FUN Show NEWP - Buy the coin, not the label attribution

Walkerguy21D · July 13, 2024 7:41AM

I attended the Summer FUN show on Thursday.

Quick observations: the show seemed better attended than previous summer shows. It’s considerably smaller than the Winter show, but it’s still a pretty big show. Every table was busy, and I generally had to wait my turn to view the cases and get price quotes. The line to submit coins to PCGS was quite long at 10:15am.

There was a lot of buzz about the jump in gold prices that day. Gold was definitely selling. Even one of my small dealer friends had already sold 8 pre-1933 coins by noon; that and some other sales had helped him already “make his show “ by Thursday afternoon.

Prices in general seemed steep, at least for tougher coins. As an example, two different 1799 cents I looked at in Details holders were priced ABOVE straight grade price guides. Classic head cents likewise were being priced strong, graded or raw, even for average/below average pieces.

As expected, I met and chatted with a number of Florida dealers I know, as well as some of the EAC guys. The only other forum member I met was @DeplorableDan at the Rarity 7 table. He and friend's tables were swamped, so I was glad we got to talk a bit, however briefly. I had intentions of attending @BillJones early copper discussion, but I was in charge of my elderly uncle for the day and he was getting antsy to leave by then.

As far as coin purchases, other than a few lower grade but nice middle date cents acquired for stock, I was in the last row of the hall and coming up dry as far as items for my primary collections. I was thinking I was going to have to revisit some of the meh coins I’d priced earlier.
But a copper guy that primarily handles colonials happened to have one of the large cent dates on my list in the grade I was seeking. Seeing the variety on the label made me a little apprehensive when I asked for a price, but he indicated that wasn't an issue....then he explained it was misattributed not only by PCGS, but by the folks on the short provenance ticket as well, where it was recorded as an N-10, the only Newcomb variety in 1828 that has the small, wide date with small 8's. There are roughly only two dozen certified in all AU/MS grades combined of this variety. In actuality, it has the large 8's/large date, and it is probably an N-11.
It had sold for pretty strong money at an SB auction last year, presumably by a collector who didn't check the coin closely, as well as the auctioneer who listed it as the wrong variety . And it was offered to me at roughly half the auction price. I still countered, which was declined, so after some more discussion, I paid the amount asked, and the coin was mine.

lkenefic · July 13, 2024 7:46AM

Beautiful piece! I didn't catch the misattribution... I was too busy looking at the coin!

Walkerguy21D · July 13, 2024 8:05AM

@lkenefic said:
Beautiful piece! I didn't catch the misattribution... I was too busy looking at the coin!

What makes it a little bit tricky is that many of the large date varieties have the first 8 essentially touching the 2, but some like this one, are clearly separated. So if you only quickly check the spacing, I can see where a mistake could be made.

johnny9434 · July 13, 2024 8:06AM

nice, i like

semikeycollector · July 13, 2024 8:13AM

I've been on this page for some minutes admiring this coin. The color, luster and hair detail give it a lovely appearance! You will always be happy that you added this to your collection.

Goldbully · July 13, 2024 9:38AM

I’m not an early copper guy, but that coin should be worthy of at least a CAC green sticker. Beautiful chocolate copper coin.

Tonedeaf · July 13, 2024 9:49AM

Nice write up for the show and a great coin. Congratulations!

yosclimber · July 13, 2024 9:49AM

@Walkerguy21D said:

@lkenefic said:
Beautiful piece! I didn't catch the misattribution... I was too busy looking at the coin!

What makes it a little bit tricky is that many of the large date varieties have the first 8 essentially touching the 2, but some like this one, are clearly separated. So if you only quickly check the spacing, I can see where a mistake could be made.

Much simpler is the style of the 8s.
The small 8 has a wide sloping line between the 2 loops.
https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/1828-1c-large-narrow-date-bn/1654

RichieURich · July 13, 2024 10:00AM

As you and others have said, this coin clearly was misattributed. With that said, you acquired a nice AU58 large cent with very nice surfaces, so congratulations to you!