Auction Win: Isabella Quarter. GTG? Grade posted.
TommyType
Posts: 4,586 ✭✭✭✭✭
I like online auctions. I flip through the offerings religiously when they are first posted. I carefully select those that are of interest to me for tracking. Then I sort even more carefully through those to choose which I will actually bid on.
And then, as the Wife likes to point out with a grin, I watch to see how much I get outbid. Call me cheap, or call me careful, I usually don’t come all that close to actually WINNING!
Anyway, I’ve been dabbling in “Classic Commemoratives” in the last year or so, picking out the 8 or 10 that have designs I really like. So far, I’ve picked up a Lincoln, Oregon, Columbian, and San Diego, and have an eye out for a Grant, Stone Mountain, and Boone. And I’ve always liked the Isabella Quarter, both as a design, and as an “oddity” in the series.
But Commems are usually collected as MS, and I figured the Isabella was outside my limited reach. I only recently figured out that they were OFTEN available circulated.
Well, I somehow, even with my careful meek bidding, managed to latch onto this one.
Care to grade it? (Feel free to guess MS68 if you want to....It’s your call. 
)
Comments
al WAG AU50
53
55
50
Commems and Early Type
55
55
genuine, cleaned.
bob
Depending on the luster, it's somewhere in the AU-50 to 55 range, more likely the lower end of that range.
Do you know this story about this coin?
There was were boards that were involved with the Columbian Exposition, The Board of Gentleman Managers and The Board of Lady Managers. Congress voted each of them a stipend of $10,000. The men took their stipend in cash, but the ladies got creative. They got a act of Congress to authorize the Isabella Quarter and took their $10 grand in quarters, which they planned on selling for a $1 each as a fundraiser.
From there the plan went off-track because the sales were disappointing. There were 40,000 quarters and if the final counts are to be believed only about 14,000 were sold. From what I could gather, the coins were only offered at the Ladies' pavilion at the fair, and the marketing was less than stellar. Of course asking people to pay $1 for quarter when they were resisting to pay the same price for a half dollar, might also have had something to do with the lackluster sales. At any rate the slightly less than 35,000 were slated for the melting pot.
Fortunately the head of The Board of Lady Managers, Mrs. Potter Palmer, stepped in a purchased 10,000 of those quarters, probably at face value. Thus a total of 24,214 quarters were saved for today's collectors.
I like the Isabella quarter. It is different because of its denomination, and I think that the design and its uniqueness in depicting the only monarch on a U.S. coin make it interesting.
Here is a Columbian Exposition medal that was issued in honor of Mrs. Potter Palmer. Depite the fact that this is a medal, this item is scarce, and you can easily pay more for one of these pieces than an Isabella quarter.
I always appreciate the time you take to add historical notes. I have at least one Isabella and now appreciate it more by knowing more about it.
I had heard that the Isabella was the more rare because the sale price was the same as the half-dollar. People ain't stupid!
I hadn't heard about taking the stipend in quarters for re-sale. That could have been a genius move, with a little better marketing! And even selling 14,000 of them @ $0.75 profit per coin yields $10,500. They did alright!
50
58
Commems are tricky circulated. You just dont see a lot of them. I love grading commems
This is a AU55 IMO
mark
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Going to post the results, before I forget.
You folks are pretty good! Agree, the remaining luster may be the deciding factor. But given the narrow price gap between AU-50 and 58, I didn't sweat it much. I liked the fact that 1) It isn't dipped WHITE, and 2) Absence of distracting marks.
I'd offer to take pics when I get it....but frankly, I'm not going to be able to beat this one. My photography just don't cut it....
Nice coin... and interesting history posted by BillJones... I would have guessed AU53.. but defer to the graders who had it in hand... Cheers, RickO
You got a nice coin. The market must be dropping or Heritage is liquidating a hoard. Anyway, I am similar to you for being a low-baller and just got a nice one for even less.
I was going to give her a AU55-58. I almost bid on one of those last night at PCGS 58...then something else caught my eye and my "slush fund".
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Glad I was wrong,,,,,I cannot grade AU coins for the life of me.
bob
You're only cheating yourself by not cracking it out and submitting it under Express grading. It's worth it. Could be better than AU.
au 53
makes 2 of us
Shipping, express grading, and the minimum shipping charge back is more than $100. For what reason? It certainly is not uncirculated and it would have to jump to MS-64 to recover those fees. Cheating himself?
Thanks Bill for the background on the quarter.
When I was in dental school '71-'75 there was always one in one of the Philly coin shops
At the coin show I attended Sunday a guy standing next to me was lamenting that he couldn't afford a very bright quarter in the case in front of us.
Nice pickup for the only quarter commemorative and only coin with a monarch
I would have said 58.
Under the right conditions why not ms66? Can you imagine if it came back as an undeclared proof? A second opinion is warranted and the collector will kick himself in the shins if he doesn't act swiftly before someone else flips it.
I think you're seeing something that nobody else, (including me!), sees. It's quite obviously an AU coin, and has been through PCGS once already. I think that AU-53 to AU-58 is about the maximum range one could expect from this coin.
Just look at the fields, and you can see the minor scratches and wear from someone's pocket.
I don't have it in hand yet. I'll let you know if I see an MS-66.
Are you looking to buy some nice MS-66 coins? Boy do I have a bunch for you...........Cheap!
I think the guy has CU stock
Just got the coin in hand....
We, the merry band of "Grade By Photo" crazies were depending on the remaining luster to determine the level of "AU-ness" of the coin.
Happy to report that the luster is much better than indicated in the Heritage photo, and I have no problem calling it a 55. Wouldn't make 58....definitely better than 50.....We could flip coins on 53 or 55.
I kind of expected that. I'm usually in agreement with PCGS on AU levels for silver....though, I miss more often than hit on copper.