1911 Matte Proof $20 Saint on eBay

commoncents05

Link.

-Paul

MidLifeCrisis

jessewvu

Sooooooo. Should I or should I not bid/buy that coin? It sure looks good with all those gouges in it.

coinkid855

<< <i>Sooooooo. Should I or should I not bid/buy that coin? It sure looks good with all those gouges in it. >>




Sure does. And it comes with free fingerprints to boot!



-Paul

blu62vette

<< <i>Sooooooo. Should I or should I not bid/buy that coin? It sure looks good with all those gouges in it. >>



Those are not gouges, those are "markers"

Placid

I wouldnt bid on it because I dont know enough about them to tell if its a proof or not.
Comparing it to other 1911 proofs at Heritage the eBay one seems either weakly struck or worn.

Heritage says "It is our belief that somewhere around 40 to 50 separate pieces have survived today as recognizable proofs from the original mintage."

GoldenEyeNumismatics

I'm fairly casual when it comes to handling my raw coins, but does he really need to hold the ocin that way to take the edge picture?

ChrisRx

Wow. Not really my series but looks real to me. Too bad about this:



Edited to add:

Looks like it would be sold by one of those coinworld wholesale "sellers" ala costtocoast coin, etc
Does not look grade able.

Obiwancanoli

If the guy wants 12K for the coin, you'd think he'd have a little more respect for it in the way he handles it... IMO...

Or am I being naive about the handling of rare coins (not to mention most other MS coins, regardless of price/value) ??

dcarr

It is not a proof.
It is a business strike with altered surfaces.

fc

lol. read this answer from the question in the auction.

"Instead of making the proofs that have mirror like surfaces, they decided to make experimental proofs that had a matte like appearance by using fine sandblasting after the striking. I do believe (speaking under correction), that they first made the usual proofs, then sandblasted them at the mint before release. The difference with a normal proof should be obvious , as these proofs are not mirror like and shiny."

Like a person who would own such a coin not know that basics
of a matte and how it was created...

messydesk

I wonder if the seller would bite it if asked to verify that it was gold.

PerryHall

<< <i>It is not a proof.
It is a business strike with altered surfaces. >>



My first thought. Proofs don't usually have bag marks unless there are signs that it circulated. May have been sand blasted or pickled in acid. Usually an expensive coin like this is slabbed before auctioning unless it can't be slabbed.