A dream come true...
speety
Posts: 5,424 ✭
This was written prior to Laura asking to write the Hot Topics so much of it is similar to what was written there, that said, here is a little more on the events that led to us purchasing the 1870-s
In 2006 my collecting interests took a sharp turn. Along with my father we had completed a set of MS liberty nickels and wanted another challenge. Seated dollars looked cheap (HA!) for their rarity and a nice XF set looked like a nice challenge. The goal was a simple one, put together a nice matched set of seated dollars in XF, and with some luck maybe even include the 1851 and 1852!
The Central States show came around and by the end of May 2006 I had picked up the seven of the common dates in XF-45. In November the collection had grown to almost 20 dates and the purchase of the 73-cc was a major milestone! It was going to be the gem the collection was built around!
Fast-forward a year, and a lot had changed. Our goal was now an AU set with some of the more common dates in MS. Business had been good for the last year and freed up a little extra spending money for coins! Come May I’m sitting in St. Louis drooling over the 1852 AU-58 in Tony Terranovas case, what a BEAUTY, matched only by its pricetag! We left the show with me dreaming and my father scheming. About a week later my dad surprised me and informed me that he had struck a deal with Tony and the 1852 was now part of our collection! From here there was no turning back. The set would be completed, with the exception of the 1870-s. With 9 known, and a price floor of what looked to be at least $250k, the 1870-s was a distant DREAM.
Another year passed and an 1851 MS-63 came up for sale, which we were able to secure. At this point we had all the key dates and were only missing eight coins, and of course the 1870-s. Our set was nearing completion and in the short span of only 2-3 years, we had been fortunate to have a very nice set of seated dollars. About this same time, the Boyd specimen of the 1870-s sold at Stacks for $120k after the fees, had we known it were to sell for so “cheap” we would have foregone the 1851 and chased the 1870-s! It seemed now like the 1870-s was out of reach for good, perhaps the most affordable specimen had sold and would likely be off the market for a while, all the time prices would undoubtedly rise!
Jump ahead to about a month ago. We have since upgraded many coins and are but two coins (plus the 1870-s) away from a complete set. News comes out that Bowers and Merena were selling the Boyd specimen of the 1870-s once again! However, in the mean time the Farouk (just one spot ahead of the Boyd specimen by most accounts) had sold for over $500k along with another other mid-grade 1870-s specimen. Pre-sale guesses were about $150-175k, maybe more since some large collectors had migrated into seated dollars. We had Laura put in a lowball bid of $110k for the coin, hoping it’d slip through and after fees we’d get it for our maximum amount of $130k.
A week later Laura informed us of the bad news – the price expected was much more than our opening bid.
Wait a sec! What?!? $110k might take it? A couple of the normal buyers of this date were out of the game for the time being? All the planets aligned in perfect order and somehow this coin slipped through the cracks? Before I knew it, the coin I had been dreaming of just a week before was in my hands. We now owned a specimen of the famed 1870-s seated dollar.
The Boyd specimen was officially ours! It may be cleaned and tooled, but it’s an authentic 1870-s and far better looking than two other specimens I’ve seen, although it’s usually listed as either the worst, or second worst (with the Eureka specimen) known for the date. A census is shown below:
Here are my pictures of the coin, it’s hard to photograph when your hands are shaking!
Special thanks to the remote shutter release for these semi-decent pictures… (Excuse the smudge on the holder near the mintmark...)
1) James A. Stack Specimen – PCGS MS-62 - Legend Collection of Seated Dollars.
2) Norweb Specimen – NGC AU-58 (last I heard)
3) Eliasberg Specimen – PCGS AU-53
4) Ostheimer/Jack Lee Specimen – PCGS XF-40
5) Wolfson-Miles-Queller Specimen – NGC XF-40.
