1836 Gobrecht

Rock on, thank you for the photos. Too bad about getting natural lighting, but still, we can see most of the surfaces. I see the TPG's concern about the toning, and agree with Bryan. I would be tempted to field it with a couple of high-end auction houses and see their take...but still, great coin!

Before sending it anywhere, better photos are essential. We might as well help you with that while we are at it...right gang? ;)

Wow; don't see one of these every day! Can anyone pull up PCGS photos of this coin from their website?

IMHO, DO NOT dip this coin.

Was it previously stored in a paper flip? The way it was stored might account for the toning.

The even, perfectly circular toning with such rich hues are not easy to find naturally. For example, a coin with a strong ring around it was the end coin on a roll. Other old coins have a half moon on them, from being oddly stacked in the environment that toned them.

Notice the nice even hue perfectly around the edge of the coin? It looks great, almost perfect. Too pefect for the graders, hence they called its toning suspect.

Added: I hadn't seen Trout's images yet when I made that post. I like PCGS' images even less. Even if that *is* natural toning, it's different enough to raise a flag in the mind of an expert who knows the decision will turn a $10k coin into a $30k coin (numbers at random).

Wow. I'm getting a real education and appreciate it. So is the grading about right? PR- 50, 55, or MS-60? Since PCGS said they weren't sure, who do I turn to? Why would anyone screw with a coin like this and color it?

In truth, Thomas, what I think has happened here is a case of "natural toning under unnatural circumstances." Yeah, I get the cognitive dissonance there but toning is a kinda funny topic.

Nobody in their right mind would deliberately subject a known-good Gobrecht dollar to artificial toning. I believe that somehow it got stored for a while in conditions which accelerated the toning process - normally something which takes years.

Or, this coin could have changed hands from one long-term storage situation to a second long-term storage situation where local atmospheric conditions differed. Toning depends greatly on the presence of chemicals which contribute to the process; if the environment differed that greatly between the two, a toning process might work entirely differently.

Now, here's the problem. What I've just posted is nowhere near as complex as it actually is in the real world. A link to a rather intelligent discussion of the toning process as it relates to Morgan dollars:

http://www.jhonecash.com/coins/tone...asp#howtoned

Not all of this directly relates to your Gobrecht, but the science does.

The upshot is, real or not, your coin raised a red flag. No doubt this one got some serious attention (I wouldn't be surprised if David Hall himself got called to have a look), and the consensus was the chance of it being artificial was too great for PCGS to stake its' rep on. But that's a percentage chance, not a conclusive decision.

I'm not sure I agree with PCGS that the coin has circulated - pics are too small to be sure - but given that it's a Proof strike, if anything whatsoever appears to indicate wear I'm inclined to accept that opinion.