New to coin talk. Bought a collection of Franklin half dollars from 1948 to 1963. These have not been graded but they are in a book. Where would I send these to be independently graded? Is it necessary? Also bought this set with no grading. 1812 Ferdnd VII 8 escudos gold coin 1787 Carol III 4 escudos gold coin 1788 Carol III 2 escudos gold coin 1777 Carol III 1 escudos gold coin 1817 Ferdin VII gold coin - not sure what the denomination is and a number of silver coins from 1774 to 1826 all Carolus III IIII and Ferdin VII no idea what they are ANY reply would be greatly appreciated. Tom
Re: Your Franklin Half Dollars, grading is not necessary. If you like the look (and weight) of your Franklins in an album leave them as they are. If you feel you must have them graded PCGS or NGC are third-party graders I would recommend. I am not familiar with their submission processes and cannot offer you any tips to smooth the road.
The Frankies are probably fine, but I'd be a lot more worried about the Spanish coins being genuine than I would be anything else. Take some close up pics, 1 at a time, and post them.
Ok, let me take a stab at it, 1. there should not be four roman numerals for the number "1" in a row. they would have used IV. 2. The bust would not have a smile. 3. The date looks like it has been sanded or really worn down so the date looks older. Come on! Am I close?
Nope, they did use IIII. Actually it did. Not unusual with these coins. Understand, I am not saying that thes ecoins are fake nor am I saying they are genuine. There is no way to even guess using those pictures. What I am saying is that these coins are found to be fakes more often than they are found to be genuine. So great care needs to be taken when buying these coins. That said, based upon his initial post the OP clearly doesn't know anything about these coins. So I can only hope that whoever he bought them from is a knowledgeable and trustworthy dealer. Otherwise there is a very good chance that the OP bought a bunch of fakes.
The coins are from estate and were purchased from National Collectors Mint. We bought them from the estate after consulting out of state coin dealers we know via a jewelry industry association. These were the only gold coins not graded by PCGS, NGC or NCS. This coin is the largest dated 1812. Marked 8 S on the back which I believe is for escudos. If these images are not good enough, I'll try another camera to see if I can improve the lighing and clarity of the coin. Any ideas where to look for values if these are genuine. Tom
Well the fact that these coins were the only ones not authenticated raises suspicion by itself. But looking at the coin makes it even worse. Given the raised bubbles, small pits, re-engraved letters, and what look like tool marks - I'd be very worried that the coin is fake.
