PR67 Barber Dime And Quarter On Heritage Tonight

Coinster

Hi all,

Just wanted some opinions on the toning on these two pieces and if in fact they should be in PR67 holders? Awfully dark in my opinion.
Comments?

1911 Barber Dime PR67
1905 Barber Quarter PR67

John

kieferscoins

Heritage photos can be dark sometimes. They look like nice coins to me.

Cameron Kiefer

LanLord

I am thinking they were too dark for me to really tell what going on there. They need better photgraphers.

stman

I think under proper light this coin probably has nice color. Notice a couple places where the flash hit the coin you can start to see some gold and purple on the dime? It might not be too dark of a piece as PCGS doesn't like to give 67 grade on dark toned proofs. I don't care for the quarter though.

Stman

tracker

The 1911 looks a bit weak for a 67 holder... however I'm not overly familiar with Barber Dimes.

coinguy1

John,

I don't know what the actual coins look like, but from the images, they appear to be dark and not particularly attractive.

shylock

Heritage pics are very dark as Cameron mentioned, and sometimes nice color gets muted. Mark needs to let them borrow Pinnacle's camera -- they take the nicest images on the web these days. Care to share the model you guys are using Mark?

Interesting that the dime went unsold in a weekly auction almost a year ago.

jcping

Dime is weak. Quarter might be okey provided that toning is not ugly. For these kinds of dark coins, you have to see them in person before you bid them. More dogs are out there compared to gems.

coinguy1

Paul,

With a nice comment like that about our photography (which, by the way, I have absolutely nothing to do with), I am happy to tell you what camera we use! I just called the office and was told it is a Nikon Cool Pics, model #990. I don't know what lighting and other variables our photographers use, but please feel free to call our office and ask for Scott (he is out on a vaction this week). I'm sure he would be happy to answer any questions you or others might have.

PS - this is a closely guarded secret and for your eyes only.

lordmarcovan

While it is true that Heritage pictures are not of the best quality and not always flattering to the coins, those coins are dark and rather unattractive to my eye.

However, they're original. Most Barber proofs come dark like that from the sulfur-impregnated paper the coins were originally wrapped in, or so I have read. Breen said that most proof Barber halves from before 1902 have been cleaned at some point for that reason. My 1898 PCGS PR63 CAM Benson half is all white (even whiter than it appears in my icon), but it was cleaned at some point between PCGS holders. (In the Benson sale I believe they mentioned some toning and a trace of on old lacquering- this was before it was curated and resubmitted for the CAM designation). I have no idea what the original toning on it looked like, but it probably wasn't very attractive.

I would rather have a somewhat less-original coin that had been carefully cleaned ("curated") than an ugly original piece, but that's just me.

If that quarter were in my left hand, my right hand would be involuntarily moving toward the jar of Jeweluster...
For the money, I would rather have a PR64-65-66 coin, maybe with some cameo contrast, or attractive original toning (a scarce thing in Barber proofs, I think). Those may or may not deserve the 67 grade- I don't know- but I definitely think they deserve a little diperoo.
Those coins aren't the worst Barbers I've seen, though. They probably do look better in person, and at least the toning isn't really mottled. I've seen some that were coal black or looked like a sea monster sneezed on 'em.

While the peripheral toning on that quarter is interesting, the untoned area looks hazy, and it looks like there might be a fingerprint at about 11:00 on the reverse. I personally prefer something like my coin, with a lower technical grade (and much lower price!), but superior eye appeal. But again, that's just me.

FC57Coins

The quarter in particular has the type of hazy toning I don't particularly care for. I would be voting for cracking and dipping, or possibly sending to NCS for a little doctoring and resubmitting them.

Frank

stman

I think you know how I feel about above comments.

Stman

Dog97

Technicaly it looks lkike the coins are all there because I don't see any problems like scratches, marks or hairlines though there is some kind of line by OF on the dime.
They are originally toned and I usually call original "nice" but what I call nice for a Barber most collectors call dull, dark & boring & ugly. They are nothing out of the norm and these aren't even nice, just toned. The 25¢ could be pretty because I see some nice blue on the obv but the darn thing is all thumbprint so it pretty much sucks the big one.
As far as they being in 67 holders I really can't say because just look at the rev shield lines on the 25¢, the pict is so compressed it makes the lines look like the shield is smooth.