A pair of three cent silvers for your evaluation

[RGT]

I picked these up a little while back and I'm catching up on my photography. I thought this would be an interesting pair to share and get opinions on. I will reveal that both of these coins are housed in the old small ANACS holders and I mean the older smaller small ANACS holders. They did increase the size of the small white holders slightly at some point.

 

Both coins have good full luster but like most trimes it isn't blazing luster. The 1854 has a few scattered light hairlines on the reverse, possibly from time spent in a coin cabinet. The 1859 is darkly toned which makes the luster a bit harder to see, but it is pretty good once you find it.

 

The 1859 is a little harder to find than you might expect. This is the first one I have owned, and I have been looking for one for a while. The strike is pretty good but shows some weakness in the leaves and arrows on the reverse. The 1854 is a difficult type II but seems to show up for sale more often than the 1859 but at a higher price. This one has a very nice strike all around with only a little weakness in a few of the stars.

 

All opinions are appreciated and I will reveal my thoughts and the ANACS grade later.

[physics-fan3.14]

I'm not too good with these little things, and I hate to go first, but I'm going to wager 65 on both of them. I really can't see any marks or anything. Very nice.

[dean1345]

I think both are MS64. Very nice trimes.

 

Dean (thumbs u

[jesbroken]

RGT, beautiful specimens of first year coins. Both these coins were lower mintages and the 1859 is hard to come by in such a condition. You hardly ever run across these dates period in higher grades, much less in this state. Congratulations on one heckuva pickup, gotta love that 54 die clash.

While, by no means a credible grader of these coins, I believe the 54 to be an MS65 and the 59 to be an MS64. I hope they both grade higher, but this is my opinion.

Thanks for sharing such beautiful specimens of the coinage.

Jim

[Just Bob]

I stink at grading from pictures, so i won't even try - But I DO love both of them!!!

 

[BillJones]

I'd grade the 1854 as an MS-64, but it might catch an MS-65 because of the really outstanding strike. The Type II trimes were often very poorly struck which explains why the design was changed after a short run.

 

The 1859 is hard to grade given the toning. I'm 90% sure that the toning is NT, and if it is the coin could rate an MS-65.

[RGT]

Thanks for the opinions and comments. Now let me add some of my thoughts and the grade that ANACS gave them way back when.

 

The 1854 was graded MS60. Some of you may recall a recent post that I made where I cracked out an 1861 trime that ANACS graded MS62 and sent it to PCGS where it graded MS64. This one looks like it was graded that same day by the same guy. As I mentioned, it does have a few very light scattered marks that just don't show up in my pictures. Still there are no significant hits or marks on this coin. I will likely have the local B&M send this in to PCGS for me in a couple of weeks where I think it will grade MS63. I tend to be conservative but I wouldn't be surprised if it came back anywhere between MS62 and MS64 given the way the TPGs are grading these days. The only things really holding this one back is the luster which is only average and the handling marks that I hesitate to call hairlines because they clearly weren't caused by cleaning.

 

The 1859 is in an ANACS MS64 holder. Honestly I don't see much difference in the condition of these two coins. The 1859 may have a tiny bit stronger luster but it is hidden under the tone. I think the color is NT and while it is attractive in a way it isn't really the kind of tone that I prefer. While I think the MS64 grade is accurate I would put this toward the lower end of the scale. The tone is hiding a few marks here and there but they aren't any worse than on some of my NGC MS64 trimes. I don't think that I will try to get this one graded by PCGS because of the chance it could come back MS63, or worse, in a body bag for questionable color. I guess I'm just not much of a risk taker so I have to be pretty sure a coin will come back the way that I want it to before I send in my grading fees.

 

Coincidently, I picked these both up on eBay for about the same price. I did use a 10% coupon in the 1859 and used 25% MSN cashback on the 1854 though. I think the 1854 was the better buy even at the lower grade.

[AB]

I really like both examples, and I think that your grading a little hard but it is better to be a little conservative before they end up in a slab or bag.

 

Make sure you get that clashed die attributed on the slab of the '54, that's a very nice clash!

[BillJones]

The 1858 trime is in a PCGS MS-63 holder. I fully agree with the grade. The only negative to this coin is that it has been dipped white. You can compare it with your piece. From the picture, I tend to like you Type II trime better than mine because it appears to be more original.

 

 

This 1861 trime is in an NGC MS-65 holder. It might be just an MS-64, but it should not grade any lower IMO.