Post your favorite "Detail" coin...

I'll start by admitting I'm stealing this idea from another forum and a regular poster here at CT as well @SensibleSal66 .. It's even possible he's already post a very similar thread here and I'm just not finding it... Anyhoo

Let's see them.. Most of us at one time or another have bought a detailed coin or had one graded that came back that way... That being said.. let's see your favorites.. here's mine.. is also the detail coin I paid the most for so i better like it lol...

 

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It's still gold!

 

This is my kind of thread. Some of my favorite pieces are in detail holders. I am too old school to care about the label as long as I can have an affair with the coin inside.

 

STILL my Favorite details coin:

 

I don't often keep details coins unless they are scarce types. I purchased this coin raw and sent it in to NGC where it ultimately graded AU Details, Cleaned. It is a three year type, but is quite appealing. Luckily, NGC sometimes takes high resolution photos of coins submitted for internal and educational purposes and this coin got one!

Abbey of Fulda
1728
Kopfstück
KM# 65

 

The question I have is 'Are the red spots wax or jeweller's rouge?' If the former then it was probably illustrated in an old catalogue and likely not cleaned, but if the latter it was cleaned. From the image, it doesn't look cleaned, but then pictures can be misleading, hence the question.

 

Wax left over from their counterfeiting ring. What? It could happen!
What's the big D all about on bottom of coin?

 

Not entirely sure. I'm assuming NGC thinks the latter? The fields are fairly nice and I thought it might straight grade, but I was concerned about the red spots as well. I had no clue what they were.

 

It doesn't seem to be a mint mark as it's not listed on the NGC world coin database as such. It's possible it is the last initial of the engraver Johann Nikolaus Dittmar. On some of these early German coins it's difficult to determine what are mint marks and what are engravers initials. I'll consult my krause catalogue after this 12 hour night shift is over!

 

Nothing to do with counterfeiting. From the end of the 19th century until the middle of the 20th, coins illustrated in auction catalogues had a wax impression made and casts made from this which were used to produce the image. Sometimes, the wax impression didn't come away cleanly, leaving traces on the coin. These small pieces of missing wax then showed up in the plates, which is a good means of confirming a coin's provenance. To demonstrate, here is a Charles I halfcrown with wax on the obverse. There is also a blob of wax on the reverse which also shows in the plate image.


And here is an image of the plate in Hamilton-Smith 1919 sale, lot 56, where the thin wax line is visible.

 

Another of my top shelf coins with a pariah label.... Somebody scratched grime from between the bars with a pocket knife which labeled this gem as "tooled". I couldn't give a care in the world about what the label says.

 

My favorite - wish it wasn't ex jewelry! View attachment 1596911 View attachment 1596913 sorry couldn't rotate?

 

Same issue as mine. But it's still gold!

 

That's the whole deal with me..... Except my feel is that the history of that coin is still just as palpable regardless of what a label may say. I just won a bid two nights ago for a coin that I wanted badly but was in a "cleaned" holder. I was the only bidder. Before the TPG's this would have been a very desirable coin!

 

Bought this one out of the original slab. I put it into a "self-slab" with the original label.

Z

 

Hey Zoid! Good to see you. I miss seeing your wit and tomfoolery.

 

I have a few but this is my favorite

 

Oh, this thread looks like fun.
When I get home all post some pictures.

Love the bar cent! @Randy Abercrombie
All I have is a measly electrotype.

 

I can't decide between these two. The SLQ is Details - Cleaned, even though the surfaces don't show any lines of any kind.


And this gorgeous Walking Liberty, which was detailed for Wrap Machine Damage (Genuine - UNC Details (98 - Damage) It shows up on the reverse at the 9:00 position just inside the rim at a particular light angle.

At my price of $112.50, it knocked 90% off the value of the coin. (Or more, if you compare it to a 67+ at this sale at Stacks Bowers which sold for $19,800.) It has better detail than the top pop coin at Heritage, too. That sold for just under $40,000.



I will say again that giving a coin a Details grade is often overkill. Why destroy the value of a top coin for a small flaw you can only see in a particular light and only with a loupe? The grade conveys no knowledge that the coin is a beautifully toned top pop example with a tiny flaw, as opposed to one that was run over in a parking lot.