Nice Flying Eagle

shylock

Heritage added digital pics to all the Gorrell lots, and now I see why his 1858LL is the only FE to grade MS67. It's mellowed in tone but has the type of strike you see on the finest proofs, particularly the wreath details and the eagle's head. Ever see a more perfect eyeball on one of these?

mbbiker

drool, that is a heart stopper!!!!

ccrdragon

Drool, drool, drool!
So much for my keyboard!

Pushkin

Exquisite.

tjkillian

Very well struck and fantastic surfaces! I could see that in my collecton

The digital picture really shows the luster.

Tom

DoubleDime

Yes !! That is a very nice coin, very nice.

coinnerd

WOW

Bulldog

This is exactly what pisses me off with coin collecting. Work your butt off your whole life. Save a few bucks. Collect coins for 40+ years and you see coins to die for, knowing that you will never own any of them.

Oh well, I had better get back to Ebay and see if I can find some nice MS60 Franklins....LOl

BD

prooflike

nice strike, good luster, clean surfaces....nice!

bigtonydallas

VERY NICE COIN! If I had won the $319 million powerball I would have bid on this beauty!!!

Gemini

I am glad Heritage upgraded the quality of their photos and you can really appreciate this coins beautiful details.
As the saying goes "One picture is worth a thousand words"

MastaHanky

FAP

goose3

Imagine how nice it Really looks in person without the dark shadows over the top half of each side!

Paul they need to hire you for photography or at least lessons!

CharlieB

Question:
Will somebody please tell me, how does something like this
stand up to time after all these years?

Answer:
TLC

mdwoods

Absolutely superb cent. mdwoods

Mark

Paul:

You mention the strength of the strike of this beautiful (!) coin. I know that with 3CNs, it is often hard to determine if a coin is a mint state coin or a proof. Indeed, as a collector of MS 3CNs, one of the things you must watch out for are proofs that have been mislabeled as mint state. So, is there a possibility that this coin is actually a mislabeled proof or are there diagnostics that enable you tod etermine that the coin is not a proof?

Thanks in advance.

mark

FatMan

A beauty.

What is the "LL" stand for after the date.

Rotts

Lucky Lucybop Rotts\or large letters

tjkillian

Fatman, the "LL" stands for "Large Letters". The "A" and "M" in America are joined at the base for the LL version and are separated for the SM (Small Letters) version.

Tom

MacCoin

thanx Paul

FatMan

Rotts & Tom,

Thanks

Shudan

That's amazing... I'm just getting back into the collecting frenzy and now I know why!
Thanks!

shylock

Mark -- great point, and in some cases (besides the 1856) I wouldn't doubt if FEs were miss-attributed as MS or visa versa. I think the finish of a well struck copper-nickel, as opposed to bronze, makes it easier to be fooled. There was an 1859 Indian cent NGC MS67 for sale at Heritage's Sept. Long Beach that many experts felt was actually a "one strike" proof, making it much less rare and desirable (it didn't sell).

But in this case there's only one known die set for 1858 Large Letter proofs, making miss-attribution unlikely. The traits of the proof dies are explained in another Gorrell lot by Rick Snow, who wrote the copy for many of these: link. Gorrell's proofs are pretty spectacular and worth browsing through.

IrishMike

That is a remarkable coin. Mark here is a picture of two 1907 IHC's. The coin on the left is a proof and the one on the right ms. Please look at the rim and the denticles, you can see a big difference in the proof strike versus the ms strike. To me this is the easiest way to verify the difference.

Lakesammman

In this case, there is no down side. If it turns out to be a proof, it's a steal!

The big problem with bidding on this coin are all the type collectors - few of the FE folks can match their pocket books if they really want this one. It will be fun to evaluate in person and see if the coin deserves the plastic.

IrishMike - thanks for the side by side comparison - that really helps. Us slab collectors have never really seen the edge of a coin before

IrishMike

Tim, who says these weren't in a slab at one time.

Mark

Mike:

That picture is wonderful--it really shows the difference clearly. I have compared some 3CNs, proof and mintstate, side-by-side, but your picture is MUCH better than seeing the coins in person!

Mark

shylock

I've already stolen that pic for future use on my website, excellent concept image Mike. It seems obvious but you just can't find IH comparison images like that.

IrishMike

OK now I have to be honest, ahem. I originally purchase both of them thinking they were ms, as did the seller. It was only after taking the pictures that I noticed that the one was a proof. I think I posted this same picture about 6 or 7 months ago, asking if I was the only who wondered if the one wasn't a proof.

MrKelso

sweet