Frederick dollar patterns, lots of NCS slabs

shylock

One of the interesting consignments to Central States is the Frank Fredericks collection of pattern dollars. Does anyone know its history? Almost half are NCS slabs (improper cleaning) and I assume were sent there for accurate auction representation. Still, some great coins -- I'd proudly own the improperly cleaned 1839 Gobrecht dollar restrike! They say he pursued patterns in the 1970s thru the 90s, do you think he cleaned these himself or are they commonly found that way?

MrEureka

do you think he cleaned these himself or are they commonly found that way?

I'd guess that 10-15% of the patterns in existence are low grade and/or badly cleaned.

I'd be very surprised if this collector cleaned these coins himself. He was probably just a "price-sensitive" buyer who wouldn't pay for nicer quality coins. He'll probably do well on the collection - patterns are hot - but he could have done so much better if he had bought better quality.

Mark

Paul and Andy:

I was a bit surprised at the large fraction of these coins that are improperly cleaned. Personally, I would rather have 1 very nice coin that 3 so-so coins. It's amusing/interesting that Heritage didn't mention anything about the fact that much of the collection had been improperly cleaned.

Mark

shylock

Andy & Mark -- you both pointed to a collecting lesson I was hinting at with the post. The appreciation this set would have if it consisted of only original patterns would have been phenomenal, even at half its size. He likely knew what he was buying but still chose the "price-sensitive" method, not realizing the problems he would encounter selling them a couple decades later in the certification age. Now the large number of NCS slabs makes you look a little closer at those other slabs...