Mohawk

So, so TRUE!!! I cannot think of a more boring coin related activity than grading box after box of Silver Eagles!!! It would be HORRIBLE!!

Not at all. A PF 70 only exists if a reputable grading service has certified a coin as such. Until then, a coin is simply raw and could be any of a range of grades, but not a 70. Modern proofs seem to range from PF 65 to PF 70, usually. But until you have an NGC or PCGS label that says PF 70, you don't have one.

They all look fake to me. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but that's the situation, sadly.

Great coins everyone!!! I'll add another of mine to keep things going. This is another Egyptian Tetradrachm, but with Nero and his wife Poppaea this time:

Tell me about it!!! I've ordered my fair share of Faustinas from dealers in Germany and, man, does it take forever sometimes!!! I've got one I'm waiting for now, actually. I posted the dealer pics in the For the love of copper thread.

All amazing points, Jonathan!! And it does seem like a Franklin Mint-ish game........

This exactly. Which is why I advised against grading the Gold Eagles. Jason has covered the whole problem with graded bullion perfectly here.

I can imagine they were back then. Fifty cents probably had a fair bit of pull back in 1872! Kind of like the denarius in what I do.

You could be right there. However, there's that weird collector need for completeness, which with my massive and insane pursuit, you know I definitely feel. I think those expensive, rare dates kind of hurt Saints a bit as far as attracting serious collectors. There are a good number of collectors who can afford 1922's, 1923-D's, 1924's and 1928's, but a lot fewer who can ever hope to afford a 1920-S, 1921, 1927-D, 1930-S and other dates like that. Since completing a true, complete set of Saints is so difficult, I think that fact puts some collectors off taking Saints on as a collection. I could be wrong, but it's a theory of mine. I've known about Saints since I was a kid, but I've never felt the draw......but I'm a bit of an odd bird numismatically speaking

I do too, Jason!! Those are all beauties

Then I'm old school, too, Bob. Like I said, I want the RIC volume which has my beloved Faustina in it. I could find a lot of the information I'd need from it online (which I currently do for lack of having the book), but I want the actual book.

Let me preface this by saying that I know nearly nothing about the market of actually collecting Gold Eagles. I really just see them as bullion, not really anything to properly collect. An unpopular opinion, I'm sure, in some circles but I want to be completely transparent. That being said, I'd say no, I wouldn't bother with it. To me, it's money that you don't need to spend and a hassle you don't need to bring on yourself. Honestly, if they were mine, I'd sell all of them and purchase some actual collector coins with the proceeds. As I said above, if you feel you need U.S. Gold in your life, Saints are a good choice. I'd just sell or trade the Gold Eagles for Saints, honestly.

Thanks Kurt!! Like I said.....I've been told I can be rough on Seated coinage grading-wise. I've also been told I'm rough on Morgans and Peace Dollars, too. But I'll definitely say you know more about it than I do!!

I definitely read hobby books. I've read the Red Whitman guide books when I worked at the brick and mortar for Lincoln Cents, Morgan Dollars, Double Eagles and your Peace Dollar book, Roger. I don't even collect any of those coins and I enjoyed reading about them! As for my own personal collecting pursuit, I'm looking for a book that is harder to find than the coins I'm seeking!!! I just cant find a copy of the third volume (the old third volume, not the new one on Hadrian) of the Roman Imperial Coinage to save my life!!! I also have the Aorta reference for Roman coins right on my bedside table right now. I dig into that one frequently.

Indeed not. Here's where you want to look, from USStateQuarters.com

Roger that is just STUNNING!!!! Thank you so much for sharing that beauty with us!

Agreed 100%! This is one of those coins that one side brings down some.

Yep....if you need U.S. Gold in your life, Saints are a good way to go.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe most sample slabs do not have a grade on them. At least, most of the ones I've seen usually don't have a grade. I've seen a few that actually did carry a numeric grade, but they're definitely in the minority in my experience.

We're getting some great coins here!!! Loving it!

Very cool pickups, Kurt!!

Great silver everyone!!! Thanks for sharing those. I'd say we're off to a great start.......I hope people keep the thread going!

Now....with the preface that I can sometimes be rough on these and I'm basing this on Photograde, based on the photos, I'm going to call it G-6 in Details with rim damage. I think the rim damage would keep this coin from numerically grading at NGC. It's almost VG details, but Photograde says you have to have three letters of Liberty visible on the shield and I only see the L, the Y and part of the I, so that's only 2.5 letters. I wish I could split grade it because that reverse is easily a solid VG, but a reverse doesn't carry a weaker obverse. I also want to state that the shield does look damaged, which could play into the lack of visible letters, so I don't know if that would make it a VG Details-damaged. As for authenticity, I don't see anything that's shooting off red flags to me there. The mint mark style looks correct, and it's not of the very small S style that debuted in 1875. According to NGC Coin Explorer, there are deceptive counterfeits of the 1872-S with that style of mint mark, so you definitely do not have one of those counterfeits. However, I'm going to hope that someone who knows more about Liberty Seated coinage chimes in here.

I've been thinking.......we have a "For the love of copper" thread, so why not a "For the love of silver" thread? So, let's give this a try!! Post any coins you want to share, just as long as they're silver. I'll start us off with my only Faustina the Younger provincial, a silver Tetradrachm minted in Alexandria, Egypt: Let's see some great silver!!!

It may have gotten lost in the pixelated soup, but you gave me a great excuse to talk about what orichalcum actually is....and that makes me exceedingly happy!!! It's one of my favorite coinage alloys. I'm such a nerd.