it seems to me that the available Peace dollars continually to disappoint me in their quality. But the one listed here http://harlanjberk.com/unitedstates...itle=Peace+Dollar&inventorygroup=us&linenum=6 I have no idea how this can be listed as an MS64 woth a price tag of over $800.00 This coin has serious wear on the ear and hair and can no way be MS anything. Ruben
Maybe it is just weakly struck or a bad pic. 1921 Peace dollars are not graded the same as 1922-1935 Peace dollars. Charlie
To the Buyer "Beware" :kewl: This company appears to be selling coins 2X-3X above retail. As to your statement about the peace dollar, I agree 100%. How can any coin dealer have the nerve to state a coin is in Mint State when it is obviously worn. They must either be extremely stupid or preying on the stupid. Beware of sellers like this. Paying more for a product then it is worth is the decision of the buyer and selling something claiming it's something else is just wrong.
I've tried two on line stores now and this company (Harlan J Berk) was better than the other company who I won't mention but sold me 2 coins I would send back if I had the time to waste on it when after shipping it barely matters. How do you know their prices are 2x-3x over retail? The grade from that Peace Dollar seems very off. I don't have a warm fuzzy feeling yet with any vendor. Ruben
As a novice collector of high grade, rare date mint mark PCGS and NGC Peace Dollars. The obverse should be clear with no wear and only a few minor bag marks. The reverse is where the feathers define the grade. In my observations this is where you find the best dollars. My favorite Peace Dollar which I recently purchased at auction was a NGC MS65 1925-S. I paid $8200 and felt I got a steal. You can do a lot better at auctions at Teletrade or Heritage than you can ever do by buying off a dealer. You just have to wait, let some coins slip by and not let your emotions dictate your bidding. Six years ago I was living in the gutter. The only one who helped me out was myself.
The coin is certified by NGC so probably they're just listing it as it is. There was a thread on this dealer before where lot of people said Harlan J Berk is a very reputable dealer. If they grade a coin you can count on that grade it seems. So that's why I'm thinking since this coin is graded by NGC they're just listing it.
Here's alink to that thread if anyone's interested. http://www.cointalk.org/thread8456-harlan-j-berk-ltd-information.html
While I believe the coin is MS, it is also very weakly struck and slightly off center. I think NGC over-graded this one.
I'm not sure what GDJMPS will say but here is what I would say. The 1921 Peace dollars are high relief and so they would get a little "wear" from just being either put in rolls or in bags....the coins were soo high relief that you couldn't even stack them...they would fall over. That is why IMO you grade the 21's a little lose. Now I could be totaly wrong. Most of the 21's I've seen have been circulated so I haven't gotten to see many UNC's like this Speedy
It's not a question of wear in this case, it's a question of strike. The '21 Peace dollar was a high relief coin, much higher in fact than even other coins of the era. And the high point of the obverse is the hair around the ear. And the high point is the last area to which metal will flow when the coin is struck. Thus this area often exhibits flatness which those who are unfamiliar with grading the coin often mistake as wear. When the mint started striking these coins, they found that they had to use a higher striking pressure in order for the coins to strike up fully. But by doing so the mint found that the dies could not stand the pressure - they would literally break after striking only a few coins. So the mint reduced the striking pressure, and thus the majority of the '21 Peace dollars, even high grade examples, exhibit flatness in the hair around the ear. In order to illustrate what I am saying I went searching for pics of this coin that I feel were correctly graded. I "borrowed" these pictures for purposes of illustration. This first one was graded by NGC as MS64 - notice the flatness in the hair. Here is another example, also graded as MS64 by NGC - Notice that not only is the hair flat, there is also a lack of luster. This is because the metal never flowed into the deepest recesses of the die due to insufficient pressure. It is the flow of metal which produces the luster. Now this next coin is graded as MS65, notice that there is a bit more detail to the hair. Not much maybe, but enough that it justifies the coin receiving the higher grade. Here is another, also graded MS65. This coin exhibits even more detail in the hair. It also lacks that little bit of extra eye appeal or it would have been pushed on into the 66 range. This much hair detail is hard to find in the '21 Peace. Now this last coin has similar detail in the hair to the previous coin, but the lack of marks, full luster and superior eye appeal puch this coin into the MS67 grade. You won't find many like this.
Now the other part of your question. I copied the pic of the original coin in question, enlarged it 50% and brightened the image for illustration here. Remember that I said in my first post that the coin was struck slightly off center. Look at the rim, see how it grows very thin down by the date. Because this coin was so weakly struck, more so than normal even, and because it was struck off center - there was simply not enough metal flow for the numerals in the date to strike up fully. Thus the tops of the bottom half of the numerals appear flat - just like the hair details. Hopefully, this will help some to better understand the strike characteristics, and how to grade '21 Peace dollars.
Thank You and Happy Thanksgiving to all. Thank you for the explaination about the hair on the Peace Dollar. I like the reverse of the coin because the Eagle is perched, having fed him or herself and is only letting the food digest before the next victim that shoots at us. The only reason I write is to find out why everybody ignores the reverse of the Peace Dollar.
Gee Ruben I dunno, but I think the owner of that coin would pass on such an offer considering he paid over $40,000 for it
