Some information on the 1893-CC in a GSA case

Hi there South Dakotan!

I completely agree with your statement about value ruling the day...though it took me a long time to realize what that really meant and even longer to be able to identify quality and value in a coin.

Unfortunately, I have to disagree that the major certification companies tend to over-grade coins. This may very well have been true earlier in this decade but it most certainly is not the case today.


In fact, it is my experience that the majors have overreacted in a defensive manner to the challenge posed by the clever market ploy known as "CAC" certification. Today, many professional dealers are currently holding back coins or have simply given up trying to obtain grades on many coins that they known darn well are within the grades they seek. I would put PCGS at the top of this hyper conservative trend.

I even wrote an article entitled "Coin Grading- The Sweet Science" for the summer 2009 edition of Curry's Chronicle. The article spoofed the grading system. My thoughts and experience for this article were based on a very long drawn out attempt to get a raw 1871-CC Seated Liberty dollar into a holder. The coin is gorgeous and had a decent shot at an XF holder. When I wrote the article, the coin had just been returned once again in a PCGS Genuine holder!

Many months later, Rusty Goe jumped up and down on their desks at PCGS to shake some sense into them and finally succeeded in getting the coin into a VF 35 holder for me.

Sounds like you've been around the numis-block on this issue a few times yourself!

Respectfully....Belay Off

Yea, thats a Redfield Hoard coin, right? Thats a very nice one.

Regarding your 1871-CC, I had the same issue with PCGS qwith an AU-55 3 Leg Buffalo. it came back body bagged twice. I had two conversations with Rick Mongomery who told me he believed the coin was mint state but had questionable (gorgeous) toning. They agreed to place it in an AU55 holder. I understood their point. All AU and mint state 3 leg buffalos are in shades of grey. The coin looks almost exactly like a coin in a recent auction catalog. I will give you that information when I can. Unfortunately, I had to sell the coin recently. It broke my heart.

G,

Correct..Redfield...you win a balloon!

I am also a US Coin Type collector. Here's my limping bison. Sounds like yours was a lot nicer though. Too bad you had to sell it.

Belay Off

well i have sold some nice coins in my day. But I still have plenty more.