Everyone please read! I have a 1837 merchants Token Variety

[im addicted]

 

 

[/img]

[/img]

 

I have a 1837 Merchants token.It is a high grade Token as you can see,it is also a rare variety.My question is,what do I do with it?Leave it ungraded?I say this because when I reach the age n my life when it is time to pass on and these are passed down to my son's they wont have a clue of what this is or how rare it is either.I can't send it to MGC or PCGS they dont want to take the time to grade varietys.I can send it to Anacs! Oh wait no,I can't..they dont grade worth a s**t.How important is it to get this graded,well the last one I saw on heritage(not as high grade sold for over 2100 dollars!I also have one see(the pics) but no one will grade it,noone will know what it is because they wont properly mark the token.THIS MAKES ME WANT TO STOP COLLECTING and I'll tell you why,I am sick of the grading company's corruptness for one,I also spend alot of time(I am a 100 percent disabeled vet and do thids to keep my mind off my pain)searching out varietys for what? If you think it is bad now wait until you see what is comming.PCGS now Admits it is okay to dip a coin,not if you fdo it but if THEY do it.It was always my understanding that when collecting you want to keep a coin as original as you can which meaans no cleaning,rubbing,polishing,whizzing or DIPPING BUT this is not all!! You know those cherished coins you sent out for grading and thought they were a ms 63 and it came back a ms 62(just under the payday grade)well..now you can send any graded coin into PCGS and they will CONSERVE(dip) your coin for you and regrade graded coins but if they come back a higher grade,they get a cut.H,MMM....now isnt that a conflict of interest? A grading company that grades your coins and also sells them(conflict) is now also taking a cut to put a higher grade on your plastic slab(the grade it SHOULD HAVE ALWAYS BEEN) now I don't know about you but can you smell a rat? I have had people say to me,well if you dont like your grade buy one already graded ,my point is..my coins I have had graded I will place my ms 62 coin up to any BIG coin dealers ms 63 and well see who's coin REALLY looks better. I AM CALLING THE BBB about this and if this info pisses you off too,then I suggest you do the same.You can get mad at me all you want for this article,I am just trying to get grading comanys back to being HONEST. I also have ANOTHER example coming next week.It is a 1942-D Mercury dime I just sent in to NGC and got the grade back.THE COIN is a DDO and it is now the 3rd found of all coins like this.NGC graded it a AU55 PLUS(REALLY?) you think i', going to send in a merc dime AU 55 to be graded in the 1st place if it wasnt rare? THEY DID NOT MARK THE DDO ON IT? SO WHAT GOOD IS IT?

[BillJones]

First, this is not a rare variety of a Hard Times token. It is a Low 97 a.k.a. in the Rulau book as HT # 293. It is an R-1 (very common). The diagnostic mark is that the piece has no line under the word "cent" on the reverse.

 

I used to collect merchant Hard Times tokens many years ago, but now I collect only the political pieces.

 

As to the grade it tough to say from the photos. I tend to think that it would pull something in the AU range. Mint State pieces have a different look. This one, which is not the same variety, is in an NGC MS-64, brown holder. Note the cartwheel luster.

 

 

This one is an AU-58 IMO. The luster is a bit muted.

 

 

I hope that this post helps you.

[Mark T]

Bill don’t waste your time with this guy. Did you read where he said he was going to call the BBB on the grading companies ?? He just rambles on about nothing other than senseless dribble.

[Hard Times]

Probably XF-45 to AU50 will be the grade with NGC - the obverse looks to be slightly better than the reverse. Probably a $50 token, won't go any higher than those grades. Go to our HTT thread to see a vast array of HTT"s with NGC grades including at least a couple HT-293's.

 

Best, HT