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Lets play "are these the same coins"?

In the September 2005 Heritage Long Beach Sig sale this ANACS 1897 MS65RD sold for an astounding $2,990.

Six months later in the 2006 Heritage March Palm Beach Sig sale this PCGS 1897 MS66RD sold for $7,475

Are they the same coin?

Unaltered images as presented by Heritage
image

Comments

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    dragondragon Posts: 4,548 ✭✭
    <<< Are they the same coin? >>>


    Yup.

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    mcheathmcheath Posts: 2,441 ✭✭✭
    I believe they are the same coin. I cant tell for sure because Heritage's images are so inconsistent. I dont have a problem with their photos being a little lacking but at least make them consistent so I can at least guess what it will look like in hand.
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    TWQGTWQG Posts: 3,145 ✭✭
    Indubitably
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    TomBTomB Posts: 23,089 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Same coin.
    Thomas Bush Numismatics & Numismatic Photography

    In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson

    image
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    dragondragon Posts: 4,548 ✭✭
    I will also add..........good catch shylock! There are at least 3 positive identifiers that make them unquestionably the same coin.
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    JRoccoJRocco Posts: 14,277 ✭✭✭✭✭
    One in the same ---- good PI work there shylock
    Some coins are just plain "Interesting"
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    I agree with Dragon....sure seems to be the same.....what do you know of this coin's past, Shylock?
    "I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, I won't be laid a hand on; I don't do these things to other people, I require the same from them."
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    tmot99tmot99 Posts: 5,238 ✭✭✭
    I think they are the same, but very difficult to tell. One concluding point is the spot on the "T" on the reverse and the spots to the right of it.
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    bfjohnsonbfjohnson Posts: 541 ✭✭✭
    You nailed it including the spot on the 7!
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    JRoccoJRocco Posts: 14,277 ✭✭✭✭✭
    On second thought-----how could this be?????

    Is PCGS really looser than ANACS ?????

    Please say it ain't so..........there will be at least 40 members here who might go the Hari-Kari routeimage
    Some coins are just plain "Interesting"
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    clw54clw54 Posts: 3,815 ✭✭✭
    How did it end up red? image
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    same coin, without a doubt
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    rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Same coin.. minimum four identity points, possibly five.. Cheers, RickO
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    LakesammmanLakesammman Posts: 17,682 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Same coin - only question is, was the first pic a crummy one or did the coin suddenly turn red??

    Based on the price realized in the ANACS holder, it was likely undergraded and recognized as such.
    "My friends who see my collection sometimes ask what something costs. I tell them and they are in awe at my stupidity." (Baccaruda, 12/03).I find it hard to believe that he (Trump) rushed to some hotel to meet girls of loose morals, although ours are undoubtedly the best in the world. (Putin 1/17) Gone but not forgotten. IGWT, Speedy, Bear, BigE, HokieFore, John Burns, Russ, TahoeDale, Dahlonega, Astrorat, Stewart Blay, Oldhoopster, Broadstruck, Ricko, Big Moose, Cardinal.
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    TomBTomB Posts: 23,089 ✭✭✭✭✭
    To answer clw54, the first image appears to be taken with a flatbed scanner and this method can make red coins look golden brown, while the second image appears to be overexposed and from either film or a digital camera. You will notice that both services graded the coin RD.
    Thomas Bush Numismatics & Numismatic Photography

    In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson

    image
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    I love these threads. Thanks for making your OP long enough that I could take the test without seeing any of the following posts-- well done. image
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    BarryBarry Posts: 10,100 ✭✭✭
    yup
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    Yes........image
    ......Larry........image
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    shylockshylock Posts: 4,288 ✭✭✭
    Okay, too many astute forum members answered this thread way too early image

    They are without a doubt the same coin. As dragon alluded to spots are a coin detective's best friend. There are many hallmarks
    that make these coins match, despite the drastically different photography, as TomB explained, that makes one look red and the
    other look brown. Never trust Heritage images.

    what do you know of this coin's past, Shylock?

    No more than any of you do after seeing this post. I only came upon it today while going through some Heritage 1897 archives.

    The two most interesting things about this coin are:

    An ANACS 65RD IH was cherrypicked and made the elusive PCGS 66RD grade in less than 6 months.

    And Heritage used the term "trifle soft" in both coin's descriptions image
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    GeminiGemini Posts: 3,085
    Shylock Holmes strikes again...imageimage
    A thing of beauty is a joy for ever
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    The planchet void to the bottom right of the reverse shield is the identifer for me...nice catch Paul, even nicer score for the consignor. It's a crime that the Heritage imaging isn't consistant or accurate.
    Oh boy...this could be a bad thing.........image
    image
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    IrishMikeIrishMike Posts: 7,737 ✭✭✭
    The middle feather tips have the same hits on them as do the hits on the date. They had to be shot with different lighting to be so far apart. The Anacs photos had more blue in the light. I am guessing that the PCGS shot was flooded with more light too.
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    Very interesting. I love these threads!

    Jack


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    mgoodm3mgoodm3 Posts: 17,497 ✭✭✭
    So the big question is:

    1) Do Heritage's pics just suck?
    2) Was it conserved?

