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Ike's are a tough set to add to

It is hard being second class when you are collecting coins.

In my set I have two first place Ike's (76D and 76S)which I made. but the rest of my coins are all second rate.

And the price of any up grade is way out of my range.

I think I collect something else

Glen
I don't buy slabs I make them

Comments

  • LucyBopLucyBop Posts: 14,001 ✭✭✭


    << <i>It is hard being second class when you are collecting coins.

    In my set I have two first place Ike's (76D and 76S)which I made. but the rest of my coins are all second rate.

    And the price of any up grade is way out of my range.

    I think I collect something else

    Glen >>



    It is also very tough to find GEM specimens worthy of submission.

    However to have fun doesn't mean you must have all the top grades, and lower graded IKE's doesn't neccessarly mean they
    are 2nd rate coins.

    You can still have fun building the entire set and maybe searching for certian character coins with some color or something...

    A complete set is rather cool in my eyes...
    imageBe Bop A Lula!!
    "Senorita HepKitty"
    "I want a real cool Kitty from Hepcat City, to stay in step with me" - Bill Carter
  • Dan50Dan50 Posts: 1,818 ✭✭✭
    Lucy, whats the best time to date for your GTO?
    Dan
  • itsnotjustmeitsnotjustme Posts: 8,786 ✭✭✭
    Or a registry set punctuated with error coins!!
    Give Blood (Red Bags) & Platelets (Yellow Bags)!
  • GandyjaiGandyjai Posts: 1,380 ✭✭
    For those that like Ike,....One can assemble an (almost) complete MS Set of clashed die "Talon Heads".
    These are talon-like marks coming out of Ike's temple and can be seen with the naked eye quite easily.
    They are the result of clashed dies and the only ones I haven't seen yet are the 73-S, and 74-S Silvers.
    Sometimes the dies clash more than once, making "Double Talons" and even "Triple Talons". They don't
    have to be in ultra-high or top-pop and they don't carry a premium price.

    Die clashes on Morgans can be highly sought-after VAMs! (ie. Clash "E" Reverses) and considered "Varieties".
    Maybe, one day...these Ike clashed die "Talon Heads" will get to be designated as "Varieties" as well!image

    Brian

    I LOVE image TALON HEAD, PEG LEG & ERROR IKES! image
  • Geez...I do not have any top pop Ikes in my set. I still enjoy my set.
  • 19Lyds19Lyds Posts: 26,497 ✭✭✭✭
    The only top pops I have, everybody else has and I do agree that this can get quite expensive.

    You are either buying rolls by the ton to search of buying top pops at high prices. But, the prices are not so high as to be unreachable or require a high 6 figure income to attain. Thats what I like so much about the Eisenhower series. Even though they have not been produced for nearly 30 years there are still some very nice coins to be found!

    Once this series gets into the variety and vam arena's, watch them take off!

    There are many many DDO's, DDR's, and clashed dies. The coin has simply not been thoroughly studied.

    For the OP, don't fret for a second because if you collect IKE's, you'll never be second class!
    I decided to change calling the bathroom the John and renamed it the Jim. I feel so much better saying I went to the Jim this morning.



    The name is LEE!
  • raycycaraycyca Posts: 1,748 ✭✭✭
    Hello Brian. What are the odds PCGS will EVER recognize the peg leg variety? Is there a list of dates available and/or rarity scale? Do any of the services designate it on the slabs yet? I've only got about 2 dozen and they are taking up space! LOL Thanks a lot in advance! Ray
    You only live life once, enjoy it like it's your last day. It just MIGHT be!

    image
  • GandyjaiGandyjai Posts: 1,380 ✭✭
    I would like to see at least the MS 71-S, the 72-P Type 1, and the 72-D & 74-D Peg Legs attributed. I am pretty convinced that those are
    legit varieties and not the result of extensive die polishing.

    Rarity factor?.....Good question! We all know the 71-S is a tough one. then I would put the 72-P Type 1, closely followed by the
    72-D and then the 74-D....ALL are tough in 65 and higher!
    Hang onto any that you have....Who knows what will happen with attribution? Maybe even try to put together a whole set of them!
    Besides the 71-S,...they don't cost any extra than a "normal" one.....They are just tougher to find!

