Toned/Anti Toned Numismatists (What do you think about this half?)

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Hey, I collect coins most here would not even know what they were, and would think are ugly as sin. I am never one to say to not collect what makes you happy.

Having said that, and having seen crisp clean and beautifully toned Franklins, I would not prefer to see a set of these. Being a coin geek, I would still look at them though.

 

You don't think its beautiful???

 

Paul, that coin is gorgeous!

 

*coughbeautifulcough*

 

Lol, eye of the beholder man.

Warning, OT comments ahead: For anyone interested, the cross is what really makes this coin interesting. They were Eastern Christians, (first the Sogdians were Buddhists and instrumental in bringing Buddhism to China, but then later Eastern Christian, not Orthodox, but Eastern Christians who have died out and this is one of the very few artifacts left of their religion), So, its a rare variety of a rare coin of a rare civilization. Rare(3) if you will. Its very esoteric, and unknown even to most ancient collectors. Believe it or not, this one is quite good for these, with the ragged flan being its major problem, but still better than 90% you would ever see, if you would ever be able to see another one of these. Its a great example of a great rarity a knowledgable collector of ancients can get for little money. There is probably one Sogdian coin, (of all of their types minted), in existence for every 1000 Franklin halves. Probably more like 10,000 or 100,000 really.

See, I KNOW ugly. If someone can see beauty in this coin, I very well can see how others find beauty in the Franklin the OP posted, just not me.

 

The original coin posted is nice an original but as far as mint set frankies from the 1958 Denver mint go....it's far from a monster. I think the price it pulled was fair considering the grade and quality of the toning. A monster toner in that grade could pull triple that price or more so I think the market kinda echoed some of the comments here in terms of personal taste.

As irony would have it...here is a 1958-D frankie in MS66FBL that I purchased today for several hundred less than the coin that started this thread. It's certainly a monster even for the date and one of the nicest I have ever owned.

 

I prefer Shane's coin, the original coin I lean towards Doug's feelings.

 

I love them all. Although I do not believe the one I posted matches up to the 67* or Krypto's, it does have a nice reverse. Only opinion, but this is a series where I do not really care about a 66-67 grade bump. In other words it doesn't seem reasonable to pay the money demanded for a 67 (especially with the tone premium). Most of the time these halves look just fine in MS64-65. Thanks for sharing.

By the way Chris, I appreciate ancients. The history is awesome, but I do not have the brain capacity to take them on right now. Back in the mid 80's I used to watch a show called "Ancient Empires of Gold," or something like that. For some reason they took it off the air.

 

I think it's really cool, the first word that came into my head while viewing the blown up picture was "stratosphere"