I wanted the toner, but this is far from "settling"

Okay, so Stacks and Bowers continued in this recent Whitman Coin Expo in Baltimore to sell off the monstrous hoard of high grade, short set years, Walker Halves. The first 2 times they had parts of this hoard at auction I didn't see any of the 3 coins that can still be upgraded in my set. I did make the "lateral upgrade" of my 1942. I say lateral upgrade because, if you remeber, I purchased the same date in the same grade-I just switched for a more colorful and distinctively unique coin.

Well in this auction I saw a really unique and colorful 1945 ( one of the final 3 coins that I can afford to upgrade to MS67 from a 66). Most of these coins are selling below normal auction prices for MS67's. I figure with dozens of these high grade coins at auction at a time of the varying dates that the bidders for Ultr-high grade Walkers is thinned among the hoard.

Unfortunately it appears that a group of us all had our sights on this coin. The other 3 1945's all ended up selling between $750 to 800 but this one- which I was sure I'd win with a hefty bid of $1100 ended up getting a lot of action. I cut on the live bidding at work ( it was lunch time-don't get the wrong impression) and discovered my bid was already getting clobbered so I decided not to chase it.

I went back to the other 4 coins and 1 of them had a superior satin luster and very clear surfaces. Although I have grown to seek toners or coins with unique traits for my collection this one was very attractive--not to mention I'd actually be saving a few hundred dollars to boot!!

In the end I ended up winning my satiny prize at below normal FMV by quite a bit-and in hindsight I'm actually very glad for my set to have this example of a satin finished Walker so that the set displays the diversity in luster that this series encompasses.

On a side not: I also won a champagne and sky blueish 43-D so I got 2 of my final 3 upgrades. My last 3 upgrades for my set cost me a pretty penny and I actually have dropped 2 spaces in the rankings from #7 to #9. Once these 2 additions arrive and are then registered ( I always wait until I have the coin in hand to register them) I will jump all the way to number 6 !! I never dreamed that I could get my set up that high. This is one of the top 3 or 4 sets in popularity of design and to think that after all of these years that I am now solidly entrenched in the top ten is amazing to myself.

Anyhow, this is my satiny 1945--far from settling I am now re-visiting this coin over and over on-line to drink in its watery surfaces--

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