6) Carter Specimen – VF with minor pitting (Not certified as far as I can tell)
7) King Farouk Specimen – PCGS VF-25
8) Eureka Specimen – VF with extensive scratches
9) The present coin – The FCC Boyd Coin, sales history listed below:
• William Hesslein sale of December 1926 – FHI engraved in left field
• F.C.C. Boyd; Numismatic Gallery’s sale of the “World’s Greatest Collection”, January 1954 – Field smoothed out.
(Catalog clipping scanned below)
• Hollinbeck Coin Company’s Southern Sale, February 1951
• Earl M. Skinner; New Netherlands Coin Co.’s 39th sale, November 1952
• Charles A. Cass Collection; Stack’s Empire Sale (Cass Collection), November 1957
• Hollinbeck Coin Company’s 274th sale, November 1967
• Stack’s sale of June 1996
• Stacks 73rd Anniversary Sale, October 2008
• Bower’s and Merena Baltimore Sale, November 2009
In 2006 my collecting interests took a sharp turn. Along with my father we had completed a set of MS liberty nickels and wanted another challenge. Seated dollars looked cheap (HA!) for their rarity and a nice XF set looked like a nice challenge. The goal was a simple one, put together a nice matched set of seated dollars in XF, and with some luck maybe even include the 1851 and 1852!
The Central States show came around and by the end of May 2006 I had picked up the seven of the common dates in XF-45. In November the collection had grown to almost 20 dates and the purchase of the 73-cc was a major milestone! It was going to be the gem the collection was built around!
Fast-forward a year, and a lot had changed. Our goal was now an AU set with some of the more common dates in MS. Business had been good for the last year and freed up a little extra spending money for coins! Come May I’m sitting in St. Louis drooling over the 1852 AU-58 in Tony Terranovas case, what a BEAUTY, matched only by its pricetag! We left the show with me dreaming and my father scheming. About a week later my dad surprised me and informed me that he had struck a deal with Tony and the 1852 was now part of our collection! From here there was no turning back. The set would be completed, with the exception of the 1870-s. With 9 known, and a price floor of what looked to be at least $250k, the 1870-s was a distant DREAM.
Another year passed and an 1851 MS-63 came up for sale, which we were able to secure. At this point we had all the key dates and were only missing eight coins, and of course the 1870-s. Our set was nearing completion and in the short span of only 2-3 years, we had been fortunate to have a very nice set of seated dollars. About this same time, the Boyd specimen of the 1870-s sold at Stacks for $120k after the fees, had we known it were to sell for so “cheap” we would have foregone the 1851 and chased the 1870-s! It seemed now like the 1870-s was out of reach for good, perhaps the most affordable specimen had sold and would likely be off the market for a while, all the time prices would undoubtedly rise!
Jump ahead to about a month ago. We have since upgraded many coins and are but two coins (plus the 1870-s) away from a complete set. News comes out that Bowers and Merena were selling the Boyd specimen of the 1870-s once again! However, in the mean time the Farouk (just one spot ahead of the Boyd specimen by most accounts) had sold for over $500k along with another other mid-grade 1870-s specimen. Pre-sale guesses were about $150-175k, maybe more since some large collectors had migrated into seated dollars. We had Laura put in a lowball bid of $110k for the coin, hoping it’d slip through and after fees we’d get it for our maximum amount of $130k.
A week later Laura informed us of the bad news – the price expected was much more than our opening bid.
Wait a sec! What?!? $110k might take it? A couple of the normal buyers of this date were out of the game for the time being? All the planets aligned in perfect order and somehow this coin slipped through the cracks? Before I knew it, the coin I had been dreaming of just a week before was in my hands. We now owned a specimen of the famed 1870-s seated dollar.
The Boyd specimen was officially ours! It may be cleaned and tooled, but it’s an authentic 1870-s and far better looking than two other specimens I’ve seen, although it’s usually listed as either the worst, or second worst (with the Eureka specimen) known for the date. A census is shown below:
Here are my pictures of the coin, it’s hard to photograph when your hands are shaking!
