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On one of my recent blogs, “No Grade Designations: What Are They?” I got a very interesting comment from one of our members who bought a cleaned twenty cent piece. It came back from NGC and was cleaned. But he sent it back years later, and it got an XF-40 full grade! He asked how this could happen, as it couldn’t have been uncleaned during his time with it. I thought instead of trying to make my answer a comment, I thought it deserved its own blog post, so here it is! And thanks so much to @coinsbygary for the idea!
The Indian Head $2.50 Gold Piece is a very interesting and unique coin. The designer was Bela Lyon Pratt, who was trained under Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Her design was used for the half eagle, or $5, as well. It is said to be the first US coin with an actual Native American as the model (earlier coins did not have real Native Americans on them, but rather Americans portrayed with Native American headdresses *cough, Indian Head Cent, cough*.
Alright, we're back again with building your type set. For those who haven't read part one (if you didn't click on the #buildingatypeset to read from the beginning of the series), I have set a budget of $200 for the 20th century coins, and $300 for the 19th century coins. Here's part two, on large cents!
At one point or another during a numismatist’s life, they will want to build a type set. This is one of the most popular forms of collecting, and when done right, can be a pleasing and enjoyable collection for anyone in the hobby. This is the first part of a series I will be doing, which will involve me giving advice on building your 19th and 20th type set (NO gold), in order by denomination, and date. To make this a little more specific, there will be a maximum of $200 spent on each 20th century coin, and $300 on the 19th century coins. All prices are quoted from the PCGS Price Guide. Let’s get right into it!
A lot of collectors submit their coins to third party grading services (TPG) to be slabbed and graded. However, a large number of collectors become very disappointed by the fact that their coin was not graded, and came back as a no grade. This blog is intended to help you learn more about what two of the no grades mean, and identify why the TPG gave your coins these no grades. Let's get learning!
In our numismatic hobby, I have found that collectors are mainly knowledgeable on things they collect, or could collect later on. For instance, if I asked a YN to tell me three things about $20 gold pieces, most would stare at me blankly like I was insane. We naturally learn the history of coins that we collect, because it helps us better understand and appreciate the series. I believe that this is a huge loss, because the more you know about numismatics as a whole, the better numismatist you are. So here’s some history about a coin in a series I (and probably some of you) don’t collect: the 1870-S $3 gold piece.