Rebuttal to: What $13,800 can buy

[lindasdaddy]

I want to avoid another silly modern/classics war so PLEASE DO NOT POST ANY REPLIES TO THIS THREAD.

Solely for the sake of trying to understand the current coin market, consider this.

If you had attended the B&M Rarities Auction at FUN and had $13,800 to spend you could have bought one of the following::

1953-S MS65 FBL Franklin Half Pop17; 2 finer

Or

1850 MS63 Seated Dollar Pop 3 none finer

Or

You could have saved $3,450 by purchasing an 1870 PR65 DCAM Seated Dollar Pop 1 none finer for $10,350.

 

CG

 

I cannot post across the street, so I am doing it here and hoping that someone can post my response across the street: THREAD.

 

I don't claim to know much about the Frankie series, so I can't say exactly how rare I think the '53-S is in 65FBL. But, I do know my classical stuff very well, and I'll say a few words about the two remaining choices:

 

1. The 1850 dollar is a key date. In choice UNC, there are 3 confirmed specimens. One is an MS64, graded by NGC about 10+ years ago and is undeniably the finest known. There is another specimen that I saw in a dealer's online inventory a month ago, and it did not look familiar to me. That was graded MS63 by PCGS. I did not like the look of that coin. And, he was asking $18K+ for it.

 

The final specimen -- the one in the Bowers sale -- is ex Wally Lee and ex Richard Genaitis. I believe it accounts for 2 of the PCGS pop entries in the MS63 column. This specimen is the 1850 dollar that I've been waiting for for 4 years (since the Wally Lee sale). It is beautiful, wholly PL on the obv, and slightly so on the rev. The coin has delicate golden patina on both sides, with vibrant blues at the periphery. A few dealers feel that this coin is a shot MS64 (so did Heritage), and even Chris Napolitano feels that this specimen is his favorite for this date.

 

I am the very proud, and very relieved, new owner of this coin.

 

2. The DCAM dollar was non-descript. It was just a mere product coin, with no character whatsoever beyond its DCAM status. In a hot market, the coin brought only wholesale money. Maybe a little bit less, since I don't know how to price DCAM specimens.

 

This coin was blast white and just sat there relatively lifeless. No real vibrancy to it other than that described on the holder. And, keep in mind that DCAM designations is a relatively new to PCGS. The 1870 PF mintage is not low, and that date is not a key in PF. I am confident that there are at least a few other DCAM's of that date out there not labelled as such.

 

Now, I felt that Sunnywood's PF dollars should have done better. His coins were fresh-looking and totally and thoroughly original. His 1867 PF went for way too little money.

 

Linda's Daddy

 

[Sunnywood]

LD,

 

Thanks for the note regarding my proofs

 

They were all beautiful coins ... oddly, the two that did not meet my reserve were the two Childs specimens, 1862 PCGS PR65 and 1864 PCGS PR64. These are both awesome original coins. I will find them a new home through other channels. On the other hand, I was pleased with the result for my J-434 Transitional Pattern Dollar, 1865 With Motto, PCGS PR64, Lot 445, which realized $27600.

 

Watch for another awesome group of proof seated dollars that I just consigned to the Bowers March 13-15th sale in Baltimore. They are even better than the FUN group. This new group includes:

 

1864 NGC PF66 ex Morris Silverman ... beautiful toning

 

1865 PCGS PR65 offered at Benson II, Lot 1213 (but the cataloguers screwed up and swapped the text of lots 1213 and 1214. So it is actually the coin described under the "Lot 1214" heading !!!!!) ... gorgeous original coin

 

1866 PCGS PR64 from Benson II (can you spell "upgrade"?)

 

1868 PCGS PR65 from Benson II (same comment)

 

1872 PCGS PR65 (what a joke that grade is !!!) drop dead fabulous toning from an original proof set broken up and sold as individual lots at the Stack's Vermeule Sale (Lot 484)

 

1873 PCGS PR64 ex Benson, from Benson II

 

This is an awesome group of proof seated dollars ... I hope you get a chance to view them in person.

 

Sunnywood

 

 

[EVillageProwler]

Sunnywood,

 

I should be at the March Baltimore show, and would love the chance to see the Benson coins. (I think I didn't get to see most of the Benson material except those that appeared in the after-market.)

 

EVP