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 Replies: 15 / Views: 1,147 |
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Valued Member
United States
276 Posts |
I just started trying to assemble a short set of unc Mercury dimes. I am amazed a 1945 mercury in ms65 is listed at $45 but a ms65 full band is $18,500. Are there really people who pay the difference? If so how do I make enough income so that I can be one of them?  |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
20949 Posts |
FSB's are not very rare; I found an MS example with little difficulty.
To be FSB, the bands have to be individually distinct, the top of them have the same shape as the old style loaf of bread.
Helps if they are MS blast white with full luster, with an also sharply struck Lib obverse, but they can still be FSB without these additional advantages. Even so, it is possible to obtain a common date example with all of these advantages, paying $hundreds for them, not $thousands.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
78371 Posts |
Where was the $18.5K listing?
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Valued Member
United States
459 Posts |
Wow I was unaware just how rare 1945 fb Mercury dimes are. Just checked PCGS.. I've been collecting for a couple years (2017). Favorite Coin's are Standing Liberty quarters, Working on my type set: "knowledge is power" -Thomas Jefferson | Coffee, Corvettes, Coins & the CCF what could be better? Edited by Jakes Coins
03/24/2023 10:17 am
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Moderator
United States
44479 Posts |
Quote:Are FB Mercury dimes Really Worth Thousands More Than Non FB? The true price of something is what a 3rd party is willing to pay. To that 3rd party, I guess it is "worth" the money. If you ask me if the dime being discussed is "worth" $18,500, I would say no.
Show your support of the Coin Community Family (click here)See what CCF members have for sale (click here)See my collecting interest - (click here) |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3016 Posts |
I don't know much about Mercury dimes. Is it just 1945-P that's so wacky? I poked around Heritage and the difference is nuts. Here's an MS67+ that sold last November for $240 https://coins.ha.com/itm/mercury-di...bnail-071515and an MS62 FB that sold last October for $5040 https://coins.ha.com/itm/mercury-di...bnail-071515Heritage says "The 1945 is scarce in Full Bands" so that must be it. Having one that's oh so close but not quite FB must drive people crazy. Edit - looking at the NGC census, 3,694 have been graded MS65, and only 8 in MS65 FB. Quote:
1945(P) dimes are extremely common in all grades through MS 67, yet this issue is notorious as the rarest of the series with Full Bands. Examples having distinct center bands are extremely elusive, and ones certified as FB bring huge premiums over their ordinary brothers in the same numeric grades. Quality control for all denominations was poor at the Phildelphia Mint in 1945, with the emphasis being solely on sheer numbers. There was nothing wrong with the dies, as may be seen by examining mint error coins such as off-center and broakstruck 1945(P) dimes; these nearly always have bold central bands. The fault, therefore, lay in the shaping of the planchets' edged or the collars used. Edited by kbbpll
03/24/2023 1:23 pm
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Valued Member
United States
344 Posts |
Quote:
Where was the $18.5K listing? The $18,500 is the PCGS price guide MS-65 1945-P FB price listed. If you are buying one you have to be careful someone has not taken a needle or knife to magically make it FB.
Edited by Cointree
03/24/2023 1:48 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
78371 Posts |
Wow, thanks!  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10346 Posts |
The number of "altered" "FB" 1945 Philadelphia dimes probably exceeds the number of actual examples known to exist, but there are numerous other telltales that help distinguish an alteration.
I've looked at probably a hundred or two hundred Uncirculated 1945 Mercs in-hand and never seen an FB in the wild. The closest one I ever saw posted (not live) was posted here awhile back by another member, it was probably 95% of the way there but not quite.
But to answer your question, some dates and mintmarks are quite a bit easier to find with full bands than others. Generally speaking, several of the dates/mints known for usually having poor strike quality (e.g. 1945-P) are very scarce in Uncirculated FB grades and will be priced accordingly.
There is also disagreement on what exactly constitutes "Full bands" between PCGS and NGC, with NGC being stricter on the designation than PCGS, at least from what I remember.
Longhorn Coins & Exonumia Member ANA - EAC - TNA - SSDC - CCT #890 "Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done." -- Louis D. Brandeis |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5427 Posts |
Yep! I bought it from SuperDave on eBay from a previous member who he bought it from. Quote:
The closest one I ever saw posted (not live) was posted here awhile back by another member, it was probably 95% of the way there but not quite. Edited by macmercury
03/24/2023 2:30 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10346 Posts |
Glad to know it stayed in the "Family!"
Longhorn Coins & Exonumia Member ANA - EAC - TNA - SSDC - CCT #890 "Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done." -- Louis D. Brandeis |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
20949 Posts |
Beware !
It is well worth serious consideration to very closely examine all FSB's at the band split. with a 10x loupe.
It seems to me that alteration of a non FSB to be grooved out, and thus resemble an FSB,
would be a very easy thing to do,
and easy to hide the alteration on an eBay picture.
Would appreciate further comments.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10346 Posts |
Quote:
It seems to me that alteration of a non FSB to be grooved out, and thus resemble an FSB,
would be a very easy thing to do,
and easy to hide the alteration on an eBay picture. Yup. No way I'm buying one of the high-value FB coins without it being in a PCGS or NGC holder. That being said, you have to look for incongruous differences in the strike. A coin with a weakly struck obverse and reverse but a razor-sharp band is suspect. Also, attempts to alter dimes in that manner often leave other marks where you can see that the metal was moved and that it wasn't struck that way. But of course that's difficult without high res photos, which is why I said I would only buy one slabbed.
Longhorn Coins & Exonumia Member ANA - EAC - TNA - SSDC - CCT #890 "Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done." -- Louis D. Brandeis |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5427 Posts |
1945 P are certainly the one that has the worst reverse strike, not sure the resource wasn't available, or lack of quality control there at the Mint. There were higher Philadelphia mintage from 1940's years, so I would think is the latter cause.
I mentioned before 1939 S is another one that have very low FB designation, but 1945 P has more demand due to how bad the reverse strikes present, so the demand is more represented by publishers.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1172 Posts |
Scarcity in a top grade is usually the reason for the high price. Looking at PCGS population report will help you see - 1945 has 9,699 graded and at least 2/3 are MS65 or better from a quick look. But only 133 graded at PCGS 1945 with full bands total and 40 MS65, 18 MS66, 1 MS66+, 3 MS67, and 2 MS67+. Then you have all these registry set collectors that want one, more demand than supply pushes up the price. https://www.PCGS.com/pop/detail/cat...=3&p=MS&pn=2 |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
20949 Posts |
Tks for the pop data.
It seems that FB's are not comparatively rare.
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Replies: 15 / Views: 1,147 |
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Posted 03/24/2023 09:33 am
