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Ed Price must be a financial genius!!! He buys the 1804 NGC AU-58 dime for $184K and a year later se

orevilleoreville Posts: 11,789 ✭✭✭✭✭
Ed Price must be a genius!

But I do not get it.

The 1804 dime sold for $632,000! I am floored!!

Why did this coin go up so much???

Description
1804 10C 14 Stars on Reverse AU58 NGC. CAC. JR-2, R.5. When we offered it in 2007, we stated: "This piece is a lovely example with exquisite central obverse and reverse details. The left side of the obverse and reverse exhibit some weakness, a characteristic of the variety and similar on every known piece. Pale golden-brown toning is visible across much of the obverse and reverse with some areas of lighter silver color. Light wear is evident only on Liberty's shoulder, a few of the hair strands, and the clouds over the eagle. While faint hairlines are typical for these coins, few can boast the quality of surfaces seen here."

Die State. The obverse has a short crack from a dentil between stars 8 and 9 that first appeared in the earlier JR-1 marriage. Clash marks behind the lower curls to star 2 also appeared in the JR-1 marriage. A new die crack through star 10 curves up toward the eyebrow, and another through star 13 crosses the chin, cheek, and most of the hair, eventually disappearing in the upper hair strands below Another unlisted die crack from the lower point of star 13 crosses the drapery and eventually reaches the throat.

Condition Census. This is easily the finest existing 1804 JR-2 dime, and it is probably the finest existing 1804 dime of either variety. Other important pieces: 1. Bolen/James A. Stack--Ed Price purchased this coin at the Bolen sale and owned it until he purchased the Eliasberg coin. It is also graded NGC AU58 and is a lovely coin. Unfortunately, a light cleaning detracts from its eye appeal and this always bothered me. 2. Lovejoy/Robison--EF with a scratch across the obverse. This is the JR plate coin. Price also owned this coin for a while, having acquired it when he bought Bill Subjack's collection. 3. Miles--listed as finest seen in the dime book and graded XF45. 4. Norweb--AU50--appears to have a few scattered marks on the obverse

Appearances. Plated in our January 2007 catalog.

Obverse Die. The 1 joins the lowest curl and the 4 is about centered between the bust and the border. LIBERTY is widely spaced with LIB closer than BERTY. Stars 1 and 7 are far from the curl and L, star 8 is closer to the Y, and star 13 is closest to the drapery.
State a. Clashed and cracked as State c of 1804 JR-1. State b. Cracked as described above for JR-2. Intermediate states probably exist.

Reverse Die. Legend completely free of the devices, except as noted. No letters touch each other. U is close to the claw and D is very far from the feathers. Approximately centered between clouds and border. The upright of E is right of center over cloud 4. First A is separated from the wing feathers. AM are close. Other letters are well-spaced. Final A is distant from the claw. Four berries with the center outside berry merged with a leaf tip. A leaf joins right base of I. Outer arrow point is below the center of the left base of N. Arrows extend slightly past center of N. Fourteen stars arranged in rows of 6, 6, 1, and 1. The stars are arranged in such a manner that any three adjacent stars form a nearly straight line. Stars 1, 2, 3, and 6 touch clouds with star 4 extremely close. Star 1 has two points buried in the eagle's wing. Star 9 is centered above the eagle's head, star 13 touches the lower beak and ribbon, and star 14 touches the back of the head and the ribbon.
State a. Perfect.

Heritage Commentary. This piece was not part of the 1996 Eliasberg sale, but appeared at a later date.

Consignor Commentary. This is easily the finest 1804 dime of either variety that I have seen or heard of. I was a little surprised that this coin did not grade as Uncirculated. In any case, it is clearly finer than any others I am aware of.

Mark Borckardt called me in late 2006. He mentioned that Heritage had a group of coins consigned from the Eliasberg Collection for the 2007 FUN sale that included an 1804 14 Stars dime I might like. I have known Mark for many years. He knows a lot about early Federal coinage. Mark understands my collecting interests and has brought other coins to my attention over the years. We discussed the 1804 dime and others that I owned or had owned. The Eliasberg coin sounded at least as nice as the Bolen/James A. Stack example I then owned. After talking to Mark, I studied the coin on-line and realized that it was an exceptional coin. There was no wear apparent and it seemed to have extraordinary eye appeal. I discussed the coin with Stu Levine. One concern I had was that I would not be able to view the coin before the FUN sale. Stu agreed to view the coin in Dallas. When Stu called from Dallas, he confirmed that it was extraordinary. We discussed the coin at length--Stu had the coin in his hand and I was looking at the image on-line. Later Stu and I discussed pricing and concluded that $125,000 hammer would be reasonable. Stu would be at the auction to bid. On the night of the sale, I watched the bidding at the Heritage website. The coin sold for $140,000 hammer. I was disappointed that I had not been a little more aggressive. Then the phone rang. Stu had been the buyer--understanding the importance of the coin and my strong interest in owning it. I was delighted, but I still had never seen the coin. A few days later I saw the coin and realized that it was easily the finest 1804 dime of either variety.

