16 year buddy: 1867-s 25c going off at Long Beach
roadrunner
Posts: 28,310 ✭✭✭✭✭
After 3 different decades of ownership, my favorite coin, and also my #1 want list coin from (1975-1986) goes to auction on June 3rd at Heritage's Long Beach Platinum Night auction session.
This 1867-s quarter has been the finest known by a mile for the past 29 years since it first appeared in 1975 at the James Stack sale.
I tried to acquire the coin at that sale but it sold for 2x my estimate as I was blown out of the water. That was my first auction ever.
In those 29 years the coin has remained totally unchanged and is still one of very few seated rarities in pristine, nearly all white, original skin condition. Personally, I know of only 2 or 3 rare date seated quarters that are superb, nearly all white, and original skin. The James Stack 1865-s was nearly a twin of this coin but that hasn't surfaced since 1976 when Paramount sold the coin via a fixed price list.
The fact that this coin stayed like this is a freak of nature. There is no better coin and outside of the Norweb 63 and the Eliasberg 64, I know of no other 67-s UNC's that are not damaged or cleaned.
This coin is certainly on par rarity-wise with the recent offerings of the Eliasberg 1864-s (MS68 but lightly mottled) and the Eliasberg 1855-0 (MS67 but fairly heavily mottled toning). I'm biased but I prefer the look of the 67-s far much more so that these other 2 ultra-high grade rarities. Heritage's photo does do the coin justice but in reality it is not quite as bright or white as the photo shows. But this is unquestionably an original skin, mostly white gem. Note the nearly jet black rim on the coin from having sat in an album of some type for many decades. The coin was acquired by James Stack sometime prior to 1945 and sat in his collection until sold off in 1975.
I found my dream coin in 1986 as I had been tracking the Stack coin since 1975 hoping it would reappear for much less than the $30,000 it sold for in 1980. I feel it is time to part ways with the coin to work on half dollars further. It is not easy giving up my flagship coin after so long. Chances are I'll not got a 3rd chance at it any time soon.
My prize 1858-0 dime is also being sold in the same sale. The photo in the sale is terrible. This coin has superb original color in blues, greens, and rose that looked totally washed out in the photo. The coin has 67 eye appeal, 67 strike, 67 luster, and 66 on technical surfaces. If not for a few slight body hits and a tiny hairline along her leg (can be seen in the photo), this would certainly be a 67.
I've had this coin since 1982 when I paid the obscene price of $5400 for it when the market was in the pits. At that time gem proof seated dollars were cheaper! This has also been the finest known
for 22 years with nothing really close to it. The Norweb 65 is probably 2nd best but it is a full point behind. The 1858-0 almost always has poor or marginal eye appeal with some weakness in strike. This has none of those qualities and might as well be an 1859. In XF40 to AU the 58-0 is most elusive and quite underpriced as is the 67-s 25c. I've only owned one XF-AU circ of the 67-s after 30 years of looking for them.
1867-s 25c NGC MS67 - the only UNC at NGC
1858-0 10c NGC MS66 - finest known
roadrunner
This 1867-s quarter has been the finest known by a mile for the past 29 years since it first appeared in 1975 at the James Stack sale.
I tried to acquire the coin at that sale but it sold for 2x my estimate as I was blown out of the water. That was my first auction ever.
In those 29 years the coin has remained totally unchanged and is still one of very few seated rarities in pristine, nearly all white, original skin condition. Personally, I know of only 2 or 3 rare date seated quarters that are superb, nearly all white, and original skin. The James Stack 1865-s was nearly a twin of this coin but that hasn't surfaced since 1976 when Paramount sold the coin via a fixed price list.
The fact that this coin stayed like this is a freak of nature. There is no better coin and outside of the Norweb 63 and the Eliasberg 64, I know of no other 67-s UNC's that are not damaged or cleaned.
This coin is certainly on par rarity-wise with the recent offerings of the Eliasberg 1864-s (MS68 but lightly mottled) and the Eliasberg 1855-0 (MS67 but fairly heavily mottled toning). I'm biased but I prefer the look of the 67-s far much more so that these other 2 ultra-high grade rarities. Heritage's photo does do the coin justice but in reality it is not quite as bright or white as the photo shows. But this is unquestionably an original skin, mostly white gem. Note the nearly jet black rim on the coin from having sat in an album of some type for many decades. The coin was acquired by James Stack sometime prior to 1945 and sat in his collection until sold off in 1975.
I found my dream coin in 1986 as I had been tracking the Stack coin since 1975 hoping it would reappear for much less than the $30,000 it sold for in 1980. I feel it is time to part ways with the coin to work on half dollars further. It is not easy giving up my flagship coin after so long. Chances are I'll not got a 3rd chance at it any time soon.
