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100 Greatest Matte Proof Lincolns

Started by WingedLiberty1,

26 posts in this topic

WingedLiberty1

WingedLiberty1

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I had the idea to put together a new website honoring & promoting Matte Proof Lincolns about 6 weeks ago -- and since I already had an interest in colorfully toned coins -- and further, have always wondered if it's possible to actually rank coins based on visual appeal (and what that process might look like) -- I tried to marry these ideas into a new site. In any case, the dust has finally settled on that endeavor, and I would love to have some feedback:

 

So please take a look and tell me what you think ...

 

“100 Greatest (Most Beautiful) Matte Proof Lincolns -- Homage to Color and Visual Appeal”

 

http://100greatestmatteprooflincolns.com

 

 

100GMPL_screencapture.jpg

 

For the purposes of this website, rankings were based on visual appeal (including interesting color) with some small influence of assigned grade/condition, but only as that secondary aspect adds to the overall appearance. Because of this some lower graded coins will be ranked higher than some higher graded coins.

 

Please note that the rank shown is based on a consensus ranking from a number of top MPL owners and experts, who submitted votes over a two week period. Also a number of people provided their labor of love to this endeavor, of special recognition is Robec, who spent many hours toiling at image generation and providing input and feedback. Others that were instrumental in submitting votes and/or comments & feedback were: Brian Wagner of BW's Hall of Fame, Jonathan W. of the McCullugh Collection, Rich S. of Gobrecht's Raisinets, Matt C. of Matt's Mattes, Paul of PaulsPennies, Tom of The Tom Bender Registry Set, Robec of MPLs-Lincolns-of-Color, Kevin Flynn of the book Matte Proof Lincolns, Stewart Blay, Duane Blake, the owner of the O'Connor Matte Proof Lincoln Set, and the owner of The Withers Collection and many others. This site would not be possible if not for the contributions of photos of MPLs by their many owners and the passion they bring to this wonderful hobby.

 

It should be noted that full Red (RD) Matte Proofs were at somewhat of a disadvantage in the ranking system utilized by this site since, for our purposes, eye-catching color carried a substantial influence in ranking a coins visual appeal. For this reason, pages were developed on this website to separate MPLs by color (BN, RB, & RD) so that MPLs in each color class had a chance to compete with other coins in their particular color category only. Another problem we had was many of the top Red (RD) MPLs had no high-quality, professional photographs available. However due to the emphasis of this website on "color", it's unclear how much of an impact that had on these listed rankings. In any case, we were disappointed that we could not acquire photographs of the few PR68 RD MPLs in existence and some of the top PR67s. So I am aware that the listing of RD MPL's is short and incomplete.

 

We don't expect everyone to agree with the rank (that's the nature of a consensus), but certainly the conversation is a fun one. We do realize this is a controversial endeavor, and that opinions will vary widely, however keep in mind this is being done as an interesting visual-appeal case study of a short series of coins -- and we hope this helps initiate more conversation on how to judge and/or rank a coin's visual appeal ... and help to promote this very rare, beautiful, and interesting coin series.

 

A number of VERY INTERESTING statistics fell out of this work, and they are outlined on the RANK BY DATE pages as well as on the STATISTICS page. Certainly there were a number of surprises!

 

One of our biggest hopes was that the existence of this site might shake out more top colorful and eye-appealing MPLs from the general collecting community. We fully expect that there are probably many MPLs that are not on this site, that deserve to be. So if you have an MPL that you think is deserving of a top 100 ranking (or better a top 40 ranking) be sure to send us the relevant information and a link to an image through our contact form. However, please look at your coins objectively! We have found that ownership of a coin seems to cause some rank inflation. Most think coins that they own are better than everyone else's. Keep in mind that there are roughly 5,000 Matte Proof Lincolns in existence, and this website features only the top 100, or only the top 2% of the small field population.

 

For those that want to submit MPLs for consideration, keep in mind that a beautiful, high-quality, and professional photograph goes a long way in presenting your MPL in the best light. More than 70% of all the MPL photographs on the website were shot though PCGS’s TrueView (out-of-the-slab) photographic service, which seems to present most coins at their best -- and levels the playing field (so to speak) when comparing one photograph to another since you remove the degree of freedom of differences in photographers, equipment, lighting, techniques, and style. We do realize that some cannot use that service since they might have an OGH they want to keep, or may feel uneasy about exposing their pricey MPLs to the elements, even for a short time. We certainly can work around these limiting factors. A number of other professional coin photographers, that do through-the-slab photography, are available to people with those concerns. The photographer for all coins displayed on the MPL site are listed, so you can get a view of the work of various top coin photographers.

 

This website broke down the rankings into 3 categories: by OVERALL POSITION, by DATE, and by COLOR CLASS. Each of these breakdowns are linked through rows of navigation buttons at the top of the website. The OVERALL RANK buttons are named: #1-#20, #21-#40, … , #81-#100. The HonorableMention page is for coins that just missed making the top 100 and may serve as a temporary staging ground for new MPLs that we pickup through public submissions. Once enough new MPLs are picked up ... another round of voting may ensue to place these new MPLs in the top 100 (and knock currently ranked coins out). Please note that we may choose not to include some MPLs submitted if we feel they do not have a shot at a top 100 position -- so there will be some pre-screening of coins submitted.

