This made my day. . .
coindeuce
Posts: 13,496 ✭✭✭✭✭
A steady customer walks in this morning and asks for a variety confirmation on his coin. A raw, beautiful chocolate brown 1830 medium letters reverse large cent. Every bit an XF, even by EAC standards. He bought it from a country auction house, where it was attributed by the consignor as Large Letters reverse. 
"Everything is on its way to somewhere. Everything." - George Malley, Phenomenon
http://www.american-legacy-coins.com
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"Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen
So...for a non-collector of early American cents, what exactly does all this mean?
Without pics or other information, my guess is that the buyer 'saved' about $3-5K (depends on the technical grade and how choice the coin is for the grade).
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
Ron Guth: The 1830 Medium Letters Large Cent is a very scarce variety. Sometimes called the Small Letters Reverse, this variety has reverse lettering that is slightly smaller than that of the Large Letters variety (the attribution illustration above is very useful in telling the two varieties apart). Because this is a "Redbook" variety and the supply is low, prices tend to be higher than normal because of intense collector demand. Most collectors will have to settle for a circulated example because only one Mint State example exists and, it is a beauty -- PCGS MS67BN with traces of red in the protected areas. That particular coin came out of Florida in 1979, went into Ted Naftzger's collection, then was sold in a 2009 Goldbergs auction for a whopping $57,500. Proof enough that it pays to attribute your coins.
http://www.pcgscoinfacts.com/Coin/Detail/1675
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