Do you pay attention to Rims??
keets
Posts: 25,351 ✭✭✭✭✭
Since I am drawn to and collect Exonumia from the late 19th Century I have lately become very cognizant of rim dings and imperfections. The two Expositions which generated a lot of medals with terrific design were the 1876 Centennial and the 1892-93 Columbian Exposition. Many of the medals from these two events were issued in numbers that suggest they should be easily obtained, and for the most part that is true. However...............................
What I have seen in the past and recently become keenly aware of is this: through the passage of time many owners of these medals were apparently clumsy and tended to handle these items over a hard surface!! Most of the better designs are larger than a standard silver dollar with the same mass, so you can imagine what happens when they are dropped. Rim damage has caused me to ignore many otherwise desirable and pristinely preserved medals. 
Knowledge of this fact has bled over to how I view everything now, I always look at the rims for imperfections. Do you do the same thing?? Am I being too picky?? Are rims important to a coin's overall appearance and grade??
Al H.
Comments
Al,
In my pursuit of SCDs and medals, I have found that most have suffered from mishandling. I chalk it up to the fact that these were sold as souvenirs and were not treated with the same respect as their numismatic brethren. It's truly sad to see an otherwise exceptional example with a big ding on the rim.
You're not being picky. Rim damage significantly reduces the appearance and value of the item. Numismia as well as exonumia are routinely body bagged for rim damage.
Cheers
Bob
Undinged rims are very important. Also look for bends. I bought a 1938-d half once that had something different about it. Turns out it was 'cupped' somehow, very slightly, and I didn't recognize it till months later.
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I’m really sensitive to rim dings and will not buy coins with them.
It would have to be something I might not see again for a decade to maybe pull the trigger.
As when it comes time to sell the dig will be the first thing scrutinized.
Yes, I would NEVER buy any coin with a noticeable rim scrape, ding or dent.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
First place I look when grading a coin.
You are not picky at all @keen ......... ding is a ding and imperfect rim no matter how small is a bothersome to me too
Rim dings are a major negative. Any medals that have them should be discounted. The more common the medal, the bigger the discount.
Hard not to.
Oh.... coin rims.
The problem with the medals that you cited is that they were sold to non-collectors who didn't how to take care of those pieces, and who probably never realized that preservation is important. I have read that is why the Missouri Plain commemorative half dollar is hard to find in really nice condition. Many of those pieces were sold to farmers who attended the Selina State Fair. They just dumped them in the overalls and when they got home, probably let them slide around in a drawer or some other place with other coins and objects.
As you cited, damaging the rims on these pieces is easy to do. Many years ago, I was examining a modern U.S. mint medal in bronze while I was laying on the floor on my stomach. It was the David Rittenhouse medal, which not that large. I was on a wall to wall carpet with a pad under it. I dropped the medal on the carpet, and it got a very small rim bump, even from that. The drop could have been no more than 6 inches. It does not take much to damage these pieces.
I too pay attention to rims, but sometimes not as much as I should. I am especially bad when I am looking at pictures here when people post them asking for grades. I spend too much time looking at the centers of the coin and not the rims.
When I was dealer, I bought a certified Morgan Dollar that a really clean cheek for the grade. It was only an MS-62 but looked like it should have been an MS-64. When I really looked at it, I saw why it was graded MS-62. It had a small rim nick that I had missed. It was worth what I paid for it, but was not a bargain.
If I laid on my stomach I couldn't get anywhere near the floor.
Be nice... @BillJones had to sell all his furniture to buy that Rittenhouse medal
For whatever reason, I am much less forgiving about rim dings than other imperfections (scratches, porosity, cleaning, etc). Rim damage almost always means "move on" in my book. That's stated within a coin, rather than a medal, context but the principal is the same. To my thinking, rim damage impacts the basic shape/geometry of the coin and therefore renders the coin as something less than a coin. As an analogy, I can live with a few scratches on an older car but I wouldn't put up with a dented front fender.
Smitten with DBLCs.
You bet I do, 99% of the coins I collect have imperfect rims.
Sean Reynolds
"Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor
Rim dings will usually spoil a deal for me....I just do not like damage that spoils an otherwise attractive medal/coin. Cheers, RickO
You are not picky at all.......I try not to miss them as well.
Yes, I prefer my coins do not have rim dings and scratch marks or wear or missing luster or hits and nicks and other imperfections.
Absolutely, it's very important part of the coin. I returned a chop marked Trade $ last year because the rim had been filed. The seller acted like it wasn't a big deal and when they relisted it they said something like, the rim has been filed but who would care because it is chop marked as well.
Rim damage is mostly a deal buster for me as well. Another cause would be jewelry I suppose.
I remember fondly my first set of Cragar street pros , with dunlop 60 series tires , I don't care for the kind people are into now much
I used to have some flexibility for tiny rim nicks and ticks, but after having coins I wanted to sell returned to me for the teeniest of bumps and nicks, I adopted the same stance: no rim ticks, nicks or rim bruises of any sort. Rim bruises are the biggest no-no, while really tiny rim ticks are probably accepted a bit more.
Damage on the rims is 50X worse than a comparable nick or tick on the coins design or in the fields by collectors IMO.
I have the same thoughts. .. rim hits will kill a deal for me.
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I stay away from rim dings and the sorts
...clean rims were always a must when I was buying Morgan’s...I knew that rim dings don’t ever sticker so thats all
I wonder how many rim dings are hidden away in old NGC fatties?
Unfortunately the white prongs can hide more than the old holders did.
Yes, ALWAYS! Edges too.
Does the grade and series matter when considering minor rim dings? For example, a well circulated Morgan (F-XF) which might have been handled over a thousand times, and with that weight, any drop on to a hard surface would probably cause some rim ding/cut unless it fell perfectly horizontal. Are there degrees of rim imperfection that are MA.
I have some nice circulated Morgans that have these small 'cuts' on the rim that do not bother me. Any ding that causes the rim to not be completely circular or masses a bump of metal into the coin is a no go. In addition, any rim ding on an MS or even AU Morgan makes it a pass for me.
I always make a pass around the rim on both sides. I liken a rim ding to a fingerprint. No can do.
A question to the group to increase my knowledge and any future purchases. Would the rim hits between 6 and 7:00 and @ 10 make make this a reject or details coin @ the TPGs, not that I would send in for grading? Thanks