 

Also we also realize that as you drop down below rank #50 or so, the differences between coins tends to compress, -- and in general there is much less difference between a coin ranked #50 and #100 as there is at the top of the list (say between a coin ranked #1 and #49). So don’t get too upset if you think a lower ranked coin is too low. There is simply not that much difference between the lower ranked coins, and differences in opinion seems to widen as you drop down on the list. It might be better to think of these coins in terms of their page – that is, a Page 1 coin (top 20) vs. a Page 3 coin (#41-60) vs. a Page 5 coin (#81-100).

 

Feel free to post your comments, questions, and suggestions to this thread.

 

 

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RWB

RWB

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Nice site and presentation! They are all too nice to say one is better looking than the other.

 

(Maybe my next book should be "100 Best Coins Picked Up In 7-11 Parking Lots".... Might sell more than dense research tomes.... :) )

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BODIN

BODIN

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100 PCGS coins, 0 NGC.

 

Did anybody with an NGC graded coin submit their photo? Just an observation, not a complaint.

 

Great sight though! well done.

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robec1347

robec1347

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100 PCGS coins, 0 NGC.

 

Did anybody with an NGC graded coin submit their photo? Just an observation, not a complaint.

 

Great sight though! well done.

 

Several of the top sets on the NGC registry are also in the PCGS registry. The lack of NGC graded coins within the site isn't due to an inferior product, but due to a lack of good photos. #68 on the site is the best image found of an NGC graded coin.

 

Hopefully more will surface. This is not meant to be PGCS heavy or anti NGC, but Pro MPL's of great eye appeal period. We dug out all the MPL photos that we could find. If you find any not included in the site, please forward them.

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WingedLiberty1

WingedLiberty1

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100 PCGS coins, 0 NGC. Did anybody with an NGC graded coin submit their photo? Just an observation, not a complaint. Great sight though! well done.

 

Actually there was 1 NGC coin ranked.

 

If you know of any fantastic MPLs slabbed by NGC, that we missed, please send us links to the images!

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illini420

illini420

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The #1 coin, the 1909 VDB now graded PR67+RB (w/ CAC gold sticker) used to be in an NGC PR68RB* holder (w/ CAC green sticker). Since PCGS didn't cross it over at the PR68 grade, CAC pretty much had to give it a gold sticker since they previously said it was solid for the grade at 68. I've seen it in hand back when it was in the NGC holder and regardless of the holder, that coin is a monster with just awesome color and awesome surfaces. I don't know what it takes to go from a 67 to a 68 on these, but if there were ever a matte proof Lincoln that deserved the grade of 69 (from either company), this one would be the first in line.

 

 

 

 

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WingedLiberty1

WingedLiberty1

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Good info Illini!

 

 

We did try to include this NGC MPL ... however the seller did not have any good larger photos ... all he had were the tiny photos on ebay

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1912-Matte-Proof-Lincoln-PR-66-BN-Approved-CAC-/300568497586?pt=Coins_US_Individual&hash=item45fb474db2

 

 

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Hard Times

Hard Times

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1. Rather surprising that there are no NGC graded coins on your ranking, yet when I visit Heritage, seems that there are clearly many NGC matte proofs of the lincoln cent series that should be considered?

 

For example

 

1916 NGC PR67

 

2. Did you get permission from all of owners of the images to use them? If for example, I paid for or owned images, I think I would want someone to ask me for permission before I used them on a site unrelated to me. No mention of this on your site.

 

3. Perhaps you should call your site instead the '100 greatest PCGS graded matte proof lincolns'.......

 

 

 

1-3 seems strange, just wondering... (shrug)

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robec1347

robec1347

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Heritage wasn't even a consideration. While they are my main source for checking prices, they are one of the last as a source for photos. There has been countless of thread discussing the inadequacies of Heritage photos. Why would someone think to go there to look for eye appealing images?

 

If I hadn't found an alternative image of my only Heritage MPL purchase, I would not have purchase it based on the Heritage photo. I plugged the cert number into the TrueView database and thankfully a better image appeared.

 

lf-2.jpglf-1-1.jpg

 

lf.jpglf-1.jpg

 

12255779.jpg

 

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WingedLiberty1

WingedLiberty1

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We spent a lot of time getting permission from the owners before we started. If a coin slipped through the screening process, it was unintentional. If anyone with a coin listed decided later to have their coins removed, I would be happy to accomodate them!

 

My whole point was to promote the hobby and I dont make a penny from this site (I am not selling anything) but I think that PCGS and NGC will both benefit financially since it's main purpose is to show how cool coins can be and drive more people into the hobby -- and keeping a growing collector base is the best way for both of those great companies to survive & thrive long term.

 

I have already gotten a number of PM's from people saying that they want to start collecting MPLs after seeing the site and that's only going to help the sale of PCGS and NGC slabbed coins as many PCGS slabbed coins started off as NGC slabbed coins - so NGC slabbed MPLs could serve as fertile ground for those looking for potential MPL bargains due to their generally lower prices.

 

 

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