Do you own a "heartbreaker" coin?
gyocomgd
Posts: 2,582 ✭✭✭
Here's mine, I've shown it here before. A sentimental favorite I finally submitted to PCGS, and it came back AU58.
It's a heartbreaker, because it's outstanding in every way--ripping good strike for the 15-D, clean surfaces, eye appeal, the whole deal--but was ruled to have the sort of wear that precludes it from being MS. Now it's a lame duck, a coin that haunts me as much as it gives me pleasure...a reminder that my grading isn't all that sharp...a coin I paid too much for...and one that doesn't fit with my genuine BU examples. But also one that is so pretty, you hate to get rid of it.
Got one like it?
It's a heartbreaker, because it's outstanding in every way--ripping good strike for the 15-D, clean surfaces, eye appeal, the whole deal--but was ruled to have the sort of wear that precludes it from being MS. Now it's a lame duck, a coin that haunts me as much as it gives me pleasure...a reminder that my grading isn't all that sharp...a coin I paid too much for...and one that doesn't fit with my genuine BU examples. But also one that is so pretty, you hate to get rid of it.
Got one like it?
0
Comments
It has sentimental value, though, and it has a nice home in my Dansco.
-Amanda
I'm a YN working on a type set!
My Buffalo Nickel Website Home of the Quirky Buffaloes Collection!
Proud member of the CUFYNA
If it haunts you, sell it. SELL IT!
Then again, you could resubmit it and you might get a 62.
but the damage on the coin from being an ex jewelry piece is the heartbreaker...
Toned Coins for sale @ tonedcointrader.com
<< <i>Guy,
If it haunts you, sell it. SELL IT!
Then again, you could resubmit it and you might get a 62. >>
Somehow, that doesn't make me feel one bit better. My heart is broken, that's all there is to it.
<< <i>Hey, out of site, out of mind. >>
In for a penny, in for a pound.
edit: for spell
Well, I got them for AU prices, so I am not too upset.
Tyler
Buffalo Nickel Wantlist
Circulated TypeSet Wantlist
<< <i>Love it for what it is not what some stranger says it is. It's a beautiful coin. >>
The coin didn't change when it got slabbed.
roadrunner
What makes a coin a "heartbreaker" to me is a coin which would otherwise be an amazingly appealing coin, but with one significant problem. Or maybe a very scarce/rare date which has been holed or intentionally scratched or some such.
As far as paying too much for it, the nicest PCGS AU-58 coins on the market often sell for MS-62 prices anyway. (Sometimes I think the TPGs flip a coin when deciding whether to call a coin 58 or 62.) Valuing this coin at the "price sheet" AU-58 value is probably a mistake. I'll buy AU-58s like this for AU-58 money all day long and twice on Sunday. I buy certified AU-58s for my type set, and I can tell you from a lot of first-hand experiences, the best ones sell for well into MS money.
For example, lately I have been into looking at Three Dollar Gold coins - most 61s I look at may be lusterous but are often very softly and ambiguously struck, whereas many 58s I see have full details but some rub among the high points - so the question becomes which conveys the design better?
My first AU58 purchase since 'seeing the light' was a lovely Pan Pac $1G. The coin has NO marks - just a slight, barely perceptable dullness to the dolphins. Prior to purchasing this piece, every 63 I looked at had major tics or abrasions along the highpoints for 50% to 75 % more money.
The more I have thought about the matter, the more I have come to believe this: if an otherwise MS65 coin has hits or slide marks everywhere it is called MS61, but if those hits or slide marks are ONLY on its high points of an MS65, the coin goes AU58.
As far as I am concerned, there is nothing wrong with including well chosen coins that bear the AU58 grade in MS set. In fact, I am absolutely convinced that one day the TPGs will rethink how they designate coins in the 58 to 62 range; and that when that happens, a lot of people who bought the coin and not the AU58 plastic will come out a ahead.
If you liked the coin before you had it holdered, there really is no reason not to like it now. In fact, it sounds to me like you just don't like the holder.
>>>My Collection
<< <i>
<< <i>Love it for what it is not what some stranger says it is. It's a beautiful coin. >>
The coin didn't change when it got slabbed. >>
with you both.
Not sure I own a heartbreaker coin.
