Your coin has good eye appeal, regardless of grade. The obverse is CAM and looks like it could be PL. The reverse is a beauty, but looks to have a cartwheel and not PL. The frosting on the reverse isn't as thick or complete. It definitely is the old bourse floor SPL. That's fairly common with 1878-CC coins, but it doesn't make them any less beautiful.
With the in-hand photos, the obverse looks to be on the 62/63 bubble, taking into account the rim ding. The reverse is at least 64/64+. Given the eye appeal from the obverse frosting and fields, IMHO the net should be MS-63, even from PCGS. A
TPG MS-62 can't be ruled out, however, and that is a risk you would need to evaluate and limit. On a bourse floor, raw, it might be a 63/64 tossup.
Submitting it to a
TPG and getting slapped with an MS-62 leaves you with a Hobson's Choice, crack it out and lose the GSA Hoard certification or leave it slabbed as an MS-62 and try to argue it up to a 63 at sale. To reduce that risk, if you submit it to a
TPG, definitely set your minimum acceptable grade at 63/63+ and make sure they don't take it out of the soft pack for any reason unless they will slab it at your minumum acceptable grade. Whatever you do, don't give them the chance to hit you with a 62. If it slabs at MS-63, I'd call it good.
The GSA soft packs are vanishing quickly. I remember them being fairly common a decade ago, but even by the start of the pandemic, they were uncommon. Other than the awkwardness of storing the soft packs, they have value to many collectors. The
VAM is identifiable, and the soft pack would allow the bourse floor raw coin grade haggling that I mentioned. Your coin and your choice, but that's the way I would go with this one.
If you do choose to submit it to a
TPG, you probably will have to choose between stickering it as a GSA Hoard coin or stickering it for the
VAM. Just my opinion here, and take it with a grain of salt, but if it were my coin and I chose to submit it (which I wouldn't), I'd sticker it with the
TPG as GSA Hoard and then resubmit it slabbed to VSS for their additional
VAM sticker.
Way TMI here, but I'm tossing out some ideas for your consideration.
I like your coin. It has eye appeal. And, frankly, my 1878-CC whispered in my ear that it's jealous of your coin's looks.
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Posted 05/22/2025 9:23 pm
