1834 $2 1/2 Capped Bust Genuine

earlyAurum

1834 QE

What are your thoughts on this coin? I would love to acquire a graded one but this will obviously be very difficult in not only in terms of opportunity and funding. From the images, it actually looks nice and I can't really see the cleaning. Am I blind?

thanks for your comments

kaz

I believe this is the sort of coin you would want to look at up close and personal yourself, or have a trusted representative do so. Photos can hide a lot. I agree you can't see the "harsh cleaning." I have no idea how to value it, either.

Coinosaurus

I would pass. You are much better off with a PQ example of a much lesser priced coin, perhaps in a different series.

Aegis3

Look at the fields around *1. There may be more elsewhere also, perhaps even evenly, but something is clearly going on here.

earlyAurum

I have no intention of buying this coin. I am just trying to understand if the cleaning is visible via image and just generally what are peoples thoughts on buying a rare coin in a genuine holder. It does appear to me that this coin looks pretty good in the images from a point of view of color and strike.

thanks

ricko

Photographic images, no matter how good, cannot equal 'in hand' evaluation. While the best of our coin photographers treat the product fairly, there are many, many ways to deceive when using digital photography. Cheers, RickO

291fifth

Avoid problem coins.

BillJones

This coin is an example of a very scarce type. Most of the mintage was melted because Congress passed a law and the president signed it that reduced the weight of $2.50 and $5.00 gold coins. Only an advanced to collector who can't a afford a better example should even consider buying this piece. If you don't have a nice example of the Classic Head $2.50 you should get that before you even consider this piece.

I've found that some photos make coins like this look better than they really are. For that reason you really need to see this piece in hand. It could have many hairlines that are not showing up in the photo.

Here is my 1829 quarter eagle, which is the same type. You will see that this piece does have marks, and it is a PCGS AU-55. I agree with the grade, but as you can see this coin looks less perfect than the one in the auction. Pictures don't show everything.



And here my Classic Head quarter eagle. This type is very similar and much less expensive.

coinguy1

The coin looks very presentable in the images. BUT, part of the cataloger's description says: "In our opinion, this coin has the details of an AU specimen that has been harshly cleaned. The fields are hairlined on both sides."

I think it is significant that they chose to describe it as "harshly cleaned" as opposed to "cleaned" or "lightly cleaned", and I would certainly go with that, over how the coin might appear in the images. That also tells us that if you had the coin in hand and tilted it, it would probably not be a pretty picture.

BillJones

If you use the close up and altered light features that Heritage provides, you will see that this coin has a lot of small marks in the field that have "the look" of something this not usually seen on a normally circulated coin. Some of them even seem to have a pattern. I dare say if you look at this piece in person under various angles of light these marks will be far more prominent, and would not surpise me if this has a polished look to it.

RYK

I have a "PCGS Genuine" capped bust QE:



The color is a little funky, but is is presentable (IMO). It cost me about half of what a gradable piece would and about one-third what BillJones' coin probably would.

earlyAurum

Thanks to all for sharing your opinions and knowledge!

lkeigwin

<< <i>1834 QE

What are your thoughts on this coin? I would love to acquire a graded one but this will obviously be very difficult in not only in terms of opportunity and funding. From the images, it actually looks nice and I can't really see the cleaning. Am I blind?

thanks for your comments >>

The genuine code is 98, "damage or tooling". I would be concerned about more than just cleaning. Even harsh cleaning, unless PCGS uses 98 instead of 92 for that.
Lance.