Mint Error AU 50 Seated Liberty Half Dollar Coin - How To Find A Buyer

Never did hear back from the OP on this interesting coin, but it looks like they took the advice to contact some auction companies and now the OP coin is slated for sale in an upcoming Great Collections auction, it made the news and appears to have been reslabbed again by NGC this time having a pedigree added to the label.

https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-c...t-in-auction

Guess I nailed the minimum needed to buy this neat error at $5K, now shall we all guess what it will end up selling for?

My first thought's were pretty high as this is coming into a time for the coin sales to kick up in prices as summer ends and more people get back to inside activities. The coin also is getting exactly what it needs to up the price exposure to more collectors.

Here are the original slab photos I was able to acquire:


and the CoinWorld/NGC shot of the coin in the new slab.


Here is the link directly to the GC auction.
https://www.greatcollections.com/Coin/746743

I'm guessing a price of $32,750.00 though it could end up going for a lot more as I can't remember the last time such a major error has shown up on a large seated coin.

For the larger photos I suggest going directly to the Great Collections link I provided. I never had the coin in hand to photograph I also believe through the backstory I heard that the OP is not the owner, but a friend that was trying to help get her some information about the coin. It was found in one of her mother's suitcases after she had passed away. The current owner in NOT a collector, several local dealers tried to buy the coin from her cheaply and that is when her friend suggested she not sell until more information could be found out. Good thing too otherwise she would have been taken advantage of by an unscrupulous dealer that offered her a bit over $1000 for this coin. Thankfully it was already slabbed, so it's authenticity wasn't an issue. Yet there is no public record of who originally sent the coin in to NGC. I'm sure NGC's records will show who submitted it, they won't say who the original submitter was for obvious reasons (privacy & security). I wonder if the coin was passed down by another family member to her mother or did her mother have an interest in collecting coins? Questions we will probably never know. But from the original slab we can tell it was certified in a newer generation holder, before it was "discovered" during the estate clean out. Maybe others that have NGC coins with similar serial #'s might better be able to tell us a date that it was slabbed around.

I believe you correct, I took the image of the original reverse I have and over layed it with the Bill Buggert's Mintmark photo from 1874-S WB-101 using Photoshop CC then transformed the overlay by size and rotation until it matched up with the HALF DOLLAR and mintmark position. It matches perfectly too. I thought it might have been from 1872-S WB-101 or WB-102 but that doesn't match as close as your suggestion, and I can't really tell if the reverse has the die cracks from stars #4-6, so conclusion is 1874-S WB-101, too bad the NGC holder is in the way of seeing some of the needed other pick-up points for attribution, or the coin is missing, from being struck on a smaller planchet. The only thing I couldn't match up was the strange look in the bottom serifs of UNITED the letters look like they are breaking away or retracting into themselves. Could this just be due to die erosion or wear on the coin possibly? There is not supposed to be any die erosion on the 1872-S dies known, so again points towards 1874-S.

Bill's excellent resource on San Francisco Seated Half Varieties can be found here:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/529686

Here is my final PSCC image with overlay at 33% on top of the Slabbed coin photo, reduced in quality only to fit the CCF image upload limits.


Thanks for the input Heymikep, a very astute call on the variety, I believe you nailed it correctly, and I agree with you this is an "Arrows at date" coin.

THis was a fun little experiment to do if you have some photoshop skills and access to similar known images to use.

HeymikeP - great news that PCGS is using Bill's attribution books now. I hadn't thought of this before and it seems so obvious now, but since this coin is being struck on a smaller planchet, I would assume the serifs are taking some stress from the pressure of the multi ton die strike, and the metal is flowing stranger than normal, wonder if the collar was in place when this strike happened, and what the edge looks like? I can't tell from the images if the reeding is complete all around or not, I would guess it is not reeded much if at all, as the blank planchet wouldn't reach the edge to the collar, but seeing how it's struck slightly off center as well maybe some reeding is there.

LOL nope, if I was going to spend that kind of money it would be on a Small Motto proof Two Cent Piece.

One thing that bugs me is why NGC has changed the ID number since they had already graded it. Trying to drum up interest as if this is a new discovery piece possibly? When PCGS reholders a coin even if the grade changes they keep the same ID number. This change doesn't make any sense to me at all.

WOW, the wait is over and the auction ended a little while ago. It ended with 52 total bids from 13 different bidders for a final winning bid of $46,004.00 ($51,754.50 with buyer's fees).

Bidder 13 jumped in at the last minute. Great news for the seller.

Remarkable price, but it's an incredible error for sure.