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 Replies: 16 / Views: 3,412 |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1081 Posts |
Alright - virtually all of my collection is silver. I find copper intimidating...there's just so much more to look at in terms of colours and grade. This coin is graded MS-65 by PCGS and, to the eye, it's quite beautiful. But the closely I look the more detail there is to look at. There's a pretty obvious fingerprint on the reverse, as well as a fairly strong north/south toning difference. [which I'm told is undesirable]. And then there's the obverse, which is almost perfectly preserved in terms of detail but which has little speckles and so forth sprinkled about all over the place. A silver coin graded MS-65 would be much easier to interpret.... Is this in my head or is this a thing? It just seems as though copper offers a richer pallet of colour and condition over and above the technical aspects of grading...e.g. detail in the hair, the eye, etc....   |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2781 Posts |
90%+ of my collection is copper/bronze, then again I don't hang on to much after 1858 (other than a NFLD typeset and a small assortment of CDN decimals)
And yes, there is a natural earthy richness to the tones that I do not find with silvers (silver has it's own attraction I guess - I'm just not one who appreciates it).
Coppers are all about eye appeal. And unlike silver it's pretty difficult to dip or otherwise "clean" a copper/bronze without it looking like road rash.
In my book, Copper is King
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
5585 Posts |
I'm strictly bronze and especially Vickies. I don't like "bright and shiny" ... good chocolate bronze with luster is for me. I want history in my hands, not reflective surfaces.
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Valued Member
United States
337 Posts |
Nice coin. Is that an H mint mark for the Heaton Mint?
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
1081 Posts |
@Henry M Smith - yes for sure. Many NFLD coins were minted at Heaton....
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Pillar of the Community
United States
666 Posts |
Copper / bronze is more reactive to the enviroment than silver and gold. Therefor more likely to get fingerprint toning and micro spots.
I actually like the look of the OP's coin. Original skin.
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Moderator
 Canada
10456 Posts |
"Discovery follows discovery, each both raising and answering questions, each ending a long search, and each providing the new instruments for a new search." -- J. Robert OppenheimerContent of this post is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses...0/deed.en_USMy eBay store
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1081 Posts |
@1960NYGiants - it's in the top 12 of PCGS-graded coins for that year. If you're interested, it's currently up for auction at Heritage. I may bid, though I'm mostly just using it as a discussion piece as I don't really know anything about copper Newfoundland at this point.
It's interesting to me how different 'original skin' is in copper relative to silver. I guess it's obvious that copper, silver, nickel and gold will age differently; though I'd never really thought about it this way before. But the thing that struck me the other day is that there's just more to look at in copper than in the other three. I mean, there are some crazily toned silvers out there but the natural range of pigmentation, oxidation etc...etc... just seems to be greater in copper than in any of the other common metals used to make coins.
That is my brilliant insight for late April 2020.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1348 Posts |
Actually 1872-H was well represented in the Heaton Hoard. PCGS lists 16 coins in 65 and 66 Red. There are also two or three ICCS examples (still in ICCS holders) in 66 Red.
http://www.victoriancent.com2011 & 2025 Fred Bowman Award Winner, 2020 J. Douglas Ferguson Award Winner, & 2022 Paul Fiocca Award Winner. Life Member of RCNA.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1081 Posts |
Excellent point and thanks for pointing that out. I was just looking at red/brown. As I say, I'm still trying to figure copper out.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1348 Posts |
They tend to come quite nice. Here are two of the ICCS coins in 66 Red.  http://www.victoriancent.com2011 & 2025 Fred Bowman Award Winner, 2020 J. Douglas Ferguson Award Winner, & 2022 Paul Fiocca Award Winner. Life Member of RCNA.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1348 Posts |
This is one of the PCGS coins in 66 Red.  |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1081 Posts |
Ye gods....those are astounding!
Illustrates the point though - the MS65 red/brown I posted is gorgeous but there's a huge difference between it and these ones. Pretty much night and day. In contrast, I find the MS65/66 to be something of a coin toss in the case of the equivalent silvers.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1348 Posts |
Newfoundland copper is a inconsistent beast. There are probably 20 red 1872-H cents. 1909, 1913, and 1936 also have many reds. Then you dates like 1894 (no reds), 1876-H and 1890 (one red each), and 1880 Oval 0 (only three mint state and none in red). Many of the dates are feast or famine.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1081 Posts |
Well, that's going into my notes....thanks very much - very helpful.
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Moderator
Canada
10456 Posts |
This year had part of the famous "Heaton Hoard"... a decent one can be had at a quite reasonable price. I picked one up last year, in an older PCGS holder.  "Discovery follows discovery, each both raising and answering questions, each ending a long search, and each providing the new instruments for a new search." -- J. Robert OppenheimerContent of this post is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses...0/deed.en_USMy eBay store
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Replies: 16 / Views: 3,412 |
Posted 04/24/2020 8:53 pm
