Assistance with a fugio cent please

[coinsandmedals]

Hello, I picked up yet another large cent collection this past weekend and in the collection was this Fugio cent. I have little to no experience with colonials so I figured I would reach out to you all for a little help. Any ideas as to what variety it is as well as grade estimates and values would be appreciated. This is one coin I do not intend to keep for my collection and intend to sell however it's a great opportunity to learn a little about the coin and expand my knowledge base a little. Thanks in advance for any and all help, advice, and opinions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BillJones]

The die variety is Newman 15-H, and it is rated as an R-4, estimate 76 to 200 known. My grade would be VG-10, but since I'm usually overly conservative on these pieces, it would not surprise me to see it in a Fine-12 holder.

[coinsandmedals]

Thanks Bill for the information I had done my best to figure out the attribution and that's what I came up with as well I was just unsure. Do you think it's worth the time and expense to grade this coin, and what do you think the value is roughly?

[BillJones]

If you were an EAC - copper coin specialist, I'd say leave raw and sell it. If you are not, you might do better getting it graded. As for value "Coin Facts" says a common variety (hoard variety) Fugio Cent is worth $500 to $700 in Choice VG to Fine.

 

I never handled one of these coins when I was dealer and only have two in my collection. I don't know how easy they are to sell for several hundred dollars in less than really nice condition. Modern coin buyers, who don't under the nature of coins from this era will think that it is "ugly." They think they can buy a prettier one. They can, but it will cost them 5 or 6 times as much.

 

You just have judge your customer base, or your wholesale dealer base. It's proably easier to sell this one in a holder.

[coinsandmedals]

Thanks again Bill for the information, I do specialize in early copper however I'm just about to start graduate school in the fall and I do not have the funds nor the time to invest in selling the coin the "old school" way and as such I will likely resort to ebay or other online auctions to sell the coin. With that being said and reflecting upon my current resale base I agree this coin will be much easier to sell in a holder. I suppose I will just submit this along with a few worthy early coppers for grading in the very near future. Once again thank you for your time and help, if you would like id be more than happy to share the grading results with you in the future!

 

Don.

[Nutmeg Coin]

If it straight grades you should do quite well with it. You could check with Dave Wnuck, just one of the experts on these.

[coinsandmedals]

Thanks for the input Nutmeg, I'm not familiar with Dave Wnuck so I'm not sure how to contact him. I think this coin would straight grade, it has very nice even brown color and excellent surfaces and shows no major signs in hand of porosity or environmental damage. The pictures make the coin appear dark and to be blunt somewhat ugly but in hand it has excellent eye appeal. There's a local coin show in my area august 1st I may wait until after that show to submit and see if I can sell it raw first.

[Nutmeg Coin]

http://www.davewcoins.com/

 

The one Fugio I sent in over the years, it came back in a details holder, environmental damage.

[coinsandmedals]

I appreciate the link nutmeg, he has just a few killer pieces in his inventory.

[James_OldeTowne]

Given the number of anomalies and inconsistent production issues associated with these, I completely dislike numeric grades (as if it would really be possible to consistently tell the difference between VF-25 and VF-30 given the wide range of strike and planchet quality). But generally, I would call yours "Fine", although not particularly "choice".

[Lucky One]

I only have Breen's encyclopedia and it doesn't match any of the die pairs he has listed but I guess it could be a die pair that Breen didn't see. I have a lot of experience with colonials and I think it would grade F-12 but with this stuff, you never know. The worst you should expect is VG and it looks like a nice coin even with the planchet stress. I agree, it won't get much attention on ebay unless it is slabbed by NGC or PCGS but I personally would have been happy to buy it raw when I was actively collecting them. I suggest you try a buy it now with best offer option rather than a straight auction because the interest for colonials is so thin. When I listed mine on ebay, it took months to get strong offers but they all did go for book to collectors once the right collectors found them. Best of luck!