1914-D Indian gold $2.50 coin...thoughts?

gyocomgd

Can you evaluate this coin? The diagnostics have it as authentic and I see no hairlines from cleaning. These rascals spook me terribly and is why I got out of them; this is the one example I hung onto. How about a grade, price trend and any thoughts...

BECOKA

touch of wear on the head band and eagles shoulder. Deep gouges in the field under the chin and above the eagles shoulder. Quite a bit of hairline activity. From the highly reflective surfaces I would say it has been cleaned at some point.

I would give this a borderline 55/58. I just sold a 58 a week ago that had no visible marks in the fields and the head band, cheak and eagle shoulder showed no wear to the naked eye. It was a 58 due to the massive hairline activity in the fields.

If it goes 58 it would be a 58.2 in my book.

Price on e-bay ~250-300

Here is an MS62. It has a weaker strike but it has its original skin and less contact marks.

Edited: The below image would get a 62.2 because of weak strike. If it had the strike of yours in this condition it would be 62.8 and more desirable.



Hope this helps.

gyocomgd

Very nice coin, well done. My coin would be even more reflective if not for a thin layer of buildup, which I guess isn't visible in the photos. Maybe it's hiding the possible hairlines. You know, I never was good at detecting cleanings, and it maddened me when I submitted for grading. Some hairlined coin came back 58 to 62, others that looked absolutely pristine came back in body bags. In more than one case the 58s looked better than the 62s. Oddest of all, I never had a 2.5 Indian gold coin come back MS60. It was always 58 or 62--or body bagged. Thanks Becoka.

jom

Remember, though, that this coin has seen circulation so the hairlining could be from that. The field is the highest point on the coin (save the mintmark) so it takes the brunt of the damage.

jom

Artist

Looks like rub on the head band & eagle shoulder, so I can only assume there is some on the highest points of the field. Also, there is a good amount of contact marks present. However, the exceptionally good strike make this a desireably 58.

roadrunner

Most AU-MS62 $2-1/2 Indians have some sort of high point friction.
While the conservative call on this one is AU58, it could holder as a 61 as well based on the junk I usually see in holders. Finding a fully lustrous and no rub MS63-64 Indian with a decent cheek and eagle's shoulder is a tough task. The cheek and shoulder are usually flat so whether that's rub or strike or stacking friction is the TPG's call. And they seem to be all over the place on what they call it.

I often rely on just grading the coin by luster and marks and forget about the high points unless they are grayish.

roadrunner

originalisbest

roadrunner's advice is solid (like always.) These are exceptionally hard to grade, and nigh impossible to do so from an image - because how the grading services treat them depends on the grader, the day and the phase of the moon. I would guess the raw coin in question could AU-58 one day and MS-62 the next - but without being able to see it in person under a light source it's hard to say.

ajc

AU 58 but it will grade 61 or 62 based on the 25 or so that I have graded from PCGS.

netrubicon

That wont make higher than 55 at pcgs. Its probably cleaned, and well battered. Id run for the hills if I saw that in a 58 holder, maybe even 55. Oh well.

added: It may make a 58 @ NGC on a good day.

Longacre

Looks 58, but it will probably grade 61. I heard that the MS-60 grade is not used for quarter eagles.

Koinlink

My feeling is MS60. Very nice coin.

Shamika

I'm guessing AU55, but this is a series that's tough to grade. It's also the second most beautiful design in all U.S. coinage.

BECOKA

<< <i>I'm guessing AU55, but this is a series that's tough to grade. It's also the second most beautiful design in all U.S. coinage. >>



What is the first? I would put this at first and the $10 Guadens eagle second. 3rd place is tough as I would probably goto some old coppers and silvers.