GTG - 1921 Peace Dollar (PR62 Satin)

@FlyingAl said:

Man, what a story with this one. I’ve long since loved Satin Proofs, and I knew I could never buy one any time soon. So I set out to find one. I knew I would never find Satin gold, so that left the 1921 Peace. It’s been one of those back burner hunts that I did for fun, thinking it would never pan out.

I was scrolling through Ebay one day, and saw this 1921 listed with abysmal pictures. I looked at it for a second, saw it was a VAM 1-H, and then looked closer. Square rims. Huh. I sent the pics to a group of a few board members, asking if they thought it could be a Proof. I got the response I expected - “Nah, look at this image of a graded Proof they don’t look alike.” Fair response, I do seem crazy at times. These guys are the best of the best, decades long collectors. I should probably listen to them. I put it out of my mind for a few days, and then brought it back up with my good friend @Eldorado9, looking for him to prove me wrong. A few hundred texts later, we decided that I should go for it. The hair detail was incredible, the die markers matched up, and the rims were square. I decided I had to trust my gut on this one.

The coin was listed as UNC Details, and it was almost guaranteed to be exactly that. I think I expected it to show up as an UNC cleaned, so it was a no harm no foul situation if it did. It was the longest shot in the history of long shots. I got up at 5am the morning of the auction, placed my bid a few minutes later as it closed, and won without an opposing bidder.

The wait was agonizing. As I waited, Eldo and I (mostly me pestering Eldo) spent the days doing research on these, finding graded Proofs and doing comparisons. I researched these things down to the most minute details as far as strike characteristics go, even to the point where I found a graded Proof with the same fragment of debris that caused the strike thru on my current coin. We got more and more confident by the day. Everything seemed to line up, but there was that nagging thought - surely a 1921 Satin Proof doesn’t show up on Ebay.

Finally, the postman arrived. A barrage of videos and pics arrived in my text chain with Eldo, along with my statement “10000000% a Proof.” My gut reaction to seeing it in hand was exactly that, and through this entire journey that wouldn’t change. The surfaces are simply unlike any other 1921 I’ve ever seen, or any coin at all. There are some hairlines, but no marks to speak of except a minor strike thru in the left obverse.

Eldo immediately made plans to drop by that weekend to see it in hand - and when he came down I passed him the coin and he looked at it for about a minute without saying a word. I personally think he was looking for a reason to call it MS, but he didn’t find one because he looked up and told me “I think it’s a PR65.” We spent a few hours looking at the other Proofs on Heritage, the PCGS coin, everything we could find. We couldn’t find a reason why it wasn’t a Proof. At this point, no one but him and I knew I even bought the coin - the original group of advisors thought I had passed on the coin.

So I sent it to NGC. Two weeks pass, and we get the results - UNC Details, Cleaned. ARRRGGGH! I was frustrated. I was so certain that I had this one right - and it was looking like it really was UNC Cleaned all along. There’s $400 in grading fees down the drain.

A part of me kept me looking into it - I revisited my research. Again, I confirmed to myself it really was what I thought it was - a Proof. I reached out to my original group of advisors, this time armed with die markers, strike characteristics, and the like. I explained all of the story that had gone before, as they didn’t know I had bought the coin. I had it all, and I was ready to prove it. Prove it I did - for two people of the five. I reached out to two more trusted experts, and both of them told me they felt like it was an MS based on the pics. One is particularly tough on Peace dollars, and the other was hesitant based on an aversion to grading from pics (which is a perfectly reasonable stance that I respect and agree with). Personally, I would have been just as hesitant if presented with the same question - “So… do you think this is an R6 Proof that I found on Ebay?”

Those who know me know I don’t give up on my opinions easily, especially when I feel that my reasoning is sound and I feel I’m correct. This was one of those cases.

Luckily, one of those two people I originally convinced is particularly well connected, and he offered to submit the coin for me. When he got it in hand, he had the same gut reaction as me and Eldo - it’s a Proof. He did have a special vantage point, but he can chime in on that if he wishes. He submitted it for me, and then two weeks later I got a message in my inbox - “Congratulations! I’ll let you tell the group” along with a picture of this coin in a PR62 Satin slab. The ecstatic reactions from the group of collectors made it all worth it.

So here we are, through one of the wildest journeys ever. This is one of the wildest stories as far as coins go that I’ve heard, but here we are. We went from UNC Details to a pop 24 coin in one of the most popular series in American numismatics - and I got to fulfill a dream. I know for certain now that over 1/10 of the population of Satin Proof Peace dollars have been cherry picked.

I suppose it all goes to show - buy the coin, not the slab! I’ve worked for years to get to a point where I trust my gut over almost everything in numismatics, and now it really is beginning to pay off in spades. If I was ever asked what the most important thing in coins is - it’s to trust yourself, not a grading service or the like. Those are good confirmation, but you have to know when they get it wrong. Learn how to grade, learn how to see what makes a coin special.

Alex, that was a terrific write-up - it made me feel like I was there with you during your adventure.
As I said by PM the other day, I'm thrilled for you.