But they also can be a Double Edged sword. Your odds are much better if you know the series in question very well. But that may not save you...

Greetings Collectors,

I have been playing the crack out game for some 8-10 years now and have been overwhelmed with joy AND I have been so pissed, I swore that I would never ever do it again. To those of you beginning collectors, it is not a game I would advise gambling on. But if you are very alert to what grade a particular coin should have, and you spot one that in your very strong opinion has two points or better left on the graders table, the rewards can be huge. A collector here posted about his Gold U.S. Grant that went from MS-65 to a very worthy MS-66, gave me the idea of doing this post. I am just sorry it is so long. Maybe it will be interesting to some. I hope so. Maybe I can either help save or help make a collector or two some pesos.

But again, on the subject of cracking out coins I have been so sure on several occasions, and at least one large submission, and was just positive I was going to strike it rich, but instead, was burned at the stake on five gold coins out of the group, with three coins coming back Improperly Cleaned after all I did was spot grossly under-graded coins, cracked them out of their slabs and then sent them back in. I did not clean the coins and they showed no evidence of being cleaned, yet they (3) came back in purple slabs, while one jumped one notch and the last one remained the same. Two of those five had been in old NGC holders and three had been in PCGS OGH.

But I will not go into any more detail on that submission because it still rubs me raw. On a really good note I have found an almost fool-proof way of re-submitting coins like that which have now passed and gone up several grades by using a simple method which I may or may not share in a future post. (Not sure who at NGC reads these posts) And I do hardly anything to the coins re-submitted. But I will say that it matters not who graded the coins first off initially. 90% is based on spotting slabbed coins that either the grader was working late in the day or was very tired, or maybe just broke up with his or her boyfriend or girlfriend. Maybe they were ill and should not have even been at work at all that particular day. It could be a myriad of things that caused the under-grades. But bottom line, one could actually make a living hitting every coin show they can and have a vast knowledge of that certain series of coin.

But again I warn those of you that do not have that vast knowledge of a certain coin series, you can literally be burned to the ground if we are talking many thousands of dollars obtaining those pieces you think are under graded. So please be careful as this type collecting is not for the faint of heart.

My record stands at just shy of 85% on getting an up-grade of at least one grade up. And I have had the fortune of getting an AU-53 to re-grade to an MS62. And this was a 1910 $5 gold Indian that I purchased sitting in a PCI slab about 7 years ago. Actually I thought I had an outside chance at a MS-63, but a 5-point pop is not only fine with me, but it was my largest jump to date. But the most success has been with PCGS-OGH and obscure 3rd party graders.

In one of my previous posts I mentioned I was concentrating on $10 New Orleans gold Liberties. The Liberty Gold series in all denominations is one I would like to think I know well. And I was astounded to be lucky enough to purchase an 1881-O $10 in a PCGS Old Green Holder graded VF-35 (OGH for those of you that do not know what OGH stands for). This coin was right at $1,000 and has a total mintage that is much lower than many Carson City (CC) minted $10. Total mintage for the 1881-O is 8,350 coins of which NGC has only graded a total of 162 total coins in all grades. This OGH VF-35 that is pictured below was cracked out and made the grade of a very worthy AU-50. I will be posting close up shots of just the coin after this journal, but I wanted to show you all the insert along with another gold $5 that use to be in an AU-50 OGH that I cracked out some years ago and as you can see the first try came back listing an obverse scratch that was as tiny a scratch as I have ever seen on a soft gold coin 121 years old. Anyway in this latest submission with the 1881-O my 1892-S five came back on its second submission a full 3-points higher to a nice AU-58.

Now the 92-S $5 is not a rare coin by any means but it closed another notch in my 1892 mint set I have been working on but not very hard for a few years now. But what really got my blood pumping was seeing that 1881-O jump like it did. In my opinion the 1892-S should have only made AU-55. But the 81-O ten I thought had a real good chance of making AU-53 or even AU-55. This will definitely be a coin I will try and get a CAC sticker attached to. It is that nice. And as much as I think NGC left at least one grade on the table if not two grades, this coin will stay right where it is, in an AU-50 holder. Being greedy is something I do not advise being.

But in summary the 1881-O at NGC has a total mintage of 8,350 coins and only 162 total coins graded in all grades with 103 graded higher than the #26 graded AU-50. In mint state the count is as follows: #8 in MS-60, #5 in MS-61 None in MS-62 and lastly, a single coin graded in MS-63. Not a bad day at the office. Sure wish they could all go this well, because with me in the past, they sure have not.

Happy Collecting to All!

WKF