Special thanks to the remote shutter release for these semi-decent pictures… (Excuse the smudge on the holder near the mintmark...)1) James A. Stack Specimen – PCGS MS-62 - Legend Collection of Seated Dollars.
2) Norweb Specimen – NGC AU-58 (last I heard)
3) Eliasberg Specimen – PCGS AU-53
4) Ostheimer/Jack Lee Specimen – PCGS XF-40
5) Wolfson-Miles-Queller Specimen – NGC XF-40.
6) Carter Specimen – VF with minor pitting (Not certified as far as I can tell)
7) King Farouk Specimen – PCGS VF-25
8) Eureka Specimen – VF with extensive scratches
9) The present coin – The FCC Boyd Coin, sales history listed below:
• William Hesslein sale of December 1926 – FHI engraved in left field
• F.C.C. Boyd; Numismatic Gallery’s sale of the “World’s Greatest Collection”, January 1954 – Field smoothed out.
(Catalog clipping scanned below)
• Hollinbeck Coin Company’s Southern Sale, February 1951
• Earl M. Skinner; New Netherlands Coin Co.’s 39th sale, November 1952
• Charles A. Cass Collection; Stack’s Empire Sale (Cass Collection), November 1957
• Hollinbeck Coin Company’s 274th sale, November 1967
• Stack’s sale of June 1996
• Stacks 73rd Anniversary Sale, October 2008
• Bower’s and Merena Baltimore Sale, November 2009
Want to buy an auction catalog for the William Hesslein Sale (December 2, 1926). Thanks to all those who have helped us obtain the others!!!
0
Comments
Congratulations on a wonderful coin and a truly awesome story of how it was achieved.
peacockcoins
1) Laura's "extra" involvement was briefing us on all the background of the coin and what to expect with it in hand.
2) The price of the coin vs. it's real value... WHO CARES? It's not going anywhere anytime soon and we paid what we were comfortable paying for this treasure.
3) Resmoothing out the fields correctly. Many people have asked me about this. It's already been tooled so i don't see any real problem doing this, however for the time being it's remaining how it is. We bought the coin knowing it's problems, if we hated them that much we wouldn't have bought it. Maybe in the future though? It's not hiding problems, the coin will always be known to be tooled and we would never try to hide that fact...
4) Thanks for all the support guys! My father and I went against two of my three greatest mentors in deciding to purchase the coin. In the end I think they both agreed with the buy (especially at the price level, they thought it'd hammer much higher) but it made me nervous to go against those who have helped guide me for many years. Sometimes you just have to follow your heart!
Thanks again all!
Mark
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
That's a great write-up on the story of this collection.
<< <i>What an ugly rare coin
Don't you know not to grade based on pics... geeze!
Thanks for the comments guys
to look like a nickel after a month on the highway but it's not a bad looking
coin. Congratulations.
Thanks for sharing your personal story and for posting the enlarged photos of this coin for all of us to see.
Stuart
Collect 18th & 19th Century US Type Coins, Silver Dollars, $20 Gold Double Eagles and World Crowns & Talers with High Eye Appeal
"Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity"
<< <i>Sometimes you just have to follow your heart! >>
There can be no regrets doing that.
my early American coins & currency: -- http://yankeedoodlecoins.com/
All kidding aside
Congrats Mark
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BONGO HURTLES ALONG THE RAIN SODDEN HIGHWAY OF LIFE ON UNDERINFLATED BALD RETREAD TIRES
I think you made a great purchase at a great price.
Congrats Mark to you and your Dad for now being part of the pedigree of this very AWESOME coin!!
Legend Collection
Share Collection
Quellar Collection
Richmond Collection
MnS Collection
Eliasberg didn't do it, Norweb didn't do it, James A Stack didn't do it, Garrett didn't do it, LK Rudolf didn't do it, Carter didn't do it, Fairfield didn't do it, Starr didn't do it, Jack Lee didn't do it.