Hoard the keys.
roadrunner
ziggy29
Master Collector
To me, the grade a TPG assigns a coin does not make it a "heartbreaker." The coin is what it is, and doesn't change regardless of whether PCGS or anyone else calls it a 58 or a 64. If it's a beautiful coin with a 64 label, it's just as beautiful with a 58 label.
What makes a coin a "heartbreaker" to me is a coin which would otherwise be an amazingly appealing coin, but with one significant problem. Or maybe a very scarce/rare date which has been holed or intentionally scratched or some such.
As far as paying too much for it, the nicest PCGS AU-58 coins on the market often sell for MS-62 prices anyway. (Sometimes I think the TPGs flip a coin when deciding whether to call a coin 58 or 62.) Valuing this coin at the "price sheet" AU-58 value is probably a mistake. I'll buy AU-58s like this for AU-58 money all day long and twice on Sunday. I buy certified AU-58s for my type set, and I can tell you from a lot of first-hand experiences, the best ones sell for well into MS money.
Artist
Collector
I am recent convert to the AU-58 grade. As a lover of coin design, I too collect in Mint State grades only because I personally felt that any wear present had to be synonomous with the absence of design. However, I have since come to realize that this is a narrow view of things.
For example, lately I have been into looking at Three Dollar Gold coins - most 61s I look at may be lusterous but are often very softly and ambiguously struck, whereas many 58s I see have full details but some rub among the high points - so the question becomes which conveys the design better?
My first AU58 purchase since 'seeing the light' was a lovely Pan Pac $1G. The coin has NO marks - just a slight, barely perceptable dullness to the dolphins. Prior to purchasing this piece, every 63 I looked at had major tics or abrasions along the highpoints for 50% to 75 % more money.
The more I have thought about the matter, the more I have come to believe this: if an otherwise MS65 coin has hits or slide marks everywhere it is called MS61, but if those hits or slide marks are ONLY on its high points of an MS65, the coin goes AU58.
As far as I am concerned, there is nothing wrong with including well chosen coins that bear the AU58 grade in MS set. In fact, I am absolutely convinced that one day the TPGs will rethink how they designate coins in the 58 to 62 range; and that when that happens, a lot of people who bought the coin and not the AU58 plastic will come out a ahead.
If you liked the coin before you had it holdered, there really is no reason not to like it now. In fact, it sounds to me like you just don't like the holder.
If there weren't an old (toned in) scratch on the neck, the coin would be a 65. But, if it were a 65, I never would have been able to afford it, and as such a beautiful and original coin, I'm really glad to have been given the opportunity to purchase it. I normally don't like any "damage," but this coin was too original to pass up, and the scratch not distracting when all is said and done.
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
Sean Reynolds
"Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor
I should have never sent it in because it has now soured my view of a coin that I used to love. Maybe dorkkarl is right afterall.
<< <i>I bought this piece as a young man about 35 years ago. Spent many hot arizona days cutting grass, trimming bushes and saving up my money. It is still a special coin for me; although now when I look at it I just don't feel the same. I sent it in to PCGS and it came back BB'd for cleaning .
I should have never sent it in because it has now soured my view of a coin that I used to love. Maybe dorkkarl is right afterall.
>>
Thanks for sharing. A classic case of what I'm talking about.
It's still a beautiful coin, though.
<< <i>It's a heartbreaker, because it's outstanding in every way----but was ruled to have the sort of wear that precludes it from being MS. >>
I'm guessing you agree with the "ruling."
You're taking this mighty hard, (could this be smoe lingering anguish over the recent Ryder Cup pounding)?
Unless you paid 5 or more money for this little beauty, (in which case it would be a tad more than just a "heart" breaker), you might consider just appreciating it her for what she is - "outstanding in every way," that "is so pretty" and gives you "pleasure."
Heck, most people aren't able to say that about people they marry within a year....
As has been mentioned above, the gods in the dark room often miss little things here and there, and there is the chance that if the coin was resubmitted the wear would magically disappear, along with the letters "au" from the new slab.
There's also the chance that this experience will cause you to look that much more carefully at the next little beauty that smacks you upside the head,
and just imagine the freedom you might feel if you noticed a teensy, tiny little bitty bit of wear
and went ahead and bought that one too!
"La Vostra Nonna Ha Faccia Del Fungo"