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 Replies: 21 / Views: 2,304 |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
3651 Posts |
A bit of backstory on this coin. I took early retirement with voluntary severance five years ago, and I decided to use part of the severance I received to purchase one of my "dream coins" - a high-relief Saint-Gaudens double eagle. I purchased this from a dealer in Florida which specialized in high-end gold coins, but they had absolutely lousy images on their website. I called the owner, and it turned out he just used a scanner to produce his images. Well, he sent me several additional scans with different coin orientations, and I was finally convinced. After receiving the coin, I had no regrets. This coin is currently the cornerstone of my type collection and I'll be interested in your thoughts on the grade relative to how NGC graded it. Please note that, particularly on the reverse, there are a lot of scratches on the slab itself (it's an old, fairly beat up NGC holder). Those slab scratches are fairly obvious, so shouldn't be too much of a hindrance. Thanks in advance for any comments!   Edited by hokiefan_82
10/01/2021 10:24 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1361 Posts |
Oh my...I suck at gold...but ms65ish is my guess...shmexy coin
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
Bearing in mind that very few, if any at all, of the HR coins circulated, it is reasonable to expect that almost all of them should be found the mid to high MS range.
Since the detracting features of high MS coins are difficult to differentiate at those grades, and when the coin that appears on our screens is under plastic, the grading task is made doubly difficult.
I completely understand why you were very cautious with the original scan pictures you had to deal with.
Thus, my grading opinion can only be at best a guesstimate.
I will assume that all of the tiny scratches that I see are on the slab.
A couple of tiny dings on Lib's left wrist (obv).
Rim roughness above the 'T' of 'STATES' , and a tiny ding on the right side of the Sun (rev).
MS-65.
Edited by sel_69l
10/02/2021 06:50 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7621 Posts |
Solid 64; may have made 65 if graded on a Friday afternoon (or on a Wednesday before Thanksgiving) grading session!
Gorgeous coin! Congrats! I'm jelly!
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
Clueless on something like this, but standing by.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4680 Posts |
I'm also horrible with gold, but I'll say MS65 as well. Heckuva coin!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3848 Posts |
Shot in the dark: MS-66 Very nice coin , and I didn't realize how expensive these were. I would like to hold one of these some day. Suffering from bust half fever. Want to learn how to attribute early half dollars by die variety? Click Here: http://goccf.com/t/434955Shoot me a PM if you are looking to sell bust halves. |
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Moderator
United States
15446 Posts |
I have no experience to judge - waiting for the reveal. Lovely coin. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11896 Posts |
I don't learn to grade gold because if I did, I might want to buy some. Having said that, awesome coin and cornerstone to your collection.  Edited by numismatic student
10/02/2021 08:54 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4469 Posts |
I am at 66, with a shot at 67. Outstanding example.
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
18673 Posts |
 MS66 and imo very possible MS67 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1086 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6387 Posts |
Seems to have a few tiny hairlines on both sides but these are very minor. Don't see why it would grade less than MS-65 and 66 seems possible.
Spectacular coin, congratulations on a terrific acquisition!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8517 Posts |
I'll agree with Westernsky on the 64.
Oregon coin geek.....*** GO BEAVS ! ! ! ***
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5832 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
3651 Posts |
Thank you all very much for the responses. The coin was judged by NGC to be MS64 and is in a 1997-2000 generation holder. I'm pleased to see that MS64 was the baseline of the grade opinions; I've always thought this coin was very solid for the grade, and possibly even undergraded. In late 2016, I was initially looking for a high-relief Saint in MS64 as up to that grade the price increases are somewhat incremental. The jump to MS65 is far more significant, and then to MS66 is very large. However, I'd begun looking at MS65s as I knew this would be a "forever" coin for me, and many of the MS64s I'd found for sale had, in my opinion, too many hits and/or distractions. When I happened to come across this coin it immediately caught my eye, even with the poor-quality pictures on the dealer's site. As I mentioned in my original post, the dealer sent me a lot of other scans which, along with a long conversation I had with him, convinced me to purchase it. After receiving the coin, let's just say I had a huge smile on my face! And, to be honest, I still get the same smile when looking at this coin after owning it for almost 5 years... I've occasionally thought about cracking it out for resubmission, but now that I have my CAC membership I think I'll first send it in to them to get their opinion. Depending on what I hear back from them, I may look at a resubmission at that point. Thanks again, I truly appreciate all the feedback and comments from the members of the forum!  |
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Replies: 21 / Views: 2,304 |
Posted 10/01/2021 10:42 pm
