Hypothetical Gold Question: 2 Kinds of Appeal -- Which Would You Rather Have?
mirabela
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There is a better-date/mint coin -- let's make it a $10 Liberty -- you want in choice AU. Two examples become available at the same time. Both are NGC AU58, and priced about the same. Both are offered by reputable dealers.
Coin A is well struck, with no particular marks of note and only light rub on the cheek & scattered luster breaks in the obverse fields. The luster is frosty, with mossy green-gold original skin, especially around the peripheries. It is a very appealing coin in a sophisticated kind of way -- you had to learn to like coins like this one.
Coin B is hammered centrally, with some peripheral weakness on the obverse. In particular, the stars are a bit mushy. Like coin A, there are no major marks and only light rub on the cheek and hair; the reverse could pass as 62 at minimum. Whereas coin A is frosty, though, coin B has flashy, mirrored prooflike fields, and strongly frosted, near-cameo devices. The catch? When you examine it in direct light, at the right angles, and especially under magnification, those mirrored fields show clouds of very light & very tiny hairlines. You conclude that the coin hasn't been "messed with" in a formal, recent, intentional way, but was probably wiped or something by some well-meaning collector in days gone by.
You wish coin B didn't have those hairlines. You realize that if it didn't have those mirrors, you'd never even detect them. You also realize that if it didn't have the hairlines, it would cost substantially more than coin A. You've seen one like that sell for 2.5x the price, in fact, which is more than you can spend.
So, you are left with coin A and coin B. Coin A has no flies on it at all; it is nice. Coin B has its one detriment, and you reckon it a significant one, but man is it ever a zinger. You can't walk past it without stopping to look some more.
So -- which will it be? Coin A, or Coin B?
Coin A is well struck, with no particular marks of note and only light rub on the cheek & scattered luster breaks in the obverse fields. The luster is frosty, with mossy green-gold original skin, especially around the peripheries. It is a very appealing coin in a sophisticated kind of way -- you had to learn to like coins like this one.
Coin B is hammered centrally, with some peripheral weakness on the obverse. In particular, the stars are a bit mushy. Like coin A, there are no major marks and only light rub on the cheek and hair; the reverse could pass as 62 at minimum. Whereas coin A is frosty, though, coin B has flashy, mirrored prooflike fields, and strongly frosted, near-cameo devices. The catch? When you examine it in direct light, at the right angles, and especially under magnification, those mirrored fields show clouds of very light & very tiny hairlines. You conclude that the coin hasn't been "messed with" in a formal, recent, intentional way, but was probably wiped or something by some well-meaning collector in days gone by.
You wish coin B didn't have those hairlines. You realize that if it didn't have those mirrors, you'd never even detect them. You also realize that if it didn't have the hairlines, it would cost substantially more than coin A. You've seen one like that sell for 2.5x the price, in fact, which is more than you can spend.
So, you are left with coin A and coin B. Coin A has no flies on it at all; it is nice. Coin B has its one detriment, and you reckon it a significant one, but man is it ever a zinger. You can't walk past it without stopping to look some more.
So -- which will it be? Coin A, or Coin B?
mirabela
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Comments
I did pick a Gem+ coin that might have had a quick, light wipe that left some tiny hairlines on it. The fields were mirror like, the devices very frosty. I bought it because people mistake it for a proof! The stars and every device was well struck on that coin...
I might think coin A
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