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 Replies: 12 / Views: 1,662 |
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Rest in Peace
United States
4849 Posts |
This is an area of my type set that I really struggle with. Does anyone know why it is so hard to find a nice AU Seated dollar? Even problem free AUs from NGC and PCGS are usually lackluster, heavily abraded, oddly toned, and many even look cleaned to me....just have low eye appeal. Does it have something to do with the series? or the dies/die preparation used? Most of them just have very low eye appeal in general when compared to equally graded Seated halves, quarters and dimes. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5825 Posts |
Part of the problem is their size.
AU implies lightly circulated and because of the open areas on those coins AND their weight they are easily marked in prominent areas.
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Rest in Peace
United States
10625 Posts |
AU also implies the coin was plucked from circulation shortly after being struck and quite possibly spending many years in the possession of a collector. Back then, collectors preferred their coins to be tarnish free.
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Rest in Peace
 United States
4849 Posts |
Quote:
Part of the problem is their size. True, and that can me a reason for the abraded surfaces; but overall eye appeal in general is much worse than say AU Trade dollars or morgans...jmho |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4085 Posts |
It's a large coin and so overall strike was probably not as good as smaller coins - I.e., same pressure over larger area of metal = weaker strike. The mintages are way less than, for example, halves. Top mintage of Seated dollars rarely exceeded even 1,000,000 while halves often had yearly mintages of 3, 5 or even 8 million, so there's just a smaller overall pool of coins to chose from. One dollar was a lot of money in the mid-1800's. You had to be pretty well off to save one - so most got circulated. When I picked these up for my 7070, anything much above VF grade was out of my price range. Edited by KenKat
04/12/2014 1:36 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8904 Posts |
 with all the above. Plus, at the time of their initial existence, most people who were fortunate enough to have a rare Seated dollar in their possesion, could not afford to keep it. A dollar was a lot of money then, so IMO, they all were a part of the nation's commerce not put away on a shelf.  Edited by Moe145
04/12/2014 6:46 pm
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Rest in Peace
United States
4849 Posts |
I understand what you guys are all saying about them being more scarce....lower populations from the outset, being spent more thus circulating more and obtaining more abrasions too.....but this isn't what I am getting at(I probably didn't phrase my question clearly). If you take all known say PCGS/NGC AU-53 graded examples of Seated dollars, determined their average eye appeal, and compared it to the average of all known PCGS/NGC AU-53 graded examples of Seated halves; the overall eye appeal IMHO, eye appeal is far lower for the Seated dollars. It could be that the TPGs know they are scarcer, and therefore much more lenient when grading? In looking for a certified AU Seated dollar for my type set, I can find many AU examples no problem; but finding one with eye appeal that matches my quarters or dimes is darn near impossible (talking more about luster and overall surface originality and color more than abrasions, as I know they are more prone to abrasions than the smaller coins). |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6381 Posts |
One other issue is that many Seated dollars tend to have semi-prooflike surfaces, possibly because of generally low mintages. I can also speculate that the dies may have been frequently refinished. In any case it seems that examples with strong cartwheel luster (as seen on most AU Morgan dollars) are very scarce. If luster is your prime requirement for AU eye appeal I could understand the difficulty with finding suitable coins. Here's my highest-grade Seated dollar, a PCGS AU-55. I love it but it clearly does not have the sharp cartwheel luster you would expect from a Morgan at the same grade level.   |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8515 Posts |
Wowser...  Oregon coin geek.....*** GO BEAVS ! ! ! ***
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4085 Posts |
To Jaobler's point, I think the large size of the coins makes it difficult to get the strike pressure needed to produce the flow lines that ultimately create the luster effect. I've noticed the same problem with Peace dollars; they are usually pretty flat looking to me. Somehow, Morgans seem to have avoided this problem to a greater extent. Perhaps it is the design? |
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Rest in Peace
United States
4849 Posts |
Quote:One other issue is that many Seated dollars tend to have semi-prooflike surfaces, possibly because of generally low mintages. I can also speculate that the dies may have been frequently refinished. In any case it seems that examples with strong cartwheel luster (as seen on most AU Morgan dollars) are very scarce. If luster is your prime requirement for AU eye appeal I could understand the difficulty with finding suitable coins. Good point Jaobler. That could be a big part of it, as luster is extremely important to me....actually it is probably the most important aspect of an AU coin to my collection, other than originality. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7840 Posts |
I can certainly agree with what has been said previously. I certainly love my 1849 Dollar although PCGS has it labeled as "Questionable Color", which probably had something to do with the envelope it was in for who knows how many years. (same coin, different lighting)   Edited by oih82w8
04/13/2014 8:38 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Quote:
It could be that the TPGs know they are scarcer, and therefore much more lenient when grading? I think that is quite possible, kind of like how they are more lenient on problems on early coinage. Quote: In any case it seems that examples with strong cartwheel luster (as seen on most AU Morgan dollars) are very scarce. If luster is your prime requirement for AU eye appeal I could understand the difficulty with finding suitable coins. The basining/polishing of the dies for the Seated dollars just isn't the same as it was for the Morgans. I wouldn't expect them to have the same type of cartwheel luster. |
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Replies: 12 / Views: 1,662 |
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Posted 04/12/2014 01:46 am
