Picked up an overpriced overHYPED classic!

[goose3]

[Oldtrader3]

Ah! The "Little Orphan Annie" makes it's appearance!

[TomB]

The Little Orphan Annie has been hyped for quite some time, probably since before WWII. It looks like a PCGS graded coin, may I ask what they graded it? Also, did you pick it up at Baltimore or was it mailed to you?

 

Too bad I didn't run into you at Baltimore on Friday. I did, however, see Tootawl and he showed me some cool notes.

[Hoot]

Ah! The "Little Orphan Annie" makes it's appearance!

 

Alright, I'll plead ignorant. What's the Little Orphan Annie designation?

 

Hoot

[goose3]

Tom

it's a G4.

 

didn't get her at Baltimore.

[michael]

there was a newspaper reporter in the 1930's who started buying the 1844 dimes and he wrote a column about them promoting them as the little orphan annie dime with a good storyline

 

as with disinformation and nowadays it is called spin it exsited the collector community and since he had accumulated hundreds of examples and created demand they appeared to be scarce with again the demand and his hoarding

 

over the years with the passage of time the so called rarity of the 1844 stuck and even today it is considered a really scarce key date and the object of great desire for seated dime collectors and even just the average casual collector

 

there is a top known seated specialist dealer that has a ton of them and on occasion he put one in his listings of seated coins for sale keeping the supply tight and prices high even though he has many waiting in the wings

 

and this keeps the myth alive and well

 

same way with the diamond consortium debeers does with diamonds they control and carefully dominate the market keeping diamonds at ten to 20 times their actual worth by maninpulation of supply and creating demand

 

one of the so called stories that has been aorund a long time and accepted as fact by many old time collectors is that the 1844 shipment of dimes was going to one place and for some reason or another the shipment was lost hence the scarcity of 1844 dimes

 

i believe that most were introduced into circulation and most are well worn to damaged examples with lots of lower grade honest wear tear and damage more the norm rather than the exception

 

michael

[CarlWohlforth]

Thanks for the superb history Michael! Now if you can PM me with a good date of coin that is semi-scarce but cheap maybe I can pull off the same stunt!

[michael]

carl you ask a really interesting question this coin is one of the most undervalued coins of the 19 century and is the most significant die variety ever produced by the usa federal mint and it is a cc coin\\

 

the 1878 cc quarter struck with a cancelled obverse die!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

totally undervalued rare coin total sleeper coin

 

 

michael

[TomB]

I believe the newsperson was working in Kansas City at the time of the original hype for this coin. Also, the diamond industry analogy was perfect.

[Hoot]

Michael - You are a superb numismatist and a no-less-than fantastic source of knowledge!!! We are quite lucky to have you on these boards!!! Thank you for the excellent answer!

 

Hoot

[michael]

thanks for the kind thoughts tomb and hoot

 

 

michael

[chinook]

Great story Michael. I learn something new everyday from these boards

[Oldtrader3]

Frank C. Ross was the hoarder of these dimes. Heritage auctioned a hoard of 612, lower grade 1844 dimes in 2003. They are R-2 in Fine condition.

[goose3]

JJ Teaparty has just listed an EF40 PCGS at 1600 and some change today!

[Morgannut]

I'm still sick. I almost bid on a '78CC quarter with beatiful toning in MS-64 but didn't because I thought it was badly overgraded rather than a canceled die. And the toning matched a CC dollar I had to boot. I found out about the canceled die later!