Garys June Coin of the Month

[coinsbygary]

Just a month ago, I had no clue I would be featuring a coin from the Saddle Ridge Hoard as the Coin of the Month. Nevertheless, here I sit today as an improbable owner of a coin recovered from the greatest buried treasure find in the history of the United States.

 

When I first heard the news of the Saddle Ridge Hoard, I found myself spellbound by many of the storys elements. Adding to my fascination is the incredible odds against anyone uncovering buried treasure of this enormity and value. Then there's the human-interest side of the story with John and Mary stumbling onto the hoard while walking their dog. Finally, John and Mary seem like people I can identify with, ordinary people simply paying their bills while trying to lead respectable lives.

 

Subsequently, when I heard that the family chose Kagins to distribute the hoard through Amazon, I set up an e-mail notification to inform me of the sale. At that point, there was no indication of what anyone could expect to pay for the coins.

 

Almost certainly, coins of this magnitude would be out of my reach to obtain. Up until now, the only coins in my collection I had spent over $2000 to acquire were an MS-62 1897-S Double Eagle when the price of gold was close to $2000/oz and a VG-10 1893-S Morgan Dollar. Although I did not know how much of a premium the Saddle Ridge coins would command, I thought they might rival those of the SS Central America and the SS Republic shipwrecks.

 

While working on my computer late in evening on Tuesday, May 27 I received my e-mail notice from Amazon and immediately linked to the sale. Confirming my suspicions, I found the price of the Saddle Ridge coins too steep for my budget. I simply could not afford to pay five or six thousand dollars for a common date MS-62 or 63 double-eagle. Its not as much that I wouldnt have paid the price, as it is the price was just too high. The XF and AU coins were more reasonable; however, I did not like the surfaces on many of those coins.

 

Lately, I have been buying the nicest looking coins in the grades I can afford. In other words, I am beginning to focus more on coins with eye appeal. This leads me to my Coin of the Month and a surprising PCGS UNC Details-Cleaning, 1889-S Double-Eagle with eye appeal.

 

While perusing the Saddle Ridge Coins, it wasnt long before I thought about sorting the listing from the lowest priced coin to the highest. It was there at the bottom rungs of the listing where all the un-gradable coins resided. At first glance, two things surprised me. First, the affordability (from the perspective of my budget) of the coins at $2575 per coin, and secondly the large number of details graded coins for sale. (Later I found out that there were just over 200 details graded coins in the hoard).

 

This got me to thinking, Maybe I can afford one of these. With the advantage of joining the sale shortly after it began, I pretty much had my pick of details graded coins.

 

When I first looked at the picture of the coin I bought, I was impressed with the lack of distracting contact marks on the coin's surfaces. IMHO, without the cleaning, I think my coin grades at a minimum of MS-64. Next, from the PCGS picture provided the cleaning is barely noticeable with only a few hairlines and a side-swept look in the luster just underneath Miss Libertys truncated neck. In addition, there appeared to be the remnants of a thumbprint just in front of and on Miss Libertys face. At that, I pulled the trigger and bought the coin.

 

With my expectations sky high and thinking I pulled off the coin-buying coup of the century, I was disappointed when my coin arrived. Stunned, I came face to face with why my coin is details graded. I found that the cleaning hairlines were much more numerous and the thumbprint more pronounced than indicated in the PCGS picture.

 

Now what? Two facts are abundantly clear. First, it is this coin or no coin. To become a part of the Saddle Ridge story, I had to buy a details graded coin. Next, this coin is still the best of the details graded coins. Therefore, I am very pleased to be part of such a compelling numismatic story.

 

Now for a teachable moment, how could PCGS so effectively mask my coins problems? Well, I discovered that the angle of the light relative to the surface of the coin and the lens makes all the difference on the final image.

 

In the message board thread of my post, I am posting a side-by-side comparison of the lighting angle relative to the coin and the PCGS picture. With the lights and camera lens stationary, I simply rotated the coin underneath the camera lens until the hairlines either disappeared or reappeared. I often do this to rotate the luster on the coins I image to where I like it. Thus, in a manner of speaking PCGS imaged this coin to look it's best and I am doing likewise.

 

Next, I wonder if John and Mary rather than the professionals at Kagins conserved this coin. I just cannot imagine a professional leaving a thumbprint on a coin unless the thumbprint is that of the coins original owner. Now wouldn't that be something if it were true?

 

In summary, I wonder what the dog gets out of all this. Is not the dog partially responsible for locating this hoard? I wonder if the dog gets a chew toy for Christmas or leads the life of doggie luxury. Did the dog alert John and Mary to the buried can by lifting its leg on a nearby stump? Alternatively, did the dog lead John and Mary to the hoard by playing fetch with the stick used to dig the can out? Inquiring minds want to know!

Gary

 

See more journals by gherrmann44

[coinsbygary]

 

[Six Mile Rick]

Sure is amazing what light angle and shade toning will hide!!

[RichH]

Gary,

 

Great journal entry , thanks for sharing.

 

Rich

[jgenn]

A teachable moment, indeed. Thanks for the illuminating photos, Gary!

[Yankeejose]

Great story Gary- interesting that all they talked about the hoard was the rare expensive coins. I had not read anything to that fact that there were 200 details grade coins. The way the coin media hyped it they made it sound like every coin was a rare high grade gem.

 

It really would be interesting to find out if the couple that found these tried to clean them and caused the damage or if they were already like that. Now that would the real story for a coin article.

 

Although I do not know gold coins it does seem to have limited bag marks/hits, so I can see why you were intrigued by this coin.

 

 

[RichH]

Dave,

 

That is an excellent question. Based upon the hairlines in Gary's photo, I definitely think that the couple started to clean the coins and then they stopped before they got too far.

 

My guess is after the normal "clean the coins" reaction, they probably started researching rare coins on the internet, and they read a few grading and pricing articles that cause them to stop and seek professional advise.

 

Wonderfully intentioned couple in reading Kagin's booklet.

 

Cheers !

 

Rich

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[coinsbygary]

Dave

 

There is one thing about the 200 no-grades I need clarify, and it's that many of the coins had environmental damage. After being buried for so long you would expect that some of the coins would be damaged beyond conservation.

 

Gary

[RichH]

Hi Gary,

 

Any breakout you found on environmental damaged quantities or your observation from reviewing the lots ?Would be interested to know how many of the 200+ that didn't grade were cleaned vs the Environment damage.

 

Rich

[coinsbygary]

Hi Rich

 

I wish I had a breakout, the number 200 is gleaned from the population report in the back of the booklet. To get to 200 I just added the number of no-grades for each year and mint mark in the hoard. I had heard that John and Mary had attempted to clean an unspecified number of these before calling Kagin's. Thus the thumbprint on mine maybe the fingerprint of either John or Mary!

 

Gary

[RichH]

Hi Gary,

 

Yes I got to the 200, was interested in your comments as to the amount with environmental damage versus how many John and Mary cleaned.

 

Rich