A sad day

tradedollarnut

Bummer - it had to happen eventually, tho.

Note the 1878-S population

jbsteven

send yours in for a upgrade? will yours upgrade?

WWBillman

We know it is going to happen the only question is when will you acquire the 68?

tradedollarnut

I have an emotional attachment to my MS67. I was born in Seattle and my coin is the finest from a hoard that was discovered in a Seattle safe deposit box in the late 1980's. It's also got a real nice look to it - bright white centers with golden orange periphrial toning. It just drips originality and eye appeal:

clackamas

looks like you're going to have to chage your description and start to save you're pennies---ahhh I mean "C" notes.

"The balance of the set is composed of premium quality examples that are tied for finest graded by PCGS (1873-S MS65, 1876 MS66, and 1878-S MS67). "

scher

Bruce that is one awesome looking coin ...and I feel your pain..
Bruce Scher

jcping

Do you real care the number on another holder? May be your coin is better. Let's have another showdown

solid

Ya never know...maybe the coin in question is simply a mislabeled Morgan!

Ken

tradedollarnut

No - it's the Knoxville coin and I've known for quite a while that it would eventually upgrade, so I've prepared myself emotionally for this day .

I believe it might actually formerly be the other MS67 on the PCGS pop reports [ex Heritage 1990 ANA sale], but I can't find a picture to confirm that being the case.

DeepCoin

Is the other coin really a point better than yours? Do you have any thoughts of an upgrade for your 67? You still have the best collection going. Maybe someday you can make a deal of your coin and a big pile of $$$ for the 68. Then you would have all the pop 1 coins.

No matter what, yours is a stunning collection!! Just remember that none of your coins have changed for the worse.

barberlover

T.D.N

Your coin has "THE LOOK"

What else matters ?

Les

MoneyLA

Gee... if the extra point means a lot, send your coin to NGC for a cross to a 68 or even a 69. cheers, alan mendelson

PTVETTER

I would be happy just to be able to have a completed collection

CarlWohlforth

Well ya' can't win them all

Thanks for posting pictures for your set. I just went through them all and found them simply spectacular. It might be worth it to take a look at the new coin, but it would be hard to imagine one nicer looking than yours. Perhaps is it a coin you've seen already?

cladking

TDN; That's one mighty pretty coin, anyway. You should find some consolation in that.

Dahlonega

TDN,
Personally I'd rather have your opinion as to the grade and desirability of a high end trade dollar than any of the grading services. I've been collecting a long time and despite the advent of the registry remember to collect for your own enjoyment. I suspect that your 78-S with its own aesthetics will bring you more pleasure than an unknown? coin in a higher holder. Some of the coins in my collection that were considered the finest known 60+ years ago currently don't reside in the highest known holder but for various reasons I treasure them more and am very glad I did not replace them along the way. I'm not at all certain we will always grade coins based on today's criteria. Who knows we're just temporary caretakers anyway.

tradedollarnut

Thanks, guys! I just wanted to express my [slight] sadness at losing the "Finest Possible" set, but as everyone notes, I already have a great coin that I seriously enjoy and that's what really matters!

cosmicdebris

So who owns it?

lava

cosmicdebris, what the heck do you expect on the registry forum? Ego-stroking is the norm. Is there a registry member that if given the choice would rather be #2?

tradedollarnut

cosmicdebris: Benchmark owns it.

Lava - I think the "self indulgent ego stroking" is on his sig line referring to his marvelous German beauty!

grip

tradedollarnut
You have been collecting for some time"seasoned" and know well not to chase the registry #'s.It's a beauty,as the rest of your set.Al

Zerbe

I agree, it is a sad day, especially for the MS 68, I am sure Benchmark is not happy with the MS 68 grade and will crack it out, and,####### , and try for the MS69. Hope they don't screw up the POP report on this coin.
Bruce, you must have had some nice duplicates, for this set, did you ever consider building the second finest set of Trade Dollars ??

MS68

tradedollarnut

Zerbe: Thanks for the picture link. The coin IS the other PCGS MS67. It was last sold in the 1990 Heritage ANA sale where it fetched $66,000. Interesting that for many years the coin was on both the NGC and PCGS pop reports as MS67 and now is on both pop reports as MS68!

Here's a very interesting aspect of the whole thing: These two very high grade trade dollars sold in the same sale in 1990. One was a nice MS67 and brought $66,000 and the other was a very nice MS66 and brought $50,600. Years later, both coins upgraded one point.

dragon

Just going by the pics of both pieces, I don't think the Knoxville coin is a full point better than the Seattle Hoard coin, could be different in person though.

dragon

tradedollarnut

I don't think the Knoxville coin is a full point better than the Seattle Hoard coin

I have not seen the coin, so I couldn't say with any certainty. But if you look at the prices realized in the 1990 sale, it would seem to indicate that might be the case. It's not often that an underpop realizes almost 80% of the price of the finest known coin!

Edited to add: I checked the cert number pictured in the auction for the MS67 and it's still active!

tradedollarnut

you must have had some nice duplicates, for this set, did you ever consider building the second finest set of Trade Dollars ??

For about 30 seconds - until I came to my senses!

oreville

TDN: Just send me your now unloved and unwanted 1878-S! I will give it a good home!

As far as I am concerned, I like the look of yours more than the Knoxville one.

Someday I will buy my first unchopped uncirculated one!!