Mint Set Toned 1958 Franklin Half (wow)

Nice!!!

 

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Wow, I see hundreds of Franks a week but rarely do any have an attractive tone. These make my knees weak...

 

Flame on, Ben!
http://coins.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=1153&Lot_No=3798

 

I find that coin immensely attractive. I hate the price tag though!

1960-D Franklin Half Dollar PCGS MS66 FBL

 

Ditto and ditto! To me, this defines "one-of-a-kind."

 

I often see the oversized photos by Heritage and think the coin looks great, but then the slab photo makes it look rather mediocre. I actually think the slab photo of this coin looks better than the oversized photo.

 

Folks why pay extra for a coin that is toned ? If you like toned coins all you have to do is to break them out of their protective mint or proof packs and lay them down in a clean paper box and turn them over once a month , when the air get's to them you will have deep smooth multi color evenly toned coins before long. The reason coins tone more around the edges is because this is where folks handles them by the edges. I hate the looks of toned coins expessialy thru a loupe and try to keep mine protected and nice and bright. The toning will sometimes destroy the mint finish when it get's too severe with age.

 

I was also surprised by how good the slab photo looks. This coin is so peculiar, however, that I'd need to see it in hand (that is, if I happened to have a spare 5 grand ).

I wonder what kind of toning premium it will drive.

 

Well we both are right about what we said. This works both ways from being handled by naked hands by the coins edges and also your paper theory and also direct contact with the air will tone the coins.I have some of the new type quarters that have toned to look exactly like copper. Does anyone know why our new coins tones so fast? I like the lightly gold tone on some of the new coins that I have in coin slabs from the grading companys.

 

Speaking of toned Franklins and crazy prices ...

Take a gander at this 1963-D MS64FBL Toned Franklin

Current bid price $615.93 ... HOLY COW!
And the auction still has 1.5 days to go so the final price might be higher.

PCGS says the retail price on this date and grade is between $48 and $78.
So that's an approximate 10x premium for toning!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320666978396&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

I mean I do like the obverse, but is it worth 10x the normal price?

The other thing I wanted to ask the experts is look at the horizontal scratches on the reverse, aren't those improper cleaning (abrasion) lines?

 

I question the FBL on that one. The hit on the bottom at 11 o'clock from the clapper is what I'm looking at.

 

I'm guessing the graders determined the lines were fully struck but the hit obliterated them in that spot.

 

Not sure what you mean by "horizontal," but the patches of parallel lines you see in the field are die polishing lines. You can always tell them because they seem to go "under" the devices and lettering.

 

yes, i meant parallel ... thanks for the tip on die polishing lines

 

I've been collecting Frankies for 20+ years. Several different things, first off, congrats to the OP, that is a very pleasant looking '58-D. Second, the parallel lines are indeed die polish lines. Third, '57 P's and D's with FBL are not particularly hard to come by, although P's are significantly harder than D's to find. For that matter, a 1958 P with FBL is MUCH harder to come by than a 1958 D, and indeed significantly harder to find than either a '57 P or D.

As to the price for the '60-D, the price kicker there is the FBL designation, although '60-D's with decent toning are a VERY tough coin to find. IMO that coin is NOT FBL, so I would not pay the sort of money that it is currently listed at.

Have fun with your Frankie. '58 D's are generally the nicest toned Franklins around. Given that my birthyear is 1958 I have a bunch of them. If you'd like to see some '58 Franklins (P, D and proof) here is a link to my Signature set:

Franklins

 

Skyman, Holy cow! Love your signature collection of 1958's .... WOWWWWW ... very impressive. I loved your pink toned coin.

Since you are a Franklin expert, I am curious ... What do you consider to be the holy grail of Franklins?

Was always amazed by the crazy high values PCGS puts on extremely high grade Frankies ... for example $15,000 for an MS-66 FBL 1963 Franklin ... do people really get that much in an auction? I can't imagine paying $15k for a 63 Franklin, even if it is nearly perfect.

BTW, I was born in '57 ... the 1960's was sort of an end of an era for great face-value coin collecting.

 

Thank you for your kind comments WL. I call the pink '58-D "Cotton Candy" as the colors on the coin remind me of the treat. FWIW I also have a bunch of raw '58 P&D's which can't be included in the Signature set.

For business strike Franklins, the "Holy Grail" would most likely have to be the 1953-S with FBL. That date/mm is a common coin without FBL, but add FBL and it increases in value by a multiple of roughly 100 - 125 times.

As to high grade Franklins, you have to realize how rare they are. After 25 years of grading, there are NO MS68's by either major TPG. MS67 is the top of the line, and in quite a few of the date/mm's the top of the line is MS66. Personally, I do NOT find it worthwhile to go down either the FBL OR highest grade route. For the dates that FBL is not a major cost multiplier I normally will look for FBL, but otherwise there are plenty of graded coins where IMO the grading service has screwed up and not given an FBL to a deserving coin. As to high grade Franklins, you can find very nice looking raw MS63-5 Franklins for WELL under $50 if you want to or Very nice graded MS65 Franklins for very reasonable prices if you spend a little time looking around.

Since you were born in '57 here's a Franklin for you...

 

WOWWWW on the'57 !!!! (I WANT IT!) Where do you find most of your coins?

Thanks for all the info ... it was a good read and i learned a few things.

 

When I was starting I used to get most of my high end Franklins from Rick Tomaska (R&I Coins). Rick does have some really sweet Franklins, but his prices are also very steep. Nowadays I get my coins from all over the place... auctions, shows, contacts etc. If you want to learn about the series, I would recommend Tomaska's books on Franklins. Just do a search on his last name in Amazon and you'll find a variety of books.