What is your "coolest coin"?
GoldenEyeNumismatics
Posts: 13,187 ✭✭✭
I'm not talking about rarity here... I'm talking about a coin being downright cool and very interesting. I picked up this piece off ebay for $80. I don't know why the pics made the coin look cleaned, but I assure it the coin is 100% original
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>> I'm talking about a coin being downright cool and very interesting.
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This is the most interesting to me, simply because I have owned
it the longest of any coin I have. It was given to my by my grand-
mother many years ago, when I was just a teen. And now when
I look at it, it very much brings her back to me.
I guess I've owned this for 40 years, and she owned it for many
years prior to that.
So yeah, I guess this is my coolest coin.
...and yes, I'm really THAT old!!
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"America suffers today from too much pluribus and not enough unum.".....Arthur Schlesinger Jr.
This one certainly is not rare, but I never get tired of looking at it. The dealer I bought it from claims it came from a roll, and he has a few others that are similar, just not quite as nice looking as this one is.
Lincoln set Colorless Set
I also like the 1700's date, the design details, and wondering who wore it in the early 1800s, preventing it from wearing out in circulation
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
Either this:
Or this:
peacockcoins
<< <i>Depending on my mood:
Either this:
>>
I'm still looking for one of those in a roll. Wish me luck
In 1999, the Mint at West Point, New York accidentally produced what may become one of the most important rarities of the 20th Century by striking a limited quantity of Uncirculated 1/10 ounce American Eagle gold coins with the "W" mintmark below the date. Normally, the mintmark appears only on Proof versions. However, in this case, the dies never received the special polishing that gives Proof coins their deep, mirror-like qualities. No one knows exactly how many were struck, but experts estimate that only 500-1000 examples have been found since the mistake was first discovered in 2000.
How did the Unfinished Die 1/10 ounce American Eagle gold coin come about? The answer comes from examining how the Proof versions are created. Proof coins are struck on special, high-quality presses using specially prepared blanks (planchets) and specially prepared dies. The emphasis is on quality over quantity and the goal is a coin with bright, mirror-like fields surrounding frosty design elements, thus creating what is known as a "cameo" effect. Special care is taken throughout the process to ensure that the final product (the coin) is as perfect as possible. This special care automatically limits production -- in 1999, the Mint at West Point produced only 19,919 Proof 1/10 ounce American Eagle gold coins.
On the other hand, the production of Uncirculated examples focuses more on quantity than quality (although the final coin is still impressive enough). The number of coins produced is limited only by the availability of gold bullion, by estimated demand for the coins, and by other production priorities -- in 1999, the Mint at West Point produced 2,750,338 Uncirculated 1/10 ounce American Eagle gold coins.
Using the numbers just listed, we see that more than 138 Uncirculated coins were produced for every Proof example, highlighting the relationship between quality and quantity.
Great care is taken to segregate the Proof production area and all of the materials used in it. The fact that a die originally marked for use in the production of Proof coins somehow made it into a press used to strike Uncirculated coins is simply amazing. Proof dies are carefully accounted for...how did this one escape? Press operators carefully scrutinize the dies before they are placed in the presses...how did the operator miss the mintmark on this one? Random coins from production runs are examined for quality control...how did they miss the mintmark? The very existence of the Unfinished Die 1/4 ounce American Eagle gold coins seems to have required several lapses in quality control.
How rare will Unfinished Die 1/10 ounce American Eagle gold coins turn out to be? A lot depends on how quickly the error was discovered at the Mint and how many actually escaped. Did the press operator notice the mintmark and stop the run? If the error was discovered, was an attempt made to recover and destroy the coins that had already been minted? Even if we knew the answers to these questions, we may never know the exact number of Unfinished Die coins that were struck. But, we do know that after a year of intense searching for these rarities, surprisingly few have shown up.
What are they worth? Recent sales have occurred in the $500-1,000 range. If the rarity holds, these coins have every chance of being as valuable as the much more common 1995-W Proof $1 Silver Eagle (currently priced at $3,200 in Proof-69).
PCGS has graded less than 500 of these "Unfinished Die" coins, with the majority of them appearing in the MS-69 grade.
President, Racine Numismatic Society 2013-2014; Variety Resource Dimes; See 6/8/12 CDN for my article on Winged Liberty Dimes; Ebay
–John Adams, 1826
If I had it my way, stupidity would be painful!
<< <i>1983 Quarter, PCGS PO01.....hard to imagine how this coin got so worn in less than 25 years!
now that is cool!
This is a 1924 Peace dollar that was carried by my wifes uncle Earl from after WWII,until just before his passing
last year.I've posted this before,but I think its the coolest.
-- Adam Duritz, of Counting Crows
My Ebay Auctions
"The Villain"
Shiba Rescue Organization
A Shiba Inu is a terrible thing to waste!
Anyway, when I consider that this very coin was once owned by Harry W. Bass himself, I feel like I'm in the company of greatness. Real Cool!
Mojo
-Jim Morrison-
Mr. Mojorizn
my blog:www.numistories.com
So here's my coolest from the greyside. I love the Haida artwork on this.
collections: Maryland related coins & exonumia, 7070 Type set, and Video Arcade Tokens.
The Low Budget Y2K Registry Set
Nowhere near most valuable or historic, but I really dig this coin.
My father received a bunch of coins that his uncle collected over the years. Included was a zip lock bag of Indians that had been cleaned a long time ago and were covered with some kind of crud, probable residue from the cleaning. It seemed soft so I soaked the whole lot in a bowl hot water. The very first one I pulled from the bowl was this 1877. I was speachless. I soaked it in olive oil for a long time and this was the ultimate result. Cleaned, but still the king of the Indian cents. It now resides in the Dansco 7070.
Dennis
Looking for PCGS AU58 Washington's, 32-63.
Herb
Ed. S.
(EJS)
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