In my opinion, these beautifully toned Roosevelt dimes received low grades, MS-63 for the 1946-D and MS-62 for the 1947-D. You can go to the certifications and expand, and you’ll see more small marks on the cheek of the 1946-D than on the cheek of the 1947-D, which got the lower of the two grade. […]
Testing the PCGS Restoration Service
This is one of my most expensive coins, in an old green holder tucked in my bank box, with surfaces that might justify a few higher points on the Sheldon 70-point scale. But it has unsightly toning, justifying the MS-61 grade. The eye appeal is substandard. Here’s the upside, however: If a lightly worn key date […]
Crossover crack-outs at NGC
The photo above constitutes the gist of this post concerning cracking out coins and submitting them to NGC, to see what difference, if any, a world-class holdering company assigns to coins in lower-level slabs. NGC is one of the top companies because of its consistent grading standards. I admire this company for many reasons, especially […]
What kind of hobby is this?
Take a good look at this Morgan roll with a Carson City dollar on one end and an equally brilliant 1879 Morgan on the other (not depicted). Better still, the roll looked like this: An original bank roll from Carson City, Nevada! … indicating to the inexperienced collector that every coin therein would bear this […]
Dismantling a Roosevelt dime collection
Last year I won a stunning set of Jefferson nickels and wrote about it for Coin Update, explaining the process to dismantle a set (i.e., removing high-end coins for holdering). The process involves identifying toned coins, which command a premium, then checking for rare varieties or mint errors, and finally, selecting coins based on eye […]
How do late ANACS slabs stack up with modern PCGS?
Viewers of Coingrader Capsule know we test modern holdering companies, especially against the widely held half-truth / half-myth that early graders were more conservative than those of today. You can view several posts about that in Coin Update. Here’s one of the first that I did in 2011, titled “Old Green Holders” [ain’t what they […]
Exaggerated descriptions plague coin auctions
I am growing weary reporting exaggerated descriptions in online coin auctions hosted by major portals, such as Proxibid and eBay. While it is difficult for those portals to monitor all lots in multitudes of auctions, it nevertheless hurts the hobby when hyped descriptions are not reported. Here are just a few recent examples. I could […]
Caution on coins during vacation
Proxibid sent the email above (hover to zoom in) allowing me to bid in an auction while I was abroad on vacation. I had to verify some details for the company before being allowed to participate. Here’s what happened: During a lull in vacation activities, I had gone to the business office of my hotel […]
Grading Capped Bust half dollars
Grading Capped Bust half dollars is a challenge, especially to new hobbyists unaccustomed to the series, which ran from 1807 to 1839 and which continues to be popular because many of the dates are affordable and come with a large selection of die varieties (including overdate strikes). We’ll save overdates for a future column. This […]
When flat bids are not mentioned in terms
I’m an experienced online coin buyer, blogger, and numismatist, and even I get caught on occasion when auctions do not mention flat bids in their terms of service, which I always read. In an April 23 session on HiBid.com, there was no mention whatsoever that an online catalog was programmed to take flat bids—an amount […]
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