Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kaparthy, post: 1012117, member: 57463&quot;]We all know the basic story.&nbsp; You can find it on Wikiepedia and you can read <i>The Fantastic Book</i> by ANA President Kenneth Bressett and ANS President Eric P. Newman.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>The purpose of this thread is to show that the &quot;King of Coins&quot; has no clothes.</p><p><br /></p><p>In the thread on Self Slabbers, I pointed out that the Reed Hawn Queller had been graded Very Fine and then became Proof 62.&nbsp; My mistake was not tracking that earlier grade from Very Fine to Proof 62. It would take a checking of the Stack&#039;s auction book from 1974 for the Hawn Collection to validate the actual grade. I believe that in the days of Parmelee, the auction catalogs did not call this a Proof coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>It is true that all 1804 Dollars are nominally &quot;proof&quot; in that they were limited strikings on the request of the President.&nbsp; However, beyond that actually requires some validation.&nbsp; President Jackson only asked for a set of coins.&nbsp; What the Mint did is another matter entirely.&nbsp; Did they polish the planchets and strike each coin at least three times?</p><p><br /></p><p>The Byron Reed specimen was known to have been cleaned with a cloth by a curator, at least twice, and yet was graded Proof 64 by ICG.</p><p><br /></p><p>Beyond the first eight Originals are another seven &quot;copies.&quot;&nbsp; (One a second strike, the other six third editions.)&nbsp; They continue to sell well.&nbsp; One has to ask, &quot;Why?&quot;&nbsp; That word &quot;copies&#039; is in quotes because they were not actual restrikes from the same dies, but remakes. All but one were seized by the Mint.</p><p><br /></p><p>Ultimately, the 1804 Dollar is no more genuine than a Chinese fake.&nbsp; After all, we know that at least one Chinese factory uses genuine old US Mint machinery and dies.&nbsp; So, what&#039;s the difference?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in