This Is A Good One

Really what I think is that his lighting is affecting the camera ,,with the green back ground ,,Green cancels Red in the color spectrum,, the camera trying to pick up the color of the cent, with the wrong lighting with all the green the coin came out a weird color.

This is one he should have adjusted a little for color.

Rick

Other than the color problem, I'm not sure why he calls it a "key date". With 53.6 million minted, the date is pretty common as are Mint States up through MS-65 RD. Beyond that, the price jumps way up, but scarce high grades in most coins don't make them "key dates". I'm no IHC expert, but I see enough micro-dings in the rim to take it out of the MS-67 level, presuming it isn't circulated - and I trust Rick's judgement that it's AU rather than MS. And all this presumes it's just a bad image rather than an altered coin.

I can't really tell the colors apart that well on copper since I'm slightly color blind in the browns. Took some fast talking to keep my Army Commission back in the early 80s when I was first diagnosed with this problem during an Army physical. Probably a good reason for not collecting MS Indian Heads (or Lincolns).

Value? For a raw coin and presuming it's problem free (not necessarily a good presumption) and is indeed uncirculated, I think it's already topped out at its market value at $26 (current bid). Any higher and the P.T. Barnum factor comes into play.

Fred

You got that right, snowman. Even in this second auction, somehow the color doesn't seem "natural". It may be his imaging techniques which he may not have gotten down yet, but it does look suspicious.

It also looks like he cracked open a roll of 1899 IHCs. Nice, but I'd feel a lot more comfortable bidding on any of them if they were slabbed first.

Fred