You Vs ICCS 1905 And 1907 Cents

That 1907 is gorgeous...

I'd say a 65 for the 1905. May be a 66 if the small marks are on the ICCS flip. As for the 1907, 67. That is beautiful! The obverse is gorgeous

I find the two coins in the opening post very interesting to compare. The 1905 is a Landon coin, so it was graded circa 2014. ICCS graded it 66 red, even with a hit on the cheek and another tiny one in the field in front of his nose. The lines behind the King's head and in the legend are die polishing lines, so they do not detract from the grade.

The 1907 was graded at least nine years ago. I bought it in the same ICCS holder in 2008. It is in an old two letter ICCS holder at 65 red and has a re-punched 7 (not noted). The 1907 is clearly the superior coin of the two. Except for a couple of tiny carbon spots on the reverse, the darn thing is perfect. So, was it the luck of any given day at the ICCS shop, grade creep, or over exuberance by ICCS on the Landon grading? You be the judge.

In my experience, 1905 cents can be found in high grades without too much trouble. Very much not so for 1907. 1907 is a very difficult coin to find in gem. As an anecdotal example of this, the Landon sale had a small bucketful of high mint state 1905 cents, headed by a 67 red and two 66 reds. That sale had thirteen 1907 cents, all between 60-62RB.

IMO 1907 and 1906 are the sleepers in the Edward cent series. They are not hard to find in 62-64, but hen's teeth above that. Chuck Moore once joked with me that it must have a been rough boat ride in those two years. They are almost as tough to find in gem as the 1907H.

I feel very fortunate to have found and acquired the coins I have for the middle of the Edward VII series. The hunt so far has taken about thirteen years. I still need to work on the beginning and end of the series, but those are easier coins to find.

1906 PCGS and NGC MS-65 Red



1907-H PCGS MS-65RB, ex Professor Wayne Palmer Collection

The 1907H is an absolute beauty, and should have been at least a point above the 1906, IMHO.

I think a lot of this stuff was tied up for years in collections. After Belzberg sold in 2003, several other old collections came to sale through deaths and other reasons. So, a lot was floating around circa 2003-2008, before the recession hit. Professor Palmer, Dominion, Canadiana all come to mind, collections that had been a few decades in the making. I was at the Palmer sale in Long Beach in 2004 and it was pretty amazing. I bought several of his pieces at the auction, then bought a few more years later out of the Canadiana sale.

Yes..sunglasses indeed.!

That 1907 is utterly astounding!