Special (and large) addition to my clipped 7070 - a story of perseverance

seanq · April 29, 2021 12:55PM

Behold the new centerpiece for my Dansco 7070 loaded with clipped planchets:

So I have been dancing with this coin since 2005, when it appeared in a David Lawrence auction in an IGC holder graded AU Details, Cleaned. I chased it to the limits of my budget at the time, but I wound up the underbidder.

A few months later it reappeared in the inventory of Dick Osburn, minus it's IGC holder and described as "choice AU". I got a chance to see it a couple of years later at Coinfest in Stamford, CT, and while I could see signs of an old dip or wipe, the coin had great eye appeal. By then the asking price had risen well out of my price range.

Fast forward to 2015, and the coin appeared in an unreserved eBay auction described as "uncirculated". This time I chased it even higher, but once again I ended up the underbidder. I quickly determined that the buyer was none other than Fred Weinberg. I reached out to a good friend who also specialized in clips, and we worked out a plan to own the coin jointly if Fred would sell it to us. I don't even know if Fred had received the coin before we had struck a very fair deal, and the coin ended up with my friend. I got another look at it and the surfaces had mellowed a bit, the cleaning was not nearly as noticeable. Not long after, my friend took full ownership of the piece, and I kind of forgot about it.

Then last month, another clipped Seated Dollar appeared on eBay, this one was an 1847 in a problem free NGC AU holder. I was able to work out a best offer for that coin, and I was thrilled to finally have an example of the type for my collection. However, I couldn't bring myself to crack the coin out for my 7070.

Enter my friend, who is now retired and slowly selling off some of his collection. I proposed a trade, my certified coin (which would be much more liquid when the time came to sell) for the raw 1848. I threw in about 20 other clips to make up the difference in value, and the coin now resides guilt-free in my album.

The album is missing only three or four coins, depending on how you count. I still need a no motto Seated half, a no motto Seated dollar, and a Trade Dollar. I have a Presidential dollar instead of a modern commemorative, and technically the Twenty Cent Piece is a cracked planchet, not a clip. One of these days I'll share pics of the whole thing, and if you catch me at a show there's a decent chance I'll have it handy to show off.

Sean Reynolds