    I hate it when my brown coins turn red in the holder.
    coinimaging.com/my photography articles Check out the new macro lens testing section
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    1.)The bottom image on the O in "OF" there is a tick in the lower left of the "O" near the serif of the "F" that does not appear on the top image.
    2.)On the top image in the shield toning extends down from the upper right side 6 lines, on the bottom image only 4
    3.)On the top image there seems to be a tick at the bottom point of the Indian's bust. This doesn't appear on the bottom image

    Yet I like so many others find many identifiers to indicate it is the same coin. Terrible difference in images. The new Heriatge photos are prettier but less revealing IMO.

    BTW it has been my experience that ANACS can be tough on Indian Cents.
    "Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself." - William Faulkner
    NoEbayAuctionsForNow
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    flaminioflaminio Posts: 5,664 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Is PCGS really looser than ANACS ????? >>

    Old ANACS -- yes. New ANACS -- no.
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    krankykranky Posts: 8,709 ✭✭✭
    I love these! Keep up the good work, shylock!

    What makes this one a bit different is that we don't know if anything has been done to the coin, right? It might have been a simple crackout/resubmit to PCGS. If that is the case, you'd never know it by those photos, though!

    New collectors, please educate yourself before spending money on coins; there are people who believe that using numismatic knowledge to rip the naïve is what this hobby is all about.

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    CommemDudeCommemDude Posts: 2,440 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Great thread...according to Heritage the coin went from "golden tan" to "reddish gold"....methinks someone knows not just how to turn these blue, but how to turn them red.
    Dr Mikey
    Commems and Early Type
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    skier07skier07 Posts: 4,794 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Great detective work. Thanks for posting.

    Was the coin dipped?

    Bruce
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    shylockshylock Posts: 4,288 ✭✭✭
    Many responses to this post ask the question "was the coin dipped".

    I love to expose doctored coins but my experience with Heritage IH images says this coin hasn't changed.

    And common sense says it hasn't. A coin doctor wouldn't invest 3K on an 1897 ANACS 65RD with the
    hope they could dip it and get more money for it. Coin doctors pay standard money for coins,
    in this case about $700 for a typical 1897 65RD, keeping their risk factor as low as possible.

    This was the product of a smart crackout guy. They spend big money on the right coins, and in this
    case made 5K on their expertise.
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    Aegis3Aegis3 Posts: 2,939 ✭✭✭


    << <i>And common sense says it hasn't. A coin doctor wouldn't invest 3K on an 1897 ANACS 65RD with the
    hope they could dip it and get more money for it. Coin doctors pay standard money for coins,
    in this case about $700 for a typical 1897 65RD, keeping their risk factor as low as possible. >>



    I don't know. $3000+ profit for what is, ignoring submission times, about 15 minutes of work at most using a cheap chemical in water, extra water for washing and perhaps some acetone too, doesn't sound like a very risky move (save for the extreme toxicity of the cheap chemical I'm thinking of).
    --

    Ed. S.

    (EJS)
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    shylockshylock Posts: 4,288 ✭✭✭
    Aegis3 --

    Four or five years ago I would have posted this as an obvious dip job, so I don't blame you or any other poster for falling
    into the trap. I did.

    Since then I've learned that coin photography can't be trusted even more than coin dealers.

    These are two extreems of lighting, white balance and exposure taken by two completely different cameras/scanners.

    You have to be a devotee of Heritage copper images to appreciate what I'm talking about. They have imaged copper
    in the most inconsistent way immaginable, and this is a prime example. Take a long walk through their archives and
    tell me I'm wrong.

    There is nothing in the PCGS 66RD image that looks altered to me, other than the way it was photopraphed.

    Two slabs, same coin, two drastically different images, great rip sums up this post.
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    Aegis3Aegis3 Posts: 2,939 ✭✭✭
    I should have noted that I really don't know if the coin is dipped or not. Just that $3000 would be a nice profit for a small time coin doctor. I realize the inconsistencies w/ Heritage imaging, and know from lot viewing that they range from the occasionally realistic to the not even close to the real thing. (The worst, actually, are when they show two completely different appearing images of the same coin. All that does IMO is cast doubt on _both_ images.)
    --

    Ed. S.

    (EJS)
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    shylockshylock Posts: 4,288 ✭✭✭
    Aegis3 - I realize the inconsistencies w/ Heritage imaging, and know from lot viewing that they range from the occasionally realistic
    to the not even close to the real thing. (The worst, actually, are when they show two completely different appearing
    images of the same coin.)


    Exactly.

    Heritage's current method of imaging high end small cents is providing an overexposed but more realistic full coin image, like the
    1897 PCGSRD I posted, followed by a full slab image that, if NGC or ANACs "white incert" looks very dark and brown, if PCGS clear
    plastic looks like a strange sort of silver toned XRay of the coin. Over the years they haven't changed much in their full slab
    NGC/ANACS images. That white background has dumbfounded them, like most of us, and they image those the most consistently
    albeit not very well. The different ways they have imaged PCGS full slabs confounds me, and I'll leave it at that.

    When it comes to calling coins dipped or altered you need more proof than the Heritage images provide in this case. This post is an
    indictment of photography rather than doctoring.

    And an applaud to successful cherrypicking.

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