Exception Clauses in My Collection

[coinsbygary]

There are those collectors who will under no circumstances have details graded coins, medals, and tokens in their collections. Then there are collectors like me who will make exceptions for them under certain conditions.

 

About a year ago I wrote about replacing three details graded coins in my 7070 type set. I particularly remember how pleased I was with the replacements and finally having the entire set free of problem coins. Then when I purchased a Classic Head Large Cent earlier this year, I went out of my way to buy a problem free coin. I ended up with an attractive VF-30 1814 Classic Head Large Cent for my 7070 Type set.

 

Now within the space of two months I purchased an UNC-details improperly cleaned 1853 HK-6 So-Called Dollar and an AU-details excessive hairlines 1835 Bavarian Taler, so what gives? First there is a big difference between a type set and a theme-based custom set. For my the type set I am looking for the best grade within a type that I can afford. When I am buying coins for any of my custom sets, I am looking for certain design features.

 

That said, I still try my best to buy problem free pieces for my collection but under certain circumstances, I will make an exception. Those circumstances are defined by my self-imposed exception clauses.

 

The first clause is if the cost of a problem free coin is too high. For instance, I bought a Saddle Ridge Hoard coin which was improperly cleaned. Had I not bought that coin, I would not have been able to afford any of the problem free coins. Therefore, it was that coin or no coin.

 

The next clause is if the coin is rare. This was the exception for my two aforementioned recent buys. For the most part rare equals too expensive. However, the demand for these two pieces is low enough that they fall under the radar screen of most collectors. That said, there is one thing I cant get around and it's that the two pieces I bought rarely become available for sale. Not knowing when or if I would see these pieces again, I bought what was available at the time. As an extra bonus, because they were details graded, I got them for a bargain price.

 

The final clause is if environmental defects make them ungradable. By defects I mean defects by natural causes and not improperly cleaned, dipped, plugged, repaired, whizzed, artificially toned, etc. For example, I bought an 1860-O half-dollar recovered from the SS Republic shipwreck. In this instance, the seawater damage adds to the allure of this coin.

 

Now I could have applied this clause in my search for a Classic Head large Cent because the planchets in this series were of such low quality as to lead to corrosion. However, since the coin I bought was neither too expensive or rare, and I bought the coin for my type set, I decided to go with the problem free coin instead.

 

Every once in a while, you will find a coin that is still attractive in spite of the improper cleaning. This was true in the case of the so-called dollar I bought from Jeff Shevlin as a result of meeting him at the ANAs Worlds Fair of Money show in August. Though the cleaning hairlines are visible they are not distracting. Therefore, I consider this so-called dollar as improperly cleaned in name only and I am delighted to have it in my collection.

 

The Bavarian Taler destined for my seated imagery custom set is another story. This coin I recently acquired through an auction and even though the listing described the piece as having excessive hairlines, the listing pictures did not show them. Taking the listing pictures at face value, I thought that I might luck out and ergo I aggressively bid the coin and won. When I first saw the coin in hand I was taken back by the hairlines. In fact unlike the so-called dollar, the hairlines on this coin were very distracting.

 

Finally, this is not a dig on the lister since I knew what I was getting and I acquired the coin at a discounted price. It is however a reminder that listing pictures may no always be what they seem.

 

As a photographer, I know how to make a coin look its best and to adjust the lighting in such a way as to make the hairlines in effect invisible. Unfortunately, my picture without the hairlines makes the coin look flat and a little dull. The devices on this coin are much more robust and three-dimensional when taken with the distracting hairlines visible. When you manipulate the lighting and the coin positioning there are trade-offs that you just cant get around.

 

As a comparison I am also accompanying my post by a comparison between the flat and robust versions of my pictures.

Gary

 

See more journals by gherrmann44

[coinsbygary]

Below is a picture to picture comparison of the coin I talked about in my post:

 

 

[jgenn]

Gary, thanks for putting into words something that I have been considering for the past months as I have revamped and brought life to new custom sets with recent photographs. The concepts for my latest sets have been coalescing for awhile but when it gets down to filling the slots, I've selected coins with better eye-appeal regardless of details grades. As I mature as a collector, I find that I'm less concerned about making poor investments and more apt to acquire coins for their aesthetic appeal.

 

Your first shot is certainly dramatic but I'm not a big fan of "foot lighting" for human figures. The second "Bavaria" skillfully hides the worst of the hairlines and I like the result. I wonder what the first shot would look like if you had rotated the coin 180 degrees.

~jack

 

 

[coinsbygary]

Jack

Thank you for your input, the constructive criticism I receive on these boards acts as a motivator to help me get better. Thus I have gone with the more diffused lighting I get from my daylight lamps rather than the more direct lighting of my Jansjos. The picture I am posting now kind of splits the difference between my two previous photos. The hairlines, while visible are not at all distracting. I believe this new photo is more true to the coin. You are right and it's the most subtle of differences that make a coin photo pop!

 

[RWB]

"Exception Clause" is a lot like Santa Claus: sometimes he brings presents.

[coinman_23885]

When I first read the title of this thread, I thought someone was going to relay a horror story about an insurance claim on a collection.

[ADH]

Gary, I think your approach is great! That said, and not having any "detail" coins how did the difference in points get dealt with in the registry when compared to a "no problem coin"? In auctions, I see that they do get a respectable bid when they are rare, but should we bring in a such a coin to sell or for an opinion, it is like you walked into the store with the plague....so not much respect on that end. When you read the auction description, it sounds like the most awesome coin in the catalog, with a "light rub" or some other kind words made to sell the coin. On the other hand, if I brought in that same coin, it would be like I just picked it up out of the parking lot. That said, finding a coin that there can only be a few thousand better examples around today, makes it very appealing to find on working person's budget, after all, there are less better graded coins in existence than say a MS70 silver eagle, with no story to tell, other than it was minted, graded....and purchased.

Recently someone wrote a letter to "Coin World' about several coins he sent in to be "professionally" restored only to find he had a couple fakes and that even after being restored by the grading company did not give a numerical grade. Kind of questionable why anyone would pay to get it restored if it did nothing to help the coins grade. After all, Faruk's lacquered coins, while rare, get nothing but total respect which we would never see. Add to this the wisdom that I have heard from many over the years at the Baltimore show that "almost every Morgan has been cleaned", yet gets graded, makes one pause and wonder. Even looking at auction literature, and reading about graded coins being described as 'having a few hairlines" and what is that trying to tell you? It possibly was cleaned at one time? I don't know, but if the coin is pleasing to the owner, and priced right, that is the most important factor!

Hope you are doing well, keep writing and collecting. I love reading your journalistic work.

 

Alan