    My jury is still out on all the others....71-D Peg Leg and the 76-D Type 1 "Off At The Knees" are very interesting (71-D PL is much scarcer).

    I have also heard of a 76-S Type 2 Proof Peg Leg that might be intentional. ('Never seen one, because I just never look at proof Ikes)image

    The 71-D, 72-D and 74-D Peg Legs all come with another scarcer sub-variety...."Filed Off E's" The top bar of the E in WE can be considerably
    shorter than the middle and bottom bars. I'm not sure about those yet either.

    I have "heard" that the 74-D Peg Leg/Filed Off E Variety was purposeful and only found in the 74 Mint Sets.....I can't prove that for sure.
    BUT,....What I DO KNOW about them, is that at least (2) of the VERY RARE 74-D 40% SILVER Ikes are BOTH Peg Legs with the Filed Off E!
    These 74-D Silvers were found in Vegas casinos.....Now, if this variety only came out in mint sets, some one had to cut these two out to
    use them in the slots?......Who knows?...Only 2-3 dozen of these 74-D Silvers are thought to exist.
    The famous 74-D Silver cover coin on Wexler, Crawford and Flynn's book is NOT a Peg Leg. I sure wish I had more of those to study!image

    Brian

    I LOVE image TALON HEAD, PEG LEG & ERROR IKES! image
  • bronze6827bronze6827 Posts: 526 ✭✭✭
    Just picked off another 72D on eBay last week. It will definitely go MS64/65 at PCGS.

    The best part - $6.00 delivered.
  • 19Lyds19Lyds Posts: 26,497 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Hello Brian. What are the odds PCGS will EVER recognize the peg leg variety? Is there a list of dates available and/or rarity scale? Do any of the services designate it on the slabs yet? I've only got about 2 dozen and they are taking up space! LOL Thanks a lot in advance! Ray >>



    I'm not so sure that this wasn''t a fluke Ray but I got this back from ICG on a freebie reholder.

    image

    I purchased the coin at a local coin show only because of the PegLeg. The holder had been trashed so I submitted it at another show for the reholder.

    Here's one a good friend sent me that is the result of die polishing.

    image
    I decided to change calling the bathroom the John and renamed it the Jim. I feel so much better saying I went to the Jim this morning.



    The name is LEE!
  • PQpeacePQpeace Posts: 4,802 ✭✭✭
    I have 2 top pop Ikes for sale now:
    71d and 74d pcgs ms67's..
    Both nice coins...
    Maybe this will help someone here image
    Larry
    Larry Shapiro Rare Coins - LSRC
    POB 854
    Temecula CA 92593
    310-710-2869 cell
    www.LSRarecoins.com
    Larry@LSRarecoins.com

  • cladkingcladking Posts: 29,829 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Mine aren't slabbed but I'm always on the lookout for upgrades.

    A few of them would grade pretty high.
    tempus fugit extra philosophiam.
  • Coin FinderCoin Finder Posts: 7,674 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @cladking I have been watching a lot of high grade ikes go for thousands of dollars at auction, do the good folks who buy these know that there are bags and bags of them still in storage in vaults at the fed reserve?? probably a lot of high grade ones left. Business strike 68s etc...

    Am I wrong?

  • oldsmagnetoldsmagnet Posts: 268 ✭✭✭

    I think a lot of them were lucky to leave the mint at MS67 with die deterioration, bag marks, etc... I recently stumbled into a private collection/hoard that hadn't seen the light of day in decades - painstakingly went through all of 'em and picked out the best of the best of each year/mint/etc (no errors or rare varieties to be found) -- To me, they looked fantastic - but my eyes can NOT grade accurately (That submission was all too happy to confirm this fact... LOL) - One MS65, One 63, 2 62s, one 61, and a couple dozen AU58s. Was hoping there'd be at least one in there that might validate the cost of the submission. I'll admit, it would be fun to go through some truly fresh bank bags, but you'd have to have either really REALLY deep pockets, or a plus-perfect eye for grading...or preferably both :smiley:

  • CuprinkorCuprinkor Posts: 371 ✭✭✭

    Do any original unsearched rolls show up at coin shows these days (2025)?
    I used to see them back prior to 2010 but haven't really seen any since the pre COVID days.

