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 Replies: 8 / Views: 1,382 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
880 Posts |
Alright, so I've been doing a lot of reading (online and through some books). I am slowly learning what the term luster means. Or rather I should say, I understand luster and the cartwheel effect that it produces.
Here's my question, I see some older wheat's posted online that are listed as brown (BR is how it's listed if I'm correct) and they say that they have good luster. How does luster show through on the brown toning of the wheat's? I thought only the reds would have luster.
Thanks for your patients on this as I know I have a lot to learn. Good thing I'm getting started early and have plenty of years left to learn.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19935 Posts |
Good luster shows through the brown, when it's strong, you can even see cartwheeling. Go to a shop or a show and ask the dealer to show you a lusterous brown coin so you can see it first hand.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
880 Posts |
I will do that. I guess it's one of those things that you just have to experience to understand.
So if a brown and a red coin have equal everything, will the red one still demand a higher price/value?
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Valued Member
United States
244 Posts |
FYI, brown is generally referred to as BN everywhere I've seen it. I presume they don't use BR so as not to confuse with RB (red-brown, somewhere between red and brown).
And yes, red will command higher prices than brown, although there's no hard rule for how much of a premium to expect on any given coin.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
880 Posts |
Maybe it was RB that I had seen. I do appreciate the info. I personally like the golden brown colors myself, but I'm just trying to get a general understanding of coins.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1659 Posts |
An original mint red cent with original luster will generally command a premium over brown cent of the same grade. However, you don't have to let that influence what you like to collect. There is nothing wrong with liking brown copper (I'm a big fan of it myself  ) I have had some brown cents with superior eye appeal that had amazing luster and beautiful purplish and magenta undertones. Conversely, I have had some red cents that had carbon spots, flat luster, or other distractions that made the coin flat out ugly. I'd rather have an attractive brown cent than an ugly red one any day. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
880 Posts |
My grandfather just gave me a bunch of coins he has been collecting for sometime now and I'm finding that color doesn't matter to me as much as the crispness of the coin does. Or I guess the strike would be the proper term. I'm slowly trying to learn how to decipher which pennies are better then others I already have (which has the higher grade).
It's tough when you don't have anyone around you that's educated in the subject. Thank god it's the modern age and there's the internet. I can at least look at pictures and so forth and compare. I did just join a local coin club and I'm hoping that they'll be able to help, but they only meet once a month.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1659 Posts |
You gotta love the internet! There are a lot of very knowledgeable people here that share their wealth of knowledge without hesitation. If you haven't already found it, this is a great website that can help with grading. It shows examples of what each grade looks like: http://www.pcgs.com/photograde/ |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
880 Posts |
You know I've been all over that site because when they grade a coin it seems to bring a premium price (or so it seems) and I haven't seen that!
Thanks you for that link. That's going to help me a ton with my wheaties and merc dimes!
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Replies: 8 / Views: 1,382 |
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Posted 09/26/2010 2:22 pm
