wildly toned cc seated quarter struck with a cancelled obverse die

[michael]

a really neatly killer toned with monster lustre coming through the toning 1878-cc quarter the last cc quarter struck at the carson city nevada mint it is fully struck and the coin is much better than the photo

 

the photo barely does justice to the coin but this is all we gots here

 

it is struck with a cancelled obverse die where you can see the triangle long raised line (die cut) going from miss liberty's left knee to her right elbow you cant see this from the photo but it is there when viewed sught seen and you do not need a magnifyer to see it either

 

also there is medium rust pitting as struck on miss liberty from a rusted obverse die osme light raised die pitting in between the lettering on the obverse with the majority on miss liberty's figure

 

and yet the reverse is a fresh new die with no die wear or rust at all

 

this leads me to the assumption that this die was not used because it had rusted and that the die room was about to cancel it and started to and for some reason or another this was halted and used to strike coins with...... well my out there guess

 

a couple of years or so ago there was discovered on the former cc mint property in carson city nevada an old ash pit with hundreds of rusted cancelled dies used by the former carson city mint

 

and their cancellation marks on the dies are the same type cancellation marks as on this obverse 1878 die used to strike this coin but with these buried dies they are truly deeply cut cancellations but the same particiular trianglular type of die cut

 

this coin also is totally 100% fully struck so again i am assuming this die was an early die and not used too much if not at all and somehow the newly made die with fresh die steel was not properly srored and rusted so again when the workman in the die room was given an order? to cancell this die at the end of the year it was started but stopped and put back? into service

 

also breen states that only approx. 1/3 of 1878 cc quarters where struck with this obverse cancelled die and i tend to agree with him as my research and experience as such with this particiular date and mintmark is that less than 40% exhibit/where struck with this obverse cancelled die and even in lower grades down to vg+ you can see this cancelled die line

so it is more easier to get a truer head count so to speak if a particiular worn 1878 cc quarter is struck from this die as you can see the cancelled die line on deeply worn coins

 

a really interesting coin with great toning the last cc minted quarter and one of the only? few usa federal issued coinage struck from a cancelled obverse die

 

again unfortunately this coin really needs to be viewed sight seen to be apprecaited and the toning combined with the above makes this almost a one of a kind coin as you never see wild deep colors like this on a higher grade mintstate seated quarter let alone a scarcer date and mintmarked cc quarter STRUCK FROM A CANCELLED OBVERSE DIE

 

now the obverse is darkly toned but the colors of magenta and blue really come through at any angle in any light sourse the reverse is lighter toned and has a slight fingerprint at 1 pm where a collector pushed the coin in an album long ago many decades and this coin is album toned to boot

 

there are literally no marks on the coin at all

 

i grade the coin a no brainer ms66 reverse and a no brainer high end ms65 obverse but it is only in an ms64 holder as a particiular grading service DOES NOT LIKE DEEPLY TONED mintstate silver 19 century COINS which is okie and not a problem with me as every coin sells itself for a market price between a knowledgable seller and buyer

 

OR on the plus side many times the holder this particiular holder in this current market climate is such a big thing in this marketplace for this particiular coin that you could lots of times buy this coin for way less then it is worth as you buy it and pay an ms64++ price for it as it only says ms64 on the holder and you buy it from a plastic seller

 

in other words this is NOT a happy coin or a coffin coin but a crack out coin

 

but grading is subjective and currently the leader of the pack does not like deeply toned coins so they err on the side of their market standards again which is like okie by me as this coin has no marks hairlines or has never been dipped at all and again sometimes you can get a rip due to what the grade says on an undergraded holder

 

white coins rule and deeply toned coins are penalized

 

SUCH IS THE CURRENT MARKET

 

there's a whole lotta dipping going on.....

 

now proofs i do not mind as it is a specifically made collector coin which is made to showcase the minters art and i love both blast white and meatly toned proof coinage

 

but any blast white dipped mintstate coin i absolutely positively do not like and the older the mintstate business strike blast white coin is the worse it and is a NEGATIVE FOR ME IN TERMS OF QUALITY AND EYE APPEAL

 

again this coin is much more alive and vibrant in person the photo did not come out well at all such is the internet and photography that still cant replicate what the human eye can see

 

 

 

 

michael

[TomB]

At this late point in the evening I'm not going to write anything other than nice frickin' coin! By the way, Happy Thanksgiving, Michael.

[Hoot]

UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!

 

So, this slight rust pitting indicates a cancelled die? Interesting. Simply a phenomenal coin, and rare as hen's teeth when all is considered - preservation, strike, color, etc, etc. Superb - thanks Michael!

 

Hoot

[michael]

hi there hoot i tell you i write too much and much gets lots in the translation

 

no

 

the die mark purposely made across the obverse of the die and you can barely see it in the photo but this die mark means it was struck from a cancelled die

 

the rust pits could be on many struck coins the rust just means struck with an older die could be used or unused but was not properly stored and the die steel developed rusting pits and these rusting pits show up as raised bumps on the die now you have to look for them with a 10x glass and many would not even see them when looking at thiscoin unless it was really studied or you are used to looking for and seeing this type of thing

 

michael

[HaydenTubbs]

Michael,that quarter is absolutely awesome!

Congrats on a great addition to your already sweet collection.

[michael]

thanks hayden

 

i have seen many mintstate seated quarters with this exact type and coloriation of toning but never this vibrant thick and deep

 

michael