My prize 1858-0 dime is also being sold in the same sale. The photo in the sale is terrible. This coin has superb original color in blues, greens, and rose that looked totally washed out in the photo. The coin has 67 eye appeal, 67 strike, 67 luster, and 66 on technical surfaces. If not for a few slight body hits and a tiny hairline along her leg (can be seen in the photo), this would certainly be a 67.
I've had this coin since 1982 when I paid the obscene price of $5400 for it when the market was in the pits. At that time gem proof seated dollars were cheaper! This has also been the finest known
for 22 years with nothing really close to it. The Norweb 65 is probably 2nd best but it is a full point behind. The 1858-0 almost always has poor or marginal eye appeal with some weakness in strike. This has none of those qualities and might as well be an 1859. In XF40 to AU the 58-0 is most elusive and quite underpriced as is the 67-s 25c. I've only owned one XF-AU circ of the 67-s after 30 years of looking for them.
1867-s 25c NGC MS67 - the only UNC at NGC
1858-0 10c NGC MS66 - finest known
roadrunner
0
Comments
Thanks for sharing with us.
The same story can be told on the 58-0 dime except that I looked for 8 years before the first true UNC with luster showed up in 1982.
I did not believe it existed as even finding XF's back then was very hard. I got caught up in a bidding war at the 1982 auction and stretched well beyond my $4000 limit. To this day, I do not know who the other guy was. There were no other bidders on the coin above the $3000 level as I recall. I'd love to know who my competitor was at the time.
Another decent full luster UNC 58-0 did not show up until Norweb in 1988. Even James Stack, who had some real neat dimes go off in 1990, did not have a nice 58-0. He did have a killer 53-0 however which is tougher. I still recall how Bruce Amspacher bought that
53-0 from Jay Miller in 1990 after it went MS66. It was cracked out and sent to PCGS where it was graded 65! The last I knew it stayed in that holder but by today's standards would likely be a 66 again.
The pops show a total of 6 1858-0 MS65's but that has to include duplicates. The Norweb coin was a marginal 64+ coin imo per 1988 standards and I'm not sure if it was submitted more than once to get a 65. My coin went to both PCGS and NGC in 1987-88 (as MS65 each time) and might still count as 2 of those 6. I thought I sent the tags back in but am no longer sure. The fact that only 1 MS64 appears on the pops sort of implies that the "6" MS65's do include duplicates. This date is very tough to find even in 64. A number of so-so 63's are out there as I owned 2 of those in 1988/89. Eye appealing 58-0's (of any denomination) are just not out there. Even the lowly half dime is tough in orig gem and the half is no common date in gem. The quarter is a major rarity in gem and I've seen only one to date. 58-0 is another date (like most O mint quarters) that just seems to come with marginal eye appeal.
roadrunner
K
My 1866 Philly Mint Set
Good luck with the sale of these old friends. I hope they go to someone who will appreciate them as much as you did.
Regards,
EVP
How does one get a hater to stop hating?
I can be reached at evillageprowler@gmail.com
59-0, 65-s, 67-s, 71-cc, 73-cc NA, 91-0, 01-s, 04-0 to name a few of the quarters. They sold for a song even in 1975 (except the 73cc of course) considering what they were. Who was to know that it would take another 13 years for Norweb and then 22 years to Eliasberg and Pittman. There were precious few chances along the way to load up.
I may have a shot at the 1867-s again someday as long as the next owner doesn't decide to hold it for 18 years.
roadrunner
K
My 1866 Philly Mint Set
Nic, I've loaded up on MS67 Barbers too.....I own one half, 2 quarters, and one dime. Not much to talk about really.
roadrunner
My 1866 Philly Mint Set
For what it's worth, Jim Halperin was still very impressed with the coin after not having seen it since it's prior sale in 1980. He hand selected the coin for a special rare coin fund (1977-1980). 2 other Heritage graders felt the coin was essentially MS68. Not to overhype the coin, I personally feel it is just a decent MS67 whether in a PCGS or NGC holder. Regardless of grade, it remains the finest for the date/mint by a mile, and in nearly pristine, original, undipped, mostly white condition. I consider it to be in the top 10 of all GEM rare date, mint state, seated quarters with respect overall rarity and condition. PCGS and NGC have only given out the MS67 grade to 4 single coins in the run of 1866-1873 seated quarters. These early years of the with motto quarters are very tough in superb gem.
roadrunner
As much as I've loved the 1858-0 date, the 1853-0 dime is still my favorite. And all the 53-0 silver denominations are challenging in the higher MS grades.
roadrunner
My 1866 Philly Mint Set
But someday, down the road, there will be another dream coin to go after. There are still some rarer date quarters and halves that I would love to own. The Pryor 1855-s half would be one such coin,
but for the time being that out of my league.
roadrunner