To submit or not submit? A few Seated quarters with secondary toning.
rhedden
Posts: 6,650 ✭✭✭✭✭
I have to put together an 8-coin submission to spend out my CC voucher from last year, which is getting old. The following four Seated quarters are potential candidates for submission, but each one of them has sketchy secondary toning that makes me think it was dipped or given a careful cleaning many decades ago. All of these fall into the "borderline" category for grading, so I never sent them in before. No beans will be given to these four, but it would be great if I could get even one or two of them into a straight grade holder.
There are two things I can confirm up front.
1) All of the coins came from a Library of Coins album that was sitting in a bank vault for decades. In other words, these are not eBay purchases that might have been artificially toned in recent years. However, the PCGS graders have no way of knowing that!
2) None of the coins have parallel hairlines as one would find on a coin that was wiped or harshly cleaned.
That being said, do any of these coins look like they might straight grade? If so, the payoff would be substantial for a few of them, as all of them are very tough in higher circulated grades.
1852-O: a really tough Seated quarter in the XF-AU range. Without a doubt, this one was dipped or lightly cleaned ages ago, but I have seen similar examples in slabs. Will the graders be lenient because it's a semi-key date?
1857-O: this one has "too glossy" surfaces, so I really doubt it would straight grade. It's a sharply detailed 1857-O, though!
1858-O: This one has the best chance to straight grade, I think. However, that kind of toning is what comes back after a good dip.
1859-O: This one is a little better than the 1852-O in terms of its chances to grade, but it's obvious that the toning is not original.
Comments
I would send in........why not? Very nice tuff date Quarters.
I'd send them in and get TruViews on the 57/58/59. I think they should straight grade.
I agree with your thinking that all were cleaned long ago. How PCGS graders will react I don't know. Even if they do straight grade, would seated specialists be willing to accept them as straight grades? I think that is the real question.
I think these days the odds are much better than 50% all those coins would straight grade!
I think that the first one might not grade because of cleaning. Provided that none of the others don't have any suspecious hairlines, I think that they are worth a shot.
The 58O and 59O look like locks, not sure about the first two posted, as their issues seem more substantial - but maybe even in genny slabs they will be more desirable than as raw coins?
You guys seem more optimistic overall than I am, so thanks for the encouragement. I think would make financial sense to submit them, even if only one of them makes it into a straight-graded holder.
To answer 291fifth's question, yes, Seated collectors will pay more for better date coins in PCGS holders, even if they aren't exactly original. They can be counted in a Registry set, for one thing. If they're not slabbed, the assumption is that they were already tried a few times, and they didn't make the cut. As a result, liquidity is lower, and the coins trade at a discount.
Some of the dates like 1852-O are so hard to find in a PCGS slab that one can't be too fussy about minor defects. For example, let's suppose you want an 1852-O in XF or better. CAC has verified exactly two pieces: an XF45 and an MS62. If those aren't for sale, should you settle for a VF20 with a green bean, or take an XF-AU coin like mine, which may not even grade? Such is life for Liberty Seated quarter collectors.
The 52-0 is quite tough with that much detail. It might grade, or get netted down in the VF30/35 range. I would suspect that most trouble free 52-0 quarters still reside raw in strong collector/speculator hands....leaving very few in PCGS holders. What incentive do they have to turn in their stashes, or dilute current pops...unless they are cashing out of the hobby?
Fwiw, I sold a very nice, raw, 1857-0 XF/AU 25c at my local show in March. The coin was raw because I was just too lazy to get it graded over the past 5 years. I sold the coin as problem free and solid for the grade. It sold easily....despite being raw. Very flashy original looking coin with golden toning. Possibly dipped in a previous life, not really sure. I agree that your 57-0 is too glossy to take a shot. The less "problem" coins in your submission, the better chance that you get grades. Having just the 58-0 and 59-0 to "drag" the 52-0 along might help. Having the 57-0 in there to possibly drag the 52-0 down, won't help. Any other raw, problem free std. quarter you can toss in there to take the place of the 57-0?
Stick that 52-0 in a brown paper (sulfur) coin envelope to help it come back.
Following roadrunner's logic, one thing I could do might be to put the 1858-O and the 1859-O in a submission with six nice, original coins and see what happens. If they both grade, then the 1852-O could be inserted into the next submission. I have plenty of other coins to submit, but I have the most to gain by submitting coins that might raise doubts if they were sold raw.
'52 and '59 cleaned long ago (IMHO) and I'm not a SQ expert by any means, but the times are changing with TP grading.
Have at it rhedden and submit them all!
With my luck the '57 and '58 would come back with the questionable color/altered surface thingy.
This will be interesting to follow... IMO all will grade...Yes, I see the 'issues' mentioned above... as best as can be seen in those photographs (which are very good).... I think that those 'issues' may not be noted in today's grading process.... I hope you send them all in, then resurrect this thread when you receive the grades. Cheers, RickO
There are many straight graded coins with problems of one kind or the other. I'm with the majority, send in all four.
I think two or three will grade.
Doug