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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Lehigh96, post: 1112196, member: 15309&quot;]Baha,</p><p><br /></p><p>What I think you are missing is that these coins are graded MS69.&nbsp; Essentially, they are PQ MS68 surface quality coins with exceptional eye appeal that were bumped up to MS69 due to the toning.&nbsp; A white MS68 FB Mercury Dime is still a high end coin ($750+) and not something that your typical coin doctor is going to choose to mess with.&nbsp; Here is a listing of all of the MS68 FB 1939-D Mercury Dimes auctioned by Heritage.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://coins.ha.com/common/search_results.php?Ne=47&amp;N=51+790+231+360+1582+4294966946+76+763" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://coins.ha.com/common/search_results.php?Ne=47&amp;N=51+790+231+360+1582+4294966946+76+763" rel="nofollow">1939-D MS68 FB Mercury Dimes from Heritage Archives</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Now let&#039;s look at the short list of MS69&#039;s.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://coins.ha.com/common/search_results.php?Ne=16&amp;N=51+790+231+360+1582+4294966946+77" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://coins.ha.com/common/search_results.php?Ne=16&amp;N=51+790+231+360+1582+4294966946+77" rel="nofollow">1939-D MS69 FB Mercury Dimes from Heritage Archives</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Do you see what they all have in common;&nbsp; PQ surfaces, fantastic rainbow toning, and exceptional eye apppeal that separates them from the MS68&#039;s.&nbsp; What your claiming is that a coin doctor found all of the high end MS68 1939-D&#039;s and went to work.</p><p><br /></p><p>That assertion is just not realistic.&nbsp; If all of the high end coins (MS68+) were blast white and we found a few hundred fantastically toned MS65&#039;s which sell for about $40 untoned, then I could agree with you that they are the work of a coin doctor.</p><p><br /></p><p>Regarding the $14K example, I respect your rules but disagree with them in this instance.&nbsp; When Heritage desribes a coin as &quot;easily the most impressive they have seen&quot; they mean it.&nbsp; That coin is from the William Dominick collection of Mercury Dimes.&nbsp; If you have never heard of his collection, let me tell you about it.&nbsp; He held the first great Mercury Dime PCGS registry set.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/alltimeset.aspx?s=33" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/alltimeset.aspx?s=33" rel="nofollow">William Dominick Mercury Dime Registry Set (Retired)</a></p><p><br /></p><p>His collection was retired in 1998 and was by far the top ranked collection.&nbsp; Only two collections have surpassed his in quality in the last 13 years, the Joshua collection and the Forsythe collection, and many of Dominick&#039;s coins reside in those collections.&nbsp; I remember when his collection was auctioned by Heritage and remember drooling over the coins.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://coins.ha.com/common/search_results.php?N=51+790+231+360+763+4294965873" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://coins.ha.com/common/search_results.php?N=51+790+231+360+763+4294965873" rel="nofollow">William Dominick Mercury Dime Collection Heritage Archives</a></p><p><br /></p><p>At that time in my numismatic journey, I had not yet discovered rainbow toned coins.&nbsp; I didn&#039;t get into toned coins until 2002.&nbsp; In 2001, my collection consisted of MS67 FB Mercury Dimes and the Dominick collection represented the pinnacle of quality for every single date/mm for the entire series.&nbsp; I actually bid on the coin in question and was blown out of the water.&nbsp; My bid was $6,500 IIRC.&nbsp; I promise you that at the time of that sale, that 1939-D was considered the finest Mercury Dime in existence.&nbsp; Collectors were not bidding moon money on a common date conditional rarity, they were bidding on the pinnacle of quality of the Mercury Dime series.</p><p><br /></p><p>I would be willing to bet that if that same coin sold today, it would drive a very similar premium and would not be surprised if it exceed the $14K price tag of 2001.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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