1853 half dollar with "shipwreck effect"

Baley

Minted in 1853, circulated for 10+ years down to VF condition, sunk in ship, spends 130+ years at the bottom of the ocean, brought up and cleaned off, put in a fancy case with a fancy story...

and THAT'S how a $100 coin (being generous here) becomes a $1100 coin

Baley

... and before it gets pointed out, of course it will not sell, so therefore it isn't a thousand+ dollar coin.

although I might go $150 if they would waive the CA state sales tax

mgoodm3

Looks like a rare 1853 matte proof.

ms70

I wonder what the long term effects will be from the exposure to the salt water. I know that silver is inert to an extent but my curiosity is
peaked from my visit to the Hunley Submarine Museum. The civil war era sub is made of iron & they say it will take a total of about 8 years to desalinate it after being under salt water for so long. They told of a similar vessel found near England that was cleaned up, put on display,
and it turned into a pile of rust soon after hitting the air. Apparently it was just sort of "flushed" out.

clackamas

Harshly cleaned to the point of ruin.

JadeRareCoin

Barf. Someone will indeed buy that coin for close to $1000. Many already have.

Artist

<<<Shipwreck Effect Half Dollars have been lying undesturbed beneath the ocean for 138 years.>>>

= the ultimate dip.

lathmach

It certainly may be worth something of a premium, due to the historical circumstances.
In my opinion though, this amount of a premium is unwarrented.


Ray

roadrunner

With 50,000 similar pieces available it is not rare. There are only around 20,000 total circ/ms seated halves graded by PCGS/NGC. Guess that makes those "non-shipwrecked" coins 2-1/2 times as rare. The next ship found may bring up another 50,000 coins too.

roadrunner

RYK

It's almost as bad with the gold coins:

Link to 1851-O NGC-55 (SS Republic) for sale at Kagin's

Trends for the 51-O $10 NGC-50 is $2950, and they found a bunch of them in the hoard, so far. They are offering this one for $5100, nearly twice Trends. I would expect to pay $2400 for a nice original NGC-55, not $5500 for a conserved example in a wooden case with a DVD.

The laws of supply and demand have been repealed for these shipwreck coins. The supply increaes and so does the price.

Conder101

I had a chance to examine a couple of those half dollars recently, up close and personal. Severely cleaned and with dozens of tinyl but deep corrosion pits in the surfaces. They are rather ugly coins. High sharpness grade, but very unattractive.

Coinosaurus

If you want one, just wait. They will be VERY cheap in a couple years.

Baley

If you want one, just wait. They will be VERY cheap in a couple years.

Well, if they come down to a decent "net" price, I might be interested. they can keep the dvd.

roadrunner

Of course I trust you are going to "treasure" the wood-grained display case..

roadrunner

sliderider

Yup, those SS Republic coins are the best bodybags money can buy.

Sphinx357

RYK

Of course I trust you are going to "treasure" the wood-grained display case.

I read in another thread that those wooden cases could be damaging to the coin.

tjkillian

I see the coin completely differently. I see just how much wear a silver half dollar can get in 12 years. It makes me wonder how long a coin circulates to get different degrees of wear. 12 years for VF, now how much for XF? PO-01? I find it very interesting as you know it did not circulate after 1865.

Tom

Baley

Hi Tom, interesting perspective, I noticed that too, in that the seller also had a run of dates from 1853 through 1861 or 2, and the later dates indeed had detail of EF and Au coins, the latest ones nearly unc details (but still had 'shipwreck effect' surfaces) So far, all they've released is the junk from this ship but theres's a chance some nice ones were protected better by other coins or something and may have nicer looking surfaces. I guess we'll see...