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 Replies: 8 / Views: 1,227 |
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Valued Member
United States
225 Posts |
All, This is a continuation of two posts with some photos attached. I am new to this science and am calling on those of the community who like to teach and philosophise to educate me on what I'm seeing here.   There are two questions here. The obvious one first. This was graded by one of the agencies as an MS67 and is slabbed. I bought it at auction on e-bay. The photo representing the coin shows the same coin, but it looks as if a filter was applied which effectively hid a lot of the blemishes. While bidding, I was wary but was able to pick this up for under $100. The value of an MS67 is in the thousands of dollars. While bidding and afterwards, I knew something was askew....I'm a firm believer that one gets nothing for free... If the community could take a look and give feedback, I would appreciate it. The second question concerns what might have been done to this coin (if anything) to bring it to the point that an agency grades it this high. I'm not really that concerned with the how....just the result. It seems that there are a lot of restrictions on the cleaning of coins. My question is: in that this is a beautiful coin, why is the concept of 'cleaning' so controversial to the collection of coins? Thanks, Terry McManus |
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
If the name on the slab is not PCGS, NGC, ANACS or ICG (maybe SEGS), you can consider it what we refer to as a "basement slabber." These are not reputable companies, and their opinions are not to be trusted. Given that grading is a subjective process, it is unfortunately not possible to legislate them out of existence. Every day, people throw thousands of dollars away on ebay and similar sites, buying vastly overgraded coins from them. As you figure, there is not a chance that this is actually an MS67 coin. Your images are small but sharp; I'd estimate I'm seeing a righteous MS64 coin in them. From that standpoint, you did well - the next time I see a cleaned EF-AU coin in an MS65 "slab" won't be the first. Cleaning is anathema to coins. Collectors want their coins in original condition, however they may have survived the years. Morgan dollars are unique in that so many millions of them never entered circulation, so nowadays they can be found in brilliant original condition in quantities greater than just about any issue more than 50 years old. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
4944 Posts |
I am thinking MS-63. Quote:
but it looks as if a filter was applied which effectively hid a lot of the blemishes.  Edited by Canadian-Banknotes
07/15/2012 12:52 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5854 Posts |
It appears to either a 63 or 64.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
36738 Posts |
MS-63, far too many marks on the face and fields both sides.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4989 Posts |
Nice luster but a bit baggy. 63+ or 64-
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1691 Posts |
with that many contact marks...it can't grade above MS-65
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Pillar of the Community
United States
9792 Posts |
I think it rates no more than a MS-62 and as Super Dave said - only trust PCGS, NGC, ANACS and ICG or SEGS (the last two with a grade point less on the holder in many cases) anyone elses slabs are worthless as to grades listed on them. Even the Top 3 can get it wrong sometimes, so learn by examining as many top tier TPG's as you can to learn what they see and why they grade what they do on a coin. "Buy the Book Before You Buy the Coin" - Aaron R. Feldman - "And read it" - Me 2013! ANA Life Member #3288 in good standing since 1981, ANS, Early American Coppers Member (EAC), Colonial Coin Collectors Club member (C4), Conder Token Collector Club member (CTCC), Civil War Token Society (CWTS) member, Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC) & Numismatic Bibliomania Society member (NBS), USMex, Member in good standing, 2¢ variety collector. See my want page: http://goccf.com/t/140440 |
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Valued Member
 United States
225 Posts |
Thanks everyone for the feedback. I've posted a few questions over the past days and really appreciate getting feedback from the years of experience you all have.
I saw something interesting the other day on a slabbed coin: a sticker from a company that rates the accuracy of the slabbers.... For a newbie, I'll be scratching my head for a while.
Back to cleaning, though. I started this whole enterprise putting together a dime album for my brother. One of the coins I looked at was advertised as being from a non-smoking house. I found this interesting, but thought it irrelevant until I purchased some coins in a partial album that were'nt represtended photographically very well. A couple of coins near the edge of the album appear to be coated with a tarnish that I'm thinking is probably nicotine. Having talked and listened to the forum concerning cleaning, I haven't touched these coins, but from the serious coin collectors standpoint, would a collector want one of these coins. They are really pretty ugly....
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Replies: 8 / Views: 1,227 |
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Posted 07/14/2012 11:58 pm
