, both types were struck from the same dies and by the same process. The rim variations were actually the result of an incorrect combination of milling and planchet size. The first 8,000 or so High Relief double eagles struck under the aforementioned arrangement displayed a fin, or partial wire rim, particularly on the obverse, and were considered flawed. The problem was readily addressed by Mint Director Leach. As explained by Roger Burdette in his Renaissance of American Coinage, 1905-1908:

BTW, I apologize for my cynicism, but I sincerely hope this is not a joke. Please understand that it is extremely rare for someone to pop on a coin chat site with little knowledge about coins claiming to own a $50K coin and not know it's value. If you are not joking, I wish you the best in the sale of the coin and my prayers are with your friends daughter.

 

The one in PF69 sold for $2,990,000 in November of 2005 at Heritage, so I guess that would make all the ULTRA HIGH RELIEFS in that year proofs...
Which means PCGS did get your coin right

 

Welcome to the forums!! PLEASE POST PICS BEFORE YOU SELL IT! A high relief Saint is a coin that dreams are made of, and yours is worth more than my entire collection. I'm sincerely sorry that your gf's daughter needs a kidney transplant. The sale of the coin will go to a worthy cause. I echo Lehigh's suggestion of heritage for a coin like this.

 

The St. Gaudena...

Thank you all for your gracious replies...

How to take a good picture of such a beautiful coin that is now sandwiched in plastic?
And the story of this very 'alive' coin going to keep a small girl alive is apt.
Thanks again for the feedback... Lovebaba

 

st Gauddens cont.

The coin has Roman numerals.... Lovebaba

 

Okay that helps...
It is just a HIGH RELIEF coin, and now we have established that it has Roman Numerals.
Now, There is a WIRE RIM and a FLAT RIM...And your PCGS doesn't specify which rim?

 

PCGS guarantees the grade and authenticity of the coin so you have nothing to worry about. From what I see it looks like PCGS slabs 6 different varieties of 1907 double eagles, 3 are MS and three are proof.

Yours looks to be

9136 1907 $20 High Relief-Flat Edge

The others are

9135 1907 $20 High Relief-Wire Edge

9141 1907 $20 Saint MS

9198 1907 Saint $20 Small Edge Letters
9131 1907 EX-HR $20 Lettered Edge
9132 1907 EX-HR $20 Inverted Edge Letters

I think Heritage is a good place to sell this as well, a lot of wealthy people use that which is what you want as a seller. I guess maybe $50,000 or higher depending on how the coin looks.

 

And yes, to echo words of all, heritage is the place to sell this

 

no comment.

(many thoughts floating around, but I'll keep them to myself.)

 

St Gaudens

tmoneyeagles has asked one rim it has. It says 'flat edge'.

one of the previous well posted members has thoughts to him (her)self. Care to share a few thoughts now? We will need to move ahead with trying to moving this coin sooner than later. Thanks again.

 

There are less than 100 PCGS MS65 flat rim high reliefs, it's selling for about $50k.

 

I wonder if the thoughts I'm having are the same as yours.

 

I'm pretty sure I know what y'alls thoughts are...

 

I want to thank some of you for your help. I will post a picture of the coin before we sell. I did get put off by the two recent psychics who only have thoughts to themselves and wouldnt actually speak it out. Whats that about? The rest of you were very gracious. Thanks,