Provenance. David Wilson Sale (S.H. Chapman, 3/1907), lot 694; Clapp Collection; Eliasberg Collection; Heritage (1/2007), lot 861.
From The Ed Price Collection.(Registry values: P8)

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A Collectors Universe poster since 1997!

Comments

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    BochimanBochiman Posts: 25,304 ✭✭✭✭✭
    HOLY SMOKIES!!!

    I would like to own it, it looks cool, but wowza! That's a chunk of change! Especially nice profit in 1 year, in a recession, when stocks are tanking!

    Wowza!

    I like how the numbers in 1804 are all individual and "off"

    I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment

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    mozeppamozeppa Posts: 4,431 ✭✭✭
    it only takes 2 to want it really bad.image
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    I keep telling myself, if this coin appears again anytime soon, it will go for much less. So far everytime I say that I am wrong.
    Life member of the SSDC
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    orevilleoreville Posts: 11,789 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Options26: Maybe Ed Price should be our Secretary of the Treasury?

    He could figure out a way to get our National Deficit paid off?
    A Collectors Universe poster since 1997!
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    TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 43,851 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Low hanging fruit or hot potato ?

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    GoBustGoBust Posts: 586 ✭✭✭✭✭

    A finer example was discovered as I understand it.

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    joebb21joebb21 Posts: 4,733 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @GoBust said:
    A finer example was discovered as I understand it.

    Simply, the pogues really really really wanted it the second time around and were going to do anything to get it- including spending hundreds of thousands more

    may the fonz be with you...always...
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    Timbuk3Timbuk3 Posts: 11,658 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Wow, interesting !!! :)

    Timbuk3
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    CoinstartledCoinstartled Posts: 10,135 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Interesting follow up to a decade old thread.

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    jdimmickjdimmick Posts: 9,604 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I was getting ready to say, it dint bring anywhere near that recently, but then noticed its an old thread.

    On a much smaller note, I lost a great deal on an 1804 in PC 45. I think I paid like 46k for it several years ago, decided to part with it about 18 months ago. It only brought like 35k. then it esold again for a few thousand less than that. I purged out some stuff and only kept A quality cac coins in my sold called box of twenty.

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    CoinstartledCoinstartled Posts: 10,135 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @1peter1223 said:
    They say " Can't go wrong buying the best of the best " . But this example proves as all things ( even rare coins ) in life , there are limits .

    Good post. Many home runs are now bunt pop ups.

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    UltraHighReliefUltraHighRelief Posts: 2,297 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @jdimmick said:
    I was getting ready to say, it dint bring anywhere near that recently, but then noticed its an old thread.

    On a much smaller note, I lost a great deal on an 1804 in PC 45. I think I paid like 46k for it several years ago, decided to part with it about 18 months ago. It only brought like 35k. then it esold again for a few thousand less than that. I purged out some stuff and only kept A quality cac coins in my sold called box of twenty.

    13 or 14 stars?

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    rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The trials and tribulations of the coin market..... some say 'Hold for years... make money'.....Others say 'Flip while it is hot...make money'.....both have been true at times.... Cheers, RickO

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    CoinstartledCoinstartled Posts: 10,135 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @ricko said:
    The trials and tribulations of the coin market..... some say 'Hold for years... make money'.....Others say 'Flip while it is hot...make money'.....both have been true at times.... Cheers, RickO

    Clearly a short term tripling of price as noted in the OP is misleading in terms of pricing. Couple wealthy folks want a coin and no trend is set.

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    3keepSECRETif2rDEAD3keepSECRETif2rDEAD Posts: 4,285 ✭✭✭✭✭

    ...such an excited OP that he ran out of room in the thread title but just kept on typing! ;)

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    CoinstartledCoinstartled Posts: 10,135 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @3keepSECRETif2rDEAD said:
    ...such an excited OP that he ran out of room in the thread title but just kept on typing! ;)

    Have done that myself.

    :#

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