  • cladkingcladking Posts: 29,829 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Coin Finder said:
    @cladking I have been watching a lot of high grade ikes go for thousands of dollars at auction, do the good folks who buy these know that there are bags and bags of them still in storage in vaults at the fed reserve?? probably a lot of high grade ones left. Business strike 68s etc...

    Am I wrong?

    Even if you were right entropy has a way of dealing with Gems that ain't pretty.

    I believe you are probably wrong and these weren't issued except to maintain a supply in the vaults. If they weren't moving out they curtailed mintage. Total mintage was in the half a billion vicinity; call it enough for everyone to have a couple of them. Many have been lost or destroyed and many have been taken home toother countries as souvenirs.

    Each Fed district is supposed to use FIFO accounting principles meaning those in storage the longest are the first to be shipped. But no district wants to store coins and it's very difficult to get these from every district. Who knows all the reasons. You're probably right that at least a few bags or pallets of new Ikes are in storage someplace due to gross inefficiency of systems now days and incompetence but I seriously doubt there is a pervasive pattern involved that allows warehouses full of new coin to just sit idle for decades.

    Think of it this way, if it were possible at all to obtain these bags, even by insiders they would have already acted because the most common of all wholesales for nearly $3000 today. If even insiders can't find a way to get them out legally it might be because they don't even exist. Some of these bags are wholesaling for $5000 today. Of course bags have become very scarce.

    All the coins that used to flow out of the FED back when they were still flowing (before 2010) were circulated coin. What I've seen of these include virtually no BU coins at all with the finest usually being very nice AU or sliders. Couple this with the fact that many bags of Ikes contained no Gems at all as they came out of the mint and the implication is WYSIWYG.

    Of course some nice coins might be found in storage someday but this applies only to Ikes and half dollars and it will affect only some specific dates because the other coins rotated out of storage continually for more than half a century. Just recently someone came up with a really nice bag of 1977 (P) Ikes and made a lot of high grade coins. This was almost certainly a single bag (or two) that someone had saved since 1977 rather than something out of government storage.

    I know one thing for sure. For decades now the Ikes I take to the bank are absorbed by the tellers and the public almost immediately. Sometimes the tellers get them first because they are just that popular. Maybe the FED doesn't have any at all except a stray here and there. If thewy don't come from the banks or the mint they certainly aren't getting more.

    tempus fugit extra philosophiam.
  • Coin FinderCoin Finder Posts: 7,674 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @cladking Thanks for the thought analysis! Many good points. The "insiders" always find away for sure, but if the cupboards are bare and the youngsters don't know what an Ike is, they don't have a chance.

    Ikes are huge and expensive to make. I don't see the mint ever making a coin that big for circulation again.

    Of course some random crazy uncle will have a bag in Iowa here and there they forgot about....

    Most gems I have seen came from mint sets and they must be getting close to picked out by now..

  • CuprinkorCuprinkor Posts: 371 ✭✭✭

    Cladking: That bag of 1977-P's you referred to happened several years ago; I wouldn't say "recently".

    I'm curious what the availability of fresh, unsearched quantities be they from rolls, bags, and mint sets remain today.

  • cladkingcladking Posts: 29,829 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 25, 2025 4:22PM

    @Coin Finder said:
    @cladking Thanks for the thought analysis! Many good points. The "insiders" always find away for sure, but if the cupboards are bare and the youngsters don't know what an Ike is, they don't have a chance.

    Ikes are huge and expensive to make. I don't see the mint ever making a coin that big for circulation again.

    Of course some random crazy uncle will have a bag in Iowa here and there they forgot about....

    Most gems I have seen came from mint sets and they must be getting close to picked out by now..

    Most Ike bags might be fifty times more common than many of the quarters from the era. Of course now days most of the bags have been dispersed. I'm sure more than a handful survive. When there are thousands of something you can be sure a few survive. Finding rolls isn't terribly tough but rolls tend to be from mint sets. Graded populations of Ikes closely mirrors quality in mint sets but not invariably.

