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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;johnmilton, post: 3653048, member: 101855&quot;]After the long discussions about “The official Cointalk grading experiment 4,” thought that some members might find this example of how auction house photos can confuse you interesting. First some historical background.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Capped Head Left, Large Diameter Quarter Eagle was issued from 1821 to 1827, with some dates missing during that period. As a type coin, the piece is very scarce because of low mintages and extensive melting. The business strike mintage was 17,042 plus less than 40 Proof coins. Dave Bowers estimates that the total number of survivors is between 330 and 460 for the business strikes plus 20 to 30 Proofs.</p><p><br /></p><p>The dies were cut by Robert Scot. This was one his last projects, and he was showing his age. The relief was low, and I don’t find this coin to be attractive. But it is part of the early gold type set which makes it a requirement for a complete type coin collection.</p><p><br /></p><p>Given the low mintages, many coins have P-L surfaces. If the coins are in high grade, which is rare, that can be great. A P-L gold coin can be very attractive, even if the design is not the best. If the coins are less than MS-63, that’s not so great because every mark shows up worse that it would on frosty surfaces.</p><p><br /></p><p>I bought this coin in a Heritage auction. I did my homework and found it that had been re-submitted to PCGS from an old green label holder and had gotten a CAC sticker both times. Each time it had gotten the MS-61 grade. Here are the auction photos.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]981580[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]981581[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]981582[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Based on these images, and the CAC stiker, I bid on the piece an got it. The close-up photos made the piece look like it was under graded. Unfortunately it really looked like this.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]981583[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]981584[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I got my money out of the piece because CAC bought it, but I learned a lesson. I am gotten pretty good at interpreting Heritage photographs. Heritage has improved them, and when you have both the full slab images and the close-ups, I have developed the ability to avoid surprises.</p><p><br /></p><p>Still, it is far better if you can see the coins in person, but you can’t always do that. If you are going to bid based on photos, you are well advised to spend some time looking at various coins both in person and with the photos. It&#039;s a learning experience that is well worthwhile.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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