Miller Dollar Collection

[DWLange]

I'm surprised that there's been no comment here about NGC grading the Warren Miller collection of early dollars. Here's the link:

 

NGC News

[EVillageProwler]

Thanks for reminding me. I was going to PM John Maben about it, but I'll ask my questions here...

 

I wish to know what prompted Dr. Miller to switch his collection to NGC. Is he planning on selling? If so, please ask him to wait until I have more money!

 

Also, I wish to know if NGC slabbed *all* of his coins. Some of his coins are far worse than the ones I recently submitted to NGC, and which came back BB'ed.

 

Finally, does either Dr. Miller or NGC have a way to view his coins as well as to determine their grades? (Please don't point me to the census...)

 

Thanks,

 

EVP

 

[paigow_johnny]

Okay...now a silly question...

 

Realizing that a collection of that importance is hard to keep anonymous....how does NGC pull off grading it...knowing who it came from. What about the whole anonymity issue in grading....Not throwing stones...just wondering how something like that is approached, say versus the "paigow_johnny collection of crappy Morgan dollars" ??

 

 

[John Maben]

E Village,

 

I'm going to ask DL to answer you, he is as familiar as I am........

 

Johnny,

 

The coins are graded in the same manner as any others, anonymously labeled, but obviously this is a rare situation where the graders would be aware of who the the owner is. Sometimes, but rarely, it is simply unavoidable.

 

John

[BankNote1]

I read the NGC news about the grading of the Miller dollar collection. I am sure this is great for NGC. But, while I am interested in who once owned a coin or currency that I have purchased. I wouldn't pay extra to own such a piece, just because of the name on a holder! I am sure I am in the minority on this.

[paigow_johnny]

I wouldn't pay extra to own such a piece, just because of the name on a holder! I am sure I am in the minority on this.

 

I did pay extra for a couple of Binion dollars graded by NGC, but then I'm a hoard collector...Redfields, GSAs.....

[DWLange]

EVP,

 

I didn't ask Dr. Miller why he chose to cross his coins to NGC (most were ICG, a few PCGS). I can only speculate that it was the usual reason for crossovers . . . market acceptance. I do know that the NGC variety descriptions are more thorough than those of other grading services, linking the coins to both the Red Book (text) and the Bowers/Borckardt book (numerical). As a courtesy to Dr. Miller, NGC included the Bolender numbers, too, though the latter won't appear in our Census Report.

 

NGC certified a total of 153 coins for this collection. These included some duplicates by variety, as there were mint error coins. All of these had previously been certified by one of the above-mentioned services, so there were no "problem coins." If he did have such pieces, they may have been held back, as I didn't see them.

 

As for viewing the coins, we will photograph some of the highlights, and these will likely find their way to our website. The best way to see the coins is to come by our booth at the FUN show next month. I know that's not possible for everyone, but this is really one of the best coin shows in the country, so it's worth a little extra effort to get there.

 

I don't yet know whether Dr. Miller will enter his coins into the NGC Registry. It's not presently set up to include all varieties by number, only by major Red Book variety. I'm told that creating a set featuring every variety is a big technical challenge, so it may not be possible. The Miller coins will be included as separate lines in the Census Report, so that may have to suffice for the time being.