    No Ike should be considered "common" in Gem (nice MS-65 and better). We've reached a point where mint sets are no longer capable of providing many high grade Ikes due to their greatly diminished number and condition. Bags have such poor quality that remaining bags might have no Gems but certainly can't have very many. Some of these coins will prove elusive even in chBU because of bad strikes and lots of marking. The '76-P type I especially. I doubt there's a source you could pick up very many nice Uncs. Just forget Gems. A lot of 1975 mint sets just contained no nice Ike at all; but Denvers were much easier.

    A lot of the mint sets on the market are still completely original! This sounds impossible but the simple fact is all sets being actively bought and sold in the last half century have been destroyed within just a few years of first being sold. A steady supply comes from estates and original owners. Of course with so few originals left they are more echos of originality because they come from secondary sources. Mint sets should have been cut up 20 years ago when the tarnish was becoming ubiquitous so you can think of even the sets coming to markets "neglected". It's pretty hard to picture 80 year old man sitting on a stash of hundreds of 1969 mint sets and knowing they are the sole surviving pristine sets and selling them to a coin shop at $7 each today. If heirs brought them into a shop they're sure to be tarnished like virtually all other sets. -neglected

    And as if the type I Ike isn't tough enough the '75 mint set packaging is among the least stable of all dates. The coin will be tarnished and the chances it can be restored are low for this date because of surface texture.

    The secondary market is soon to be the sole source for Ikes and my guess is most of the coins on the secondary market have been badly treated by time and were rarely the best coins to start with. It will be interesting to see if anyone can supply the coins without rolls, bags, and sets and actually having to buy the coins first.

    tempus fugit extra philosophiam.
  • Coin FinderCoin Finder Posts: 7,674 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @cladking “entropy has a way of dealing with gems that ain’t pretty”

    Curious, what you mean by that I think insiders has something to do with that also, what are your thoughts?

  • cladkingcladking Posts: 29,829 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Coins that sit is storage still can spot and tarnish. It's not too unusual for individual bags to be moved by hand and become more scratched. Bags are very durable but they don't protect against the tines of a poorly operated forklift. Or being roughly handled by equipment.

    If there's a warehouse full of new Ikes they'll be common even in Gem but I just doubt it exists.

    Even if there are pallets of new the odds are good they'll be treated just like the others and end up being melted. The government has no logical reason to be sitting on them so if they are they'll do the next stupidest thing and destroy them.

    Modern coins just don't last because even their maker doesn't want them. They get distributed, they get abused and then they get melted. Old coins were often saved at every stage by many processes and by many collectors or we wouldn't have any today. Collectors now days believe the high mintages allow them to save themselves and in pristine condition and forever. A lot of modern coins are quite scarce despite high mintages because they were just never saved or they were only discovered after being distributed.

    tempus fugit extra philosophiam.
  • Coin FinderCoin Finder Posts: 7,674 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Who is the Ike grader at PCGS?

  • davewesendavewesen Posts: 6,899 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Coin Finder said:
    @cladking I have been watching a lot of high grade ikes go for thousands of dollars at auction, do the good folks who buy these know that there are bags and bags of them still in storage in vaults at the fed reserve?? probably a lot of high grade ones left. Business strike 68s etc...

    Am I wrong?

    How does one get ahold of one or more of these bags at the fed reserve? How do you know they are there?

    PCGS has a team of graders and they do not specialize in one series or denomination.

  • cladkingcladking Posts: 29,829 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @davewesen said:

    @Coin Finder said:
    @cladking I have been watching a lot of high grade ikes go for thousands of dollars at auction, do the good folks who buy these know that there are bags and bags of them still in storage in vaults at the fed reserve?? probably a lot of high grade ones left. Business strike 68s etc...

    Am I wrong?

    How does one get ahold of one or more of these bags at the fed reserve? How do you know they are there?

    PCGS has a team of graders and they do not specialize in one series or denomination.

    A lot of people believe there are warehouses full of nice brand new ikes in storage. They point at the huge mintages and say they must be.

    I doubt it. I'd hardly be surprised if there are a few pallets of circ coins lost here and there but I doubt significant numbers of any ikes are still held by the FED or they'd issue them on request.

    tempus fugit extra philosophiam.
  • Coin FinderCoin Finder Posts: 7,674 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Do these clads ever get melted?

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