They're market grading, and there's hardly a market demand for these, anyway, so I think they were saying, by that grade, this one was worth the price of submission. In their book, currently, MS65 is $36, while MS64 is $30. At least let him make a little profit on it. But yeah, that's market grading for you.
Ahhh, I choose this answer to formulate my response to the statements regarding "hits". First Off, I need to preface everything with the simple fact that CnClad coins are incredibly hard compared to their silver (90% or 40%) counterparts. Dinging one with a hit is fairly difficult to do and pretty much impossible with normal circulation handling. I strongly expect that the minting process itself, which produces physically hot coins, is the PRIMARY point where reeded edge hits occur. Especially on the IKE Dollar as they get dropped into bags. Now, IKEs are typically covered with numerous surface defects which look like coin hits. The only "hits" actually pay attention too are the reeded hits. Everything else is suspect as an actual hit by another coin since lincolns are far too soft to damage anything but themselves and nickels just do not have the necessary bulk too affect anything other than Lincolns. During the minting process, the CnClad blanks are annealed "to soften them". Annealing occurs in barrels where the coins freely hit each pother and subsequently leave marks. Unreeded Marks I might add since the reeding occurs during the striking process. TYPICALLY, the striking process causes enough metal flow to eliminate annealing marks.........with the exception of the Larger CnClad Coins. Specifically Kennedy's and Ike's. When the annealing marks are not "struck out" of the coin, from the press operators standpoint, the striking pressure is dialed up until a reasonable strike occurs. The problem the US Mint had with the large diameter CnClad IKE's was that the required pressure to provide a clean strike was usually detrimental to the die's and ultimately the presses. So, the pressure was dialed back down until a remedy could be found. Typically, 1971 and 1972 IKE's have a series of what looks like hits, near the edge of the coin. The edge, due to the nature of die design receives the lowest striking pressure and as such is the area most affected by annealing marks which are not struck out. The Profile on the Obverse, namely the cheek and chin area, is another area that can suffer from weak striking pressures and leave what appear to be deep hits in these area's of the IKE Dollar. On the OP's coin, the only real hit I see is that which appears on the tail area as the reeding is distinct. Everything else is subject to interpretation again pointing out that these coins cold, are incredibly hard. Comparing their surfaces with that of the Morgan or Peace Dollar is just plain silly since both of those silver coins are easily marked due to the relative softness of the silver allow. Now, IF there is an abundance of marks on the cheek, chin, and fields, then the coin will achieve a lower grade. (It should be important to note that "hits" whether from the annealing process or from the packaging methods employed by the US Mint should NEVER be an indicator of circulation. Primarily because "hits", "scrapes" and other marks can be achieved during the handling of the bags that American coinage was delivered to banks in.) Coins which survived striking with the removal of annealing marks in both high and low relief area's DO exist and usually are graded in the MS66 and up area's but there are far more that did not survive those processes which has been a bane to the Eisenhower Dollar since it's initial release. Thats my story and I'm sticking to it.
BAM! Nailed it! NGC loosely grades IKE's and they always have since, NGC simply doesn't think IKE's are anything special. They often compare them to bad coin investments which have no future in collecting. I also expect that the toning played a HUGE part in the assignment of the MS65 grade and with proper photography, the OP's coin would look pretty darned good! My experience with these coins, is that they don't take too well to toning and I've looked at these for 14 years. I've looked at a lot of them. I've bought mint seated bags and NEVER, EVER pulled a toned coin from one of the bags. As such, anybody that figures out a method of consistently applying toning, ultimately gets rewarded. (Read PEACOCK IKEs) The toning on the OP's coin appears natural from being stored in a coin book since it is not overtly toned on the reverse where oxygen does not flow. As such, it appears normal. Congrats on your last purchase of 2016! PS-I hope the OP didn't pay too much for his coin.
Eh not too much. There was a bit of color premium. I like it and am not looking to make a profit on it. Im slowly adding Ikes to my collection because i have a feeling they will continue to rise in demand, and I want a bunch before they go up in value and not regret not buying any while they are still fairly cheap. I also recieved The Authoritative Reference on Eisenhower Dollars for Christmas, so that should be a good place to start learning more about them.
That is great info by 19Lyds...I,ve been collecting them for years now and love the series. I recommend "The Authoritative Reference on Eisenhower Dollars" by John Wexler, Bill Crawford, and Kevin Flynn. It covers many or the questions we have and has commentary from several prominent collectors of Ikes. It also covers most die varieties, date by date analysis, and pops. I recommend James Sego as a trusted dealer of these gems...Google JMS Coins for more Info and pics of some of the most desirable coins available at a fair price!
He,s added some of my favorite Ikes and Kennedys to my collections. I always head for his table first at a show.
I've been listening to you talk for 11 years on this website, Mike. If this guy's good enough for you, that's good enough for me. My spoiled brats and I will endorse his website in their club meeting next month.
No got to go with a 62-3 all the scaring on the faces From the hobby center and think tank of MTS.LLC
Wow, Eddie... you made me blush. I actually know James personally. He has taught me much about Ikes and about grading in general. Also interesting to note is that he runs a company called QA Check. It's a modern coin version of CAC. Thanks for the kind words, and I apologize for any ill effects caused by my blathering during said years.
I've actually seen his website. It's hard to find honest ones, these days, Mike, with so many in it just for the fast money. Look at all the saps coming in, now, because they heard about "double dies," thinking they struck it. You didn't know anybody's been listening to your blathering all these years, did you? Well, now you know better. Lol...
I happened to have some extra time when at the bank today, so I visited the SDB for an extra long while, and reminisced about my collector days. I actually have 2 boxes . . . one for the ToughCOINS inventory, and the other houses the pre-ToughCOINS collection. It was the latter I spent time in, and looked at perhaps a dozen PCGS boxes of coins . . . lots of fun. Many of those coins do not really fit the niche established for ToughCOINS these past 10 years, but I enjoyed looking nonetheless. A couple of dozen nice Ike Dollars were in there. I had PCGS grade my second best set of Ikes back when the OGH were in use (no silvers or proofs . . . just clad commercial strikes) . . . they all came back MS65 or 66 at that time. Doubtless, I should resubmit them today. More importantly, my better set has never been graded, and needs to go in. If I remember correctly, that set is in Whitman snap-closed 2x2 holders, and I will have to dig around to find it. My focus in building those sets was finding mark-free Ikes, and some dates were virtually impossible to find with clean surfaces. The lesson I learned through my unrelenting search of vast quantities of mint sets, rolls and perhaps a dozen mint-sewn bags was that mint state Ikes often have surface imperfections which look like hits, but are actually marks in the planchets that did not strike out. Do not despair . . . there are nice, mark-free Ikes out there, but not for all dates. Even the very best graded of a couple of dates would surely disappoint you. Just look for the best combination of strike, luster, marks and color that you can find, and you'll do pretty well.
