I just received a 1839-C quarter eagel I purchased - A pleasant surprise!
BillJones
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I purchased this 1839-C quarter eagle in the recent Heritage Long Beach sale. I was not expecting a lot from this coin given that it is graded AU-50, which seems to have been watered down as grade of late, and the late die state. Both the oberse and reverse dies are badly cracked. The Charlote Mint personnel probably didn't get too many more coins out of this set of dies before they tossed them aside.
The coin turned out to be a please surprise! It has decent luster and there is no hint that it has been "processsed" which has be done to so many of these coins. There are some marks, which is to be expected from an AU-50 gold coin, but the naked eye appearence is quite nice.
This is the Winter variety #2, which he lists as the "Recut Date". Doug says that it is the scarest variety of the 1839-C $2.50 coin although more of bonus to me than some of great importance. Just collecting the coins listed in the Red Book has been hard enough.
Here are my photos
And here are the Heritage photos.
Comments
Sharp
I like the reverse.
Die crack through the (I thought that it was a repunched date) 3 and everything! Nice coin and great variety!
Breen B-6150
Winter W-2 (as mentioned in the OP)
No PCGS Variety recognition
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Spectacular die cracks!
I must have misunderstood your post previously discussing the extreme auction prices on this coin and the proof 20c's. I didn't think that you bought this coin from that post. Curious, did you have someone view it first on your behalf?
Latin American Collection
Very nice purchase
Your photos are better.
The Heritage photo makes it look all washed out and borderline nasty, while your photos make it look like that nice old orange gold look. I'm assuming that coin looks more like your photos than the Heritage image.
10-4,
My Instagram picturesErik
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This is the coin upon which I bid in the Heritage auction. The "Coin Facts" retail quote for an AU-50 is $6,250. Until this year, PCGS graded AU-50 examples of this coin had sold for a high of $5,175. This year two have sold for $8,812.50, this one and one that sold in February. Those prices are 41% higher than the "Coin Facts" quote and 70% higher than the previous auction result. Those increases over the previously published numbers sound high to me.
Like I've been saying. I would really like to participate in this "down market."
And no I did not have anyone review it for me other than Heritage. Their review was that it was okay, but nothing exciting. Given the junk that I have seen at the shows, that was a rave review. To this coin's credit, it has never been treated the stuff that comes out of a bottle of Brasso. I can't say that for most of the examples of this issue that I have seen over the last couple years.
Yes, it has the orange color of an old gold coin that has not been touched with chemicals or brushes. I could see from the Heritage photos that it was probably original, which why I got involved with it. Sometimes the photos of the whole slab tell you more than the close-ups. You just click on the magnifier.
That cracks me up. Looks like a winner.
P.S. The crack through the 2 is really neat looking.
This is exactly the sort of coin that I'd be looking for in this issue. Very nice. The terminal die state adds tons of character.
Love the color it displays in your photos
Much better looking coin. I would be upset if I was the consignor, but given the price it brought, I'm guessing most of the folks bidding either saw it in hand or had an expert evaluate it for them.
I don't know why the consigor would be upset. The price realized was strong for the grade. The AU-50 that sold in February had more sharpness, but it had been lightly cleaned.
BUT if you are the consigor and have looked at the so-called "Mint State" coins (NOT graded by our host) that are available on the show circuit, you might be upset. The asking prices are as high as $28,000, but the coins are not selling because they have been cleaned to death.
Sorry Bill, my point was that the photos Heritage posted did the coin no justice whatsoever, and may have been a major detriment, but apparently at least a few bidders knew the coin was much nicer in hand.
That's a really nice, pretty original coin. I like your pictures a whole lot better than the terrible Heritage shots. I think Heritage pictures in general are lame except for their slab shots. Congrats on a nice pickup.
Beautiful looking coin! Love the color and die cracks. Congrats and thanks for posting it!
Great coin! I love the look of AU old gold. Coins that have been used in real life before being put away seem special, particularly C and D (Not Denver, LOL) gold coins
Nice '39-C with much better color than the HA pics show, Bill. I always defer to the holder images, when available, to get a better idea of how their offerings might look 'in-hand'. Very prominent reverse die-crack - certainly one of the last to be coined with those dies.
'dude
I was a bidder on that coin but without auction representation I didn't have your determination to close the deal based upon the HA pics...nice pick-up...to me those die cracks add a lot of character...
L and R are photos from the auction.
The L photo does appear a bit "washed out", so I tried adjusting the color.
Middle is the L photo after using "autoadjust color" in IrfanView image editor.
The crop from the slab photo on R is definitely darker.
I am not an expert at photographing in a slab, but perhaps there is a technique to accurately represent the color?
Bill's photo.
Auction link, from the prior thread:
https://coins.ha.com/itm/classic-quarter-eagles/1839-c-2-1-2-au50-pcgs-breen-6150-winter-2-variety-22-r4/a/1256-3808.s?ic2=mybidspage-lotlinks-12202013&tab=MyBids-101116
Yes, after starting to "tire kick" a couple of years ago and getting really serious a year and a half ago, I got more "determined." This coin is more common than the 1838-C quarter eagle, but it seems like a lot of the better examples have been ruined by one or more coin doctors. That makes it hard to acquire an "Unc-ish" one which fits in with the rest of my set.
If it's any consolation, you won't have me to compete with you anymore. I don’t do upgrades these days. Once I fill the hole, I’m done.
A coin with character for sure. Glad you like it.
Joseph J. Singleton - First Superintendent of the U.S. Branch Mint in Dahlonega Georgia
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What is going on above the D in $2 1/2?
That is a "floating leaf" that has lost its stem. It's probably due to the die state. Here is a "full leaf" on the reverse of an 1838-C quarter eagle.
A neat well preserved piece of early American history.
I'm curious how the quality control people at the mint would have seen all those die cracks and though it was just regarded as "money" at the time not numismatics, all those die cracks would have been seen as defects at the coins filtered out to the banks and the citizens of the several states.
One of things about the Charlotte and Dahlonega Mints is that their personnel were not very quality conscious most of the time. They were more interested in getting the product out the door. It’s been my observation that the Dahlonega Mint made better coins than the Charlotte Mint. They both made coins that were as good or better than the Philadelphia Mint for very short periods of time (Check out the 1838-C quarter eagle I posted above.), but that was unusual.
I have read that the Dahlonega Mint people did not like to make quarter eagles. They had trouble calibrating the coin press which often resulted in broken dies (It took less pressure to strike a quarter eagle than a half eagle because the coin is smaller.), clashed dies and uneven design impressions. They also had to strike twice as many coins to process the same amount of gold. I would imagine that the Charlotte Mint employees were also not thrilled with producing quarter eagles.
Sweet coin and a nice pickup. Glad you got a relative bargain.
Relative bargain is the best thing you can say about the large house auction market these days.
That's a great example. I'd be very proud to own that coin.
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i like it
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I thought that it was the end of the stem...shows you what I know!
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makes you wonder how the die was even able to stay together to strike any coins.
I wonder if that recut was done after one-too-many lunchtime cocktails?
you mean 'shine. this is the south we are talking about!
great die cracks, I like it
BHNC #203
That is a beautiful piece of old gold Bill.... glad you were pleasantly surprised.... Cheers, RickO
it's interesting to see the nice strike on your 38C in comparison to the 39C. i think these 2 make a terrific two coin set.