Hi Folks........thinking about bidding on a reasonably expensive coin that has a light adjustment mark on it. Should I steer clear, or is this not something I should be too worried about. The grade is choice uncirculted. thanks marbuy518
Adjustment marks are not considered damage because the marks were placed on the planchet before the coin was struck. Some collectors like adjustment marks because they were part of the minting process and are a link to the people who made coins by hand in the days before the Mint became mechanized. However, some people will discount the value of a coin with unsightly adjustment marks. You will have to decide if the coin in question is attractive to you and how much, if any, the coin should be discounted due to the adjustment marks.
Ask yourself this - are you filling holes and looking for bargains or trying to buy nice coins ? The answer to that question gives you the answer to your other question. Or to look at it in another way - You have three coins to choose from. Two of the coins are scratched, the third is not. Now one of the coins was scratched at the mint with a file in an effort to adjust the weight. The other coin was scratched by some guy with a knife trying to see if the coin was genuine or not. Now the placement of the scratch on both coins is roughly the same. The depth and severity of the scratch is basically the same on both coins. Thus the look of the coins, the eye appeal is equal. But because the nature of the scratch on one is different than the other - the coin with the adjustment mark costs twice as much as the coin scratched with a knife. Now you have the third coin. The 3rd coin is equal in all respects to the other two coins except for one thing - there is no scratch. And the cost of the 3rd coin is only slightly more than than the cost of the coin with the adjustment mark (scratch). Which coin will you buy ? Now I don't know about you, but I sure know which coin I'd buy. You see, that's the thing about flaws. People, educated people, numismatists, try to justify the value of coins, the very desirability of coins with flaws by the cause of the flaw. And if the flaw was caused by the minting process then we as collectors as supposed to ignore that flaw. Now does that make sense to you ? It sure doesn't to me. I don't care what caused the flaw - I only care that the flaw is there. So to me, and I would think to other sensible people, any coin that has a flaw, regardless of its cause, is less desirable than another coin just like it that does not have that flaw. So what are flaws ? Adjustment marks, die cracks, weak strikes, struck through errors, (or any error for that matter) - all of these things and more are part of the minting process. But every single one of them is a flaw ! It is something that takes away from the desirability of the coin. I see that as being undeniable. Example - how can a coin with a die crack, when it is equal in every way to another coin just like it but without a die crack - be graded (have its desirability & value determined) exactly the same as the coin without the die crack ? Does that make sense ? I mean how can a die crack be considered to be anything but a flaw ? When that die was made there was certainly no crack in it. The crack developed because the die was worn out and it was beging to fall apart. Thus the die was flawed. Thus the die crack can be nothing else but a flaw ! Same thing goes for adjustment marks. The adjustment mark is there because the coin was flawed - it was too heavy. So now to correct that flaw, another flaw is made and made intentionally. But it is still a flaw ! Yeah I know, that's not what the books say. That's not what most collectors say (because that's what the books say). And that's not what the TPGs say (again because that's what the books say) ! But what do you say - once you sit down and think about it, and actually look at it from the point of view that I have presented ?
adjustment marks Interesting points which seem common sense. The coin I was looking at (safe to say now as probably won't bid on it) was a 20 Reales 1810-AI Madrid Mint described as 'choice uncirculated.' Such coins command a high price and with the adjustment mark one might expect to get it at a price less than one without in light of the common sense view if not the dealer/TPG view. I have found that the prices for this coin have been so very wide depending on grade and this is raw, that the adjustment mark simply complicates rationale bidding far too much for me. For anyone curious enough to have a look at it, it's lot 10632 of the Stacks Bowers auction coming up.
Most collectors consider adjustment marks a negative. I would try and steer clear in favor of an example without adjustment marks.
Agreed. Anything which detracts from the eye appeal does, in fact, detract from the coin. Which raises another point : since eye appeal is somewhat subjective, some things are a problem for one person, but actually a boon for another - notably die cracks, cuds, or other die state indicators. Those are collectible in their own right, and quite educational. Personally, I think they're fascinating, and generally more enlightening than die varieties / marriages.
Another can of worms At the risk of opening another can of worms, what about 'weak strike?' I was bidding last night on the lower Canada auction on i-collector and a highly valued coin (catalogue) was tempting enough for me to bid 300 eventually sold for 375. The coin was described as weak strike, though MS63 or something......wondering if I'd have ended up regretting it if I had won. Does weak srike also detract from eye appeal.......clearly a good strike is preferable but would I have had trouble selling when the time came for it to go?
