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 Replies: 65 / Views: 5,739 |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1267 Posts |
This one probably qualifies as one that I overpaid for, mainly because I almost never knowingly buy cleaned coins. It is a coin with an interesting story. It is an 1884 specimen cent, one of three known and the only one of those outside of a museum. This coin passed from the Col. E. H. R. Green (he of the five 1913 V nickels) collection into the Eric Newman/B. G. Johnson partnership, probably in the 1930s after Green's death. I strongly believe, but cannot prove, that it came from the W.W.C. Wilson collection in 1928 and the Caldecott collection in 1912. It was forgotten by the collecting community until Heritage sold the remnants of the Newman collection in 2014. During that auction, it was graded SP-65RB by NGC. After a spirited bidding war between two other Canadian specimen collectors (I dropped out $15K), it went for moon money ($56K US). It showed up in the Cook auction in 2019 in a PCGS holder as SP Genuine - Cleaned. I bought it there for a small fraction of its previous price, but it was still expensive. It certainly has been harshly cleaned, but it is still the only known example in private hands. As a collector of large cent specimens, it fit perfectly into my collecting goals, but geez, what a travesty. Click on the PCGS photo in the link to enlarge. https://www.pcgs.com/cert/37097466Here are the Heritage photos before it was cleaned. https://coins.ha.com/itm/canada/can...ption-071515Edited by bosox
05/14/2024 04:41 am
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2285 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1267 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1613 Posts |
This is fishy. Why would a buyer pay so much to later spoil the coin between auctions?
"We are poor little lambs...who have lost our way...Baa...Baa...Baa"
In memory of those members who left us too soon...
In memory of Tootallious March 31, 1964 - April 15, 2020
In memory of crazyb0 July 27 2020. RIP.
In memory of T-BOP Oct. 12, 1949 - Jan. 19, 2024
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1267 Posts |
Edited by bosox
05/14/2024 05:10 am
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2414 Posts |
I still cringe when I think about all of those beautiful coins that were cleaned.
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Moderator
 United States
164408 Posts |
I never wanted to believe it, but it is my understanding that cleaning was acceptable for many of these old timers.  |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
5418 Posts |
I guess when you have mucho money and not much common sense, Mr Cook could do whatever he wanted, and he did to many coins, making them "beautifuller" in his mind
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Moderator
United States
164408 Posts |
Indeed, that may be true.  |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1489 Posts |
I'm still let's call it "amazed" that PCGS straight graded so many of those coins. Given that a normal collection would receive details grades for much less.
I bought a 1948 dime 2nd hand attributed to the cook collection (not cleaned). But was sad to watch that auction and the damage done.
Glad you were able to such a rare piece and at quite the discount, compared to previous sales, but sadden3d why it was much cheaper.
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Valued Member
Canada
308 Posts |
''Buy the very best, stretch to buy it. It means if you can't afford to buy it, buy it anyway."
-Steven Duckor
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1267 Posts |
In my opinion, the Cook stuff fell into three categories; 1) some stuff was original and not messed with, 2) some stuff was messed with and still straight graded (i.e. the 1911 dollar was downgraded), and 3) some stuff was cleaned and body-bagged. Unfortunately, quite a bit of it fell into the last two categories.
As you might expect, the auction room that night was a mix of collectors and dealers. What is interesting to me is that quite a few of the category 3 coins were purchased by dealers. I now see some of these coins showing up straight graded in the holders of other TPGs.
http://www.victoriancent.com2011 Fred Bowman Award Winner, 2020 J. Douglas Ferguson Award Winner, & 2022 Paul Fiocca Award Winner
Edited by bosox
05/14/2024 2:08 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Taiwan
538 Posts |
Normally a coin pedigreed to a great auction such as Eliasberg, Norweb, Pittman, Belzberg, etc would add to the pride of ownership and in most cases add value also. In the Cook case the best thing to do would be to return the coins to PCGS and get them in a new holder without the Cook reference IMO.
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Pillar of the Community
2208 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
2208 Posts |
I always thought I overpaid for this 1921 2x2 Alabama Commemorative, but I still like it. For its condition and appearance I don't regret it and every time I look at it I remind myself it's a good looker. I paid $625 for it in 2012.   |
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Replies: 65 / Views: 5,739 |
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Posted 05/13/2024 8:22 pm
