1917 Obverse D WLH purchase

[Deleted User]

I like this coin. These are not cheap to buy but I was fortunate enough to buy it locally from a gold and silver buyer. Brought it home today for a couple of hundred dollars.
I wanted to post it up to share.

TomB

Your images are really hard for me to interpret (that is not a slam), but I would call it AU53-55 details. These early WLHs with good meat are all tough.

Relaxn

The first image makes the coin look awful. I know you have a better eye than that so I assume it is the image.
It has obverse toning that looks unoriginal and is used by some coin people to cover a cleaning. The reverse looks stained...
The meat is there which makes the coin very appealing. I am assuming the images are just bad..

If this is harsh please know I am not trying to be harsh with you. You and I have had a lot of conversations about coins....
Some new images? Back off the zoom and try to use outdoor lighting...

J

[Deleted User]

Yea it's definitely the lighting. I find I can take my best images in daylight with this phone.
I don't know if it's AT or not. I was going to have someone dip it but I changed my mind. I'm just going to sell it as it is. I have already purchased a pcgs slabbed 1917 D obverse.
I was just surprised to get the call from my friend at the gold buyers shop and get this. I know he doesn't ceate AT coins. The smelter buys all his stuff once a week and it all goes into the melting pot. To bad I'm not into gold coins. He's always gets them but they don't care they just melt them. It's bizarre.
I figured it was worth a post.
Call it what you think it is.
I'm not having a love affair with it.
As you guys said it's got lots of meat.
I'm sure I can find a home for it.

TomB

Good call regarding a possible dip. If you dipped that you would have a true abomination. I wrote AU53-55 details because I also thought the surfaces looked funky.

[Deleted User]

I have the feeling whoever sold it to the gold buyer wasn't a collector because I am sure he paid spot silver price. So how it would end up AT I have no idea. It could have been stored in a crack house. You never know what effect that stuff will have on a coin. Look at what it does to people. Hee hee.

TomB

It could also have been stolen. Perhaps that is the most likely way it ended up being sold where it was sold and for how little it was likely sold.

[Deleted User]

That's a stretch Tom but even if it was it's all legal. You sound very cynical tonight.
The law is they copy your ID and hold for 30 days then it can be sold.
They don't mess with this law. He would lose his license.
There are thieves everywhere and you don't even have to steal anything to be a thief when it comes to coins.

ifthevamzarockin

Lots of details left for the price you paid. Nice!

TomB

I'm not being cynical. I'm being logical.

You stated it was no doubt sold for bullion, which is about $10 for this coin, and then you paid a couple hundred for it. Whomever sells an early date WLH with lots of meat for bullion must not be a collector, and I agree with you on that, but then how else did they get this? The most likely scenarios that pop to mind with valuable coins being dumped for cents on the dollar are that it could be an inheritance or it could be stolen. I was just going with the odds that there are more collections stolen than there are willed.

[Deleted User]

Okay so I will go more into depth on the story here. People go into these shops with pounds of silver change. This was in a rather large group of silver poundage. This one must have stuck out to him because he set it aside for me.
It was not a scenario where a person walked in with this half dollar and sold it for $10.00.
He accumulates 5 gallon buckets of silver coins. It's pretty cool to see. The downside for me is I cannot sort through then. I wish I could. I'm sure I would find some other keepers.

ricko

@Watchtower... Nice old WLH with still a lot of detail. Grandpa's collection of silver coins often heads to the smelter - the unknowing inheritors get a good price for melt. And, as @TomB said, that is also a path for illicit disposition (likely use the grandpa story to explain why they have the coins). I would bet there are a lot of good coins that get melted that way. Cheers, RickO

Walkerfan

I'd be concerned about PVC and/or corrosion.

Looks like it might need a good, long, acetone bath.

I'd grade it at about AU 50 or 53 Details.

jfriedm56

@Watchtower, nice find! Those better dates are still out there. Not to hijack your thread, but here is a similar coin to yours that I found in a dealer’s junk silver bucket. It was obviously missed when put in and when I brought it 15 years ago for 3 bucks.We all have good days!

[Deleted User]

I was looking at this coin when I came home and saw a better image opportunity.