1870 CC Seated Liberty Half Dollar

It's Authentic! But the dealer said I shouldn't bother sending it in for grading because they will not grade it because it is a dug coin. He also said it wasnt worth investing in NCS to clean it because no amount of cleaning will remove the black toning. I'm gonna need a second opinion. So next step is send high-res pics to NCS and ask if they feel I can benefit from having the coin professionely restored.

Congratulations SmokinJoe - its great to finally see an amazing find which doesn't turn out to be a fake.

Even a "Genuine" grade will pay you back huge dividends if you sell.

That's an amazing find all the way from Carson City!!

You need to get the coin certified as genuine. Nowadays, very few people will buy a high rarity unless it is in a slab. Too many high quality fakes out there.

Which dealer examined it and recommended not to certify or conserve ?

The dealers name was Comensky. I chose to go to him because he is an authorized dealer for PCGS. Between you and I, I didn't care for him at all. Right from the get go, I was angry at him for man-handling my coin and not holding it by the rim. He completely down-played the rarity of my coin, and basically gave me the feeling that coins dug from the ground were of no interest to "serious" collecters. In a nutshell, he basically insinuated it was noything more than a good find on my part. In the end though, he did offer to purchase it if I wanted to sell it. I have to admit to being a little confused by by the differing opinions on what to do with this coin. For example: Some say it has to be slabbed because that's the only way collectors will consider purchasing it. While others say never slab it because collecters of coin this rare actually want to touch it. The dealer I spoke to suggested the latter of the two.

Wow, sounds like that Comensky guy is someone to avoid. If you brought that coin into my local shop I guarantee it would have generated a big positive reaction, with enthusiastic professionals congratulating you on your extraordinary find. One of the owners is a real Carson City fan and he would likely have made a reasonable offer if you were interested in a direct sale. Did Comensky throw out a dollar amount with his offer to buy? If so I would guess it was a small fraction of the coin's potential value.

I would second the recommendation to talk with the folks at NCS about conservation. I expect it will be judged as "environmentally damaged" no matter what they do to it but they should be able to improve its eye appeal which will translate to a higher sale price.

How about those new hi-res photos ()? It will be much harder to get good shots once the coin is slabbed.....

Comensky told me the coin was worth about $4000. I'm sure that wasn't his offer though. I feel the coin is worth way more than that. Yes it was in the ground and has "environmental damage", buteven so it has great detail to it and appears to be one of the better specimens compared to all the CC Halfs I've been able to observe on the internet. The dealer made it sound like a collecter would choose a lesser graded coin over this one just because of the fact that it was a dug coin and has an unnatural blackened tone. I was under the impression that all silver turns black (tarnish?) over time when exposed to elements.