Beautiful toned Franklin on eBay

How much do you think this coin is worth to you?
Great coin and a great seller to me its woth $200 ish but toning is Just OK with me- its cool but ....
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320736766549&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

it probably wouldnt even be worth grey to me cus its a frankie. the toning looks alright but for a 66 FBL the strike is pretty dull.

 

wow $1,500 for it, that is crazy! Don't get me wrong that is a great looking coin however I dont think I would pay that much for it. BTW isnt the seller someone on this forum (or was)?

 

Yes he was/is but hasn't been around for a bit along with our other past toning guru.

 

It looks like there's some doubling in E PLURIBUS UNUM.

Still, it seems like $1500 is a little pricey for that coin.

 

1. The lighting created a better photograph than it would look in hand.

2. No way that's FBL.

3. Way, way over priced.

 

Maybe it’s a bad picture of the coin because you can’t even see the eagle feathers or the letters on the bell. So your right from the picture it’s not a FBL even by PCGS

 

I'll trust the seller and PCGS that it is FBL.

 

My guess would be that it is worth $1,500+. Shane is not exactly known for boosting colors in his photos and he is well recognized for being an honest dealer of colorful coins.

 

Is it really that hard to get a coin from a mint set to grade FBL?
-serious question.

 

I think it is hard to get one from a mint set but I did get one off ebay 2 weeks ago for $125.00
and its a NGC also
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230649466835&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT
also The seller kryptonitecomics is a quality trusted seller with great coins

 

Pop 729 and 11. Shane got a great price but it is a really cool coin.

 

I know he's a trusted seller, I have bought from him before. His coins just get insane premiums and no mater what you bid you lose.

 

The PCGS price guide lists an average coin in this grade at $180.

Obviously this was a case of beautiful toning & color, and tremendous eye appeal trumping the price guides.

I wouldn't pay more than about $400 to $500 (about 2.5x to 3x) for that Franklin (and I love toners!).

In any case, do I think this Franklin is beautiful? YES!

Is it worth $1,500, the price it sold for on eBay? An 8.3x toning premium?
Not to me at least. But obviously it was worth that to somebody.

I looked at the bids and it was a bidding war between 3 people that drove the price from $500 to $800. At $800, 1 of the 3 dropped out. Then the 2 remaining bidders drove the price from $800 all the way to $1500 in a series of leapfrogs. Deep pockets perhaps building a nice registry set.

Here is an image of the coin in question (that fired off on eBay for $1500):

 

Mike Tomaska has a really good book on Franklin halves. He explains that graders look at much more than the bell lines when assigning the FBL designation. What they're really doing is assessing the overall strike of the coin. Although the definition of the bell lines is important, they also evaluate things like Franklin's hair definition when assigning FBL to a coin.

I didn't know this about Frankies, but it makes sense. I've tried to study Walking Liberty halves, but they just blow me away! You almost have to be an expert on each date from each mint to fully understand how to grade each coin. A person can make a career out of that series alone!

 

So "Full Bell Lines" is not necessarily "Full Bell Lines", eh?

Sounds like just another marketing ploy.

 

Someone overpaid big time. Numismedia.com lists price for a 66 FBL 57 Frankie at $143, and I've seen them at shows anywhere between $138-$160.

 

It must have something in common with this $70 coin http://coins.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=1158&lotNo=9207&lotIdNo=114035. That one is only 13 times Numismedia's pricing and it still has 5 days to go. I am willing to bet what they have in common is a pleasing coloring.

 

Franklins of 1957 Philadelphia mint are somewhat tough to find in FBL. In MS66 FBL, there are only 39 that are certified for that date (According to "A Guidebook to Franklin and Kennedy Half Dollars" by Rick Tomaska, pub. 2011), albeit I think it is way overpriced. I'd say $500. It has a nice tone, but not to the degree that it would warrant a $1,500 value. Strikes for 1957 P's are considered 'below average' so again, FBL's are tough to find. Tomaska says of the 1957 P MS-66 & MS-67 FBL varieties: "This isssue is about as rare as the 1956-P in both MS-66 and MS-66 FBL with Mint set-toned surfaces. Examples with exceptional color toning are approximately as rare as well. The 1957-P sets itself apart from the 1956-P in its rarity in MS-66 FBL with fully brilliant surfaces. As elusive as the 1956-P is in its ultimate brilliant state (no example has ever graded higher than MS-66 FBL), the 1957-P is rarer still. I [Tomaska] have handled perhaps four or five examples in this condition over the past 20 years".

 

Trust me when I say its hard to get FBL even out of mint sets. I have sent quite a few in for grading. High end, MS65 and higher Franklins with full bell line bring some nice premiums even more if they have color.