Which 1807 $5 would you rather have or what's in a grade?

DesertLizard

Two nice coins BUT can they really both be AU58s? One has sharp stars the other flat. One has luster one does not.

The first one is current Kingswood auction, the second is a Heritage auction from early 2002.

marcmoish

love the BM example, much nicer, also well graded if its au-58.............................IMHO

SageRad

I like the first one better. I wonder if we are being tricked by the photography.

P.S. How do you get your images down to 27 kb in size???

pmh1nic

The standard disclaimer regarding judging a coin from photographs applies but I don't like the coloration of the first coin and the strike, especially in the stars, is very weak. The coloration of the second coins looks more "natural" and it's got a much better strike. Both look relatively mark free. I go with coin two.

coinkat

Perhaps this is more of a photography/scan issue. The Kingswood $5 may look better, but lets see both coins in person and then draw our conclusions. Something tells me that the Heitage $5 may have better and deeper original color...

Blade

I like coin #2 also. Very pretty luster. I'm no expert on cleaned gold, but if that was raw, I would be concerned the lack of luster was due to an old clean job. But I'm guessing B&M knows what they are doing and this is a slabbed coin. I still vote for #2.

eagle7

Just judging by the coins I have recieved from Heritage after looking at their scans and then seeing them in person, I would go with coin number 2. The BM coin is probably a photograph instead of a scan while the Heritage coin is a scan. I think coin number 2 would appear better in person.

Stigmata

I'd go for #2. The top part of the rim on coin #1 is bent (unless a mis-scan or something)

coinguy1

DesertLizard,

I don't know about the 2'd piece but I am familiar with the first one. I inspected it in person in Orlando, believe it to be undergraded (the luster is better than in the image) and bid (MS61 $) on it in the sale tonight. I don't know yet, whether I bought it or not.

DesertLizard

SageRd, I use MS Photo Editor to shrink the images so they would upload to CU.

Coinguy1, interesting you bid on that piece. I was going to but saw the old Heritage piece and decided to wait for a better opportunity. I am no expert grader and have NOT seen the piece in person but those stars sure look flat to me. I would have given the piece a AU50-55. I do like the color in the pix. As a former NGC grader [coinguy1] I would love to hear your thoughts.

BTW, winning bid appears to be $4,200 w/o juice.

At this rate I may have to go back to collect antique golf putters!

coinguy1

DesertLizard,

The stars were obviously flat but the coin looked like an MS61 or 62 to me - I saw no wear on it.

I am more forgiving of striking weakness on earlier pieces than I am for later ones and on lower grade Unc. specimens than on higher grade ones. I think that was my bid at $4200 hammer. If I won it and resubmit it, I'll update you at a later time.

dorkkarl

looks more like a prob. with the digipic than the coin itself. i'd take either, probably prefer the central detail of #1.

K S

BillJones

It's hard to judge these coins from pictures. Number 1 looks like it has been center detail, and that counts more for me unless the stars are very poorly struck.

The grading on these coins is really lose. I've seen very few Mint State early $5 gold coins in Mint State holders. Most of the AUs are really disappointing. You have got to SEE these coins IN PERSON to make a final call on them. Otherwise you are taking a big chance.

kobrakoins

#2?