Walker key date Black Beauty

Walkerfan

Funny you should ask about black beauties.



This is the closest that I've seen to a monster key date and grade Walker black beauty.



It only has a little white in the obverse center and the reverse is fully toned.



It is coming up in the HA Chicago auction. It is touted as 'unquestionably original, toned with rich, multicolored hues.'



Do you guys find it appealing and/or original?



What do you think it will sell for in today's market?



LINKY



It is too dark for my liking and has too many marks in the fields and devices but it is rather sharply struck, so many may like it. JMHO.



It probably looks better in the light and likely has some fiery blues, reds, greens and such, too.



It has been held for ten years and last appeared in an HA 2006 FUN show auction where it sold for $13,225.



I am super interested to see what it sells for this time around and I will be watching and waiting intently.



What are your thoughts?

PerryHall

I consider that coin to be ugly and it's too far gone to ever be properly conserved. No CAC sticker for that coin.

fivecents

I am not a fan. Looks drab and lifeless.

grip

Close to environmental damage.Bad,bad walker.

ElmerFusterpuck

The big thing it has going for it is that it appears to be hammered. For an MS coin, it's too dark for my tastes. Maybe for a VF or XF coin it would OK, minus the blast white center.

stman

That's just black, no beauty whatsoever as far as I can see and IMO.



Black Beauty should be reserved for truly, predominantly black. Usually Morgans (where we started calling such coins) with nice cartwheel luster. A true thing of beauty, if you're into that kinda thing.

Weiss

See I kind of like it.

mannie gray

I LOVE it!

cmerlo1

Such a fine line between toning and environmental damage sometimes. That one looks more ED than toned to me...

SkyMan

Not my cup of tea...

Walkerguy21D

I'm not a fan either, though I love the date, and love original walkers.....

Justacommeman

That might be better in hand



mark

Coinstudy

Not a true black beauty.A black beauty is struck on a planchet with extreme copperwash/migration or a sintered planchet.I'd call it heavily tarnished.

DollarAfterDollar

I like that it looks much different from it's contemporaries.

I'd be proud owning that tuff coin.

LogPotato

"unquestionably original..."



Yes it is, but it's ugly.

Justacommeman

The more I look at this and I couple others I've seen pictured like this I think it might look great in hand. Big jewel tone colors



mark

TomB

It looks quite well struck, though that could be an affect of the toning on the surfaces. I think I might like the obverse, but doubt much that I would like the reverse. Overall, this is too big a coin to purchase with this much of a specific look and limited pool of potential buyers. My guess would be also that CAC has declined to sticker the coin due to how dark it is and likely how much luster it has lost.

Justacommeman

It might look like this with proper photography color wise. Tom's interpretation is probably right about the reverse



mark



My coin was part of The Wheat Colleoction and I get offers on it religiously







JBN 67+ Color could be like this.

chumley

on its own merits,I like it...add a $13k price tag,I do not like it

Broadstruck

Shame as that's one nice hand strike.



Sorry to say but that's near toast and no alternate photography without major juicing will make it look any livelier.



The almost terminal toning looks secondary on lack luster surfaces.



Since coins continue to tone once slabbed would like to see this one again in another 5 years to see how it's progressed?

messydesk

Looking at the 2006 listing in the HA archive, they took a decent picture of it in addition to the standard slab picture. The better picture actually shows the luster, and the slab picture looks pretty much like today's. Still too darkly toned for my taste.

JBN

Wonderful strike.

Obverse may light up with cobalt blues near the date and surrounding areas under an intense light.

Reverse will likely stay earthtoned even under intense lighting.

I agree with others' observations that CAC likely did not pass the coin.

For me, when you get past the rainbow colors and discernible color progression (Mark's post's examples) and get into solely the earthtone colors, the coin becomes too dark.

Gotta love the strike, though.

brg5658

Environmental Damage. No thanks.

lasvegasteddy

any toning premium probably will take a hit here

amwldcoin

I don't like it either. One of the biggest problems I see with this coin is most people who collect and spend what the coin might sell for usually want their sets to match! Doubt a set with that look could be even near completed.

Ablinky

It's a nicely struck coin and the obverse blues are nice. But the dark earthy hues make the coin seem to far gone for that kind of money in my opinion.

TwoSides2aCoin

Wouldn't mind sleeping with her for a long time. Don't tell the new g/f please.

BAJJERFAN

jayPem

Like.

White coins are just white noise to me...when I walk into a show and all those blast white widgets begin assaulting my senses,

I start to feel this screaming boredom build, start scanning for the exits...lately, I just got to get

the h**l out...

pmac

I bet it looks better in the picture than in hand, but I have no first hand knowledge.

metalmeister

That's a bummer for a key date

DrBuster

Looks like it got pulled out of fire ash. Kinda like it, kinda don't.

ricko

As much as I like Walkers... I would walk away from that.... such a shame. Cheers, RickO

asheland

I bet it looks nice when the luster is showing!
Chuck Norris approved

Walkerfan

Hammered for $11750 including juice.



The dark toning must've turned people off, as that price is very weak for a 1921-D near gem.



Despite being dark, IMHO I don't think that the coin was original but rather a re-tone.



No luster and way too many marks, as well.



I personally didn't like the coin for all of the above reasons.

291fifth

Way too dark ... so much so that I am tempted to call it a "problem" coin.

Raybo

Buy it and dip it.

thisnamztaken

Too dark for my personal taste but I do appreciate the strike and left thumb.

oreville

Priced appropriately for its grade given the negative eye appeal.

Any cheaper, I would have possibly considered it.



EDITED.......



I bought a 1916 walker in PCGS/CAC MS-66 OGH.... it was also an original well toned coin and bought it very cheap at Heritage FUN show in January 2015.



But then comparing my 1916 to this 1921-D, my opinion became even more negative of the 1921-D as it shows the bluish black colors near the obverse rims which really bothers me as evidence of an issue with this coin.

TopographicOceans

At least it survived the fire without melting.

CoinRaritiesOnline

I honestly think that is an AT job that did not look like that when it was first graded.

LindeDad

Originally posted by: Broadstruck

Shame as that's one nice hand strike.



Sorry to say but that's near toast and no alternate photography without major juicing will make it look any livelier.



The almost terminal toning looks secondary on lack luster surfaces.



Since coins continue to tone once slabbed would like to see this one again in another 5 years to see how it's progressed?

It will be a lot lighter and in a higher grade holder I would wager.

CoinZip

I would need to see that one in hand before bidding...

johnny9434

not for me, pass.

jcping

I pass, too.

CommemKing

I love toning but that thing is lost forever with terminal toning.