<< <i>Let's put this in perspective. Only a handful of people have EVER completed a circulation strike set of seated dollars - of ANY grade. To the best of my knowledge, the following are the only sets ever to be completed in this fashion:
Legend Collection
Share Collection
Quellar Collection
Richmond Collection
MnS Collection
Eliasberg didn't do it, Norweb didn't do it, James A Stack didn't do it, Garrett didn't do it, LK Rudolf didn't do it, Carter didn't do it, Fairfield didn't do it, Starr didn't do it, Jack Lee didn't do it. >>
Bruce, we aren't quite complete as we are missing two dates (which could be picked up at any time... just waiting for the right ones
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
<< <i>It might be fun to imagine the inscription that may have been removed from the obverse fields. Could there be a connection between the graffiti on the 1870-S $3 and whatever was on this dollar? >>
Somebody didn't read the full thread.
Possibly? The initials were FHI but were removed while or prior to Boyd owning the coin. Is there anything discernable on the 70-s $3 piece? I think only the numbers "893" were scratched into the coin, iirc.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
HE>I
<< <i>Ah, I see the reference to "FHI". But why are both the left and right fields smoothed out? >>
No clue? They appear to have been smothed prior to the Boyd sale (I went cross-eyed trying to discern the little black and white image...) so perhaps there were scratches in that field as well at some point.
BTW, how old are you now???
More like a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Best wishes for a completed set in the future!
"Bongo hurtles along the rain soaked highway of life on underinflated bald retread tires."
~Wayne
<< <i>Ah, I see the reference to "FHI". But why are both the left and right fields smoothed out? >>
Andy, I'm surprised that you'd ask such a dumb question.
Obviously the left and right fields were smoothed out to make room for when Mark (not me) was ready to place his initials in the left field and for his dad to place his in the right field.
In all seriousness, however, this is easily one of the more enjoyable numismatic stories I have heard about in a very long time. Congratulations to Mark (not me) and his dad.
Mark
U.S. Type Set
Whatever you are, be a good one. ---- Abraham Lincoln
Please visit my website Millcitynumismatics.com
Up for the night crew...
"Question your assumptions."
"Intelligence is an evolutionary adaptation."
The entertainment can never be overdressed....except in burlesque
<< <i>
I would have to second that... congrats.
-sm
The Maddy Rae Collection
CURRENT BST OFFERINGS
Greg Hansen, Melbourne, FL Click here for any current EBAY auctions Multiple "Circle of Trust" transactions over 14 years on forum
1. The smoothing of the fields seems to have been done in a very crude manner.
2. The re-engraving of the horizontal shield lines (at least I think they are re-engraved) and the "LIBERTY" (which definitely looks re-engraved) looks like much more careful work. Is it possible to track when the re-engraving was done?
<< <i>The coin seems to have been worked on by two different hands.
1. The smoothing of the fields seems to have been done in a very crude manner.
2. The re-engraving of the horizontal shield lines (at least I think they are re-engraved) and the "LIBERTY" (which definitely looks re-engraved) looks like much more careful work. Is it possible to track when the re-engraving was done? >>
The fields were originally smoothed before the Boyd sale, but I believe they have been smoothed at least once more. They actually aren't too bad, except it seems the original person took off some of the metal and thus the fields are lower than the rest of the coin which in photos make it look horrible. In hand it's not as bad...
The repunching of liberty and the lines directly above and below liberty also were done before the Boyd sale as far as I can tell. The rest of the shield lines are original and not tooled imo.
Mark
Now that is quite an accomplishment! (set completion - I know, it's not complete yet, but for all practical purposes, it is).
As for the 1870-s, it's a special thing to be the caretaker of such a truly rare item. Congrats!
Now you need to get two placeholders so you can officially join that short list.
Great story, and a coin with a history.
This is what coin collecting should be all about!!
~
"America suffers today from too much pluribus and not enough unum.".....Arthur Schlesinger Jr.