Discovered by chance, these coins are an important find, being of great historic significance. NGC was pleased to evaluate and provide protection for these great treasures.

NGC recently graded a number of gold Unites of the British monarch James I (1603–1625) from the Chipping Norton Hoard, discovered in the 1980s in an undisclosed location near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England.

The cache contained 59 gold Unites, 54 of which were struck in England and the remaining five from Scotland. It was discovered by chance in an old cellar as workmen excavated a foundation for a new building. Unaware of the significance or value of the find, the coins were given to a builder’s 10-year-old grandson, who kept them in a shoebox for years.

In 2005 the grandson took the coins to an appraisal event where the coins were examined by auctioneers Morton and Eden and the hoard was reported to the British Museum. Since the coins were found before the Treasure Act of 1996, two of the 59 coins were kept by the British Museum and the remaining 57 coins were returned to the owner, who subsequently sold them at a Morton and Eden auction held in London on June 9, 2009.

The hoard is significant because of the large sum of money it comprised at the time the coins were struck. Each of the 59 gold coins had the value of 20 shillings until 1612, and later that value was adjusted to 22 shillings. Records of salaries from the period are scant, but a church clerk might earn the equivalent of two gold Unites during an entire year. In other words, the hoard represented nearly 30 years of earnings. Even the gold bullion value of the hoard — which weighed about 15.5 ounces — is approximately $15,000 in today’s market.
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Posted by David W. Lange, Research Director on NGC

A recent grading submission to NGC included a mix of miscellaneous gold and silver coins, one of which was an 1829 half dime for which the submitter requested VarietyPlus attribution. It took just a moment or two to identify its obverse by the distinctly repunched top to numeral 1 in its date. Obverse 4 in Federal Half Dimes 1792-1837, by Russell J. Logan and John W. McCloskey, this die is known in various states and paired with no less than six reverse dies. Only a couple minutes more were spent in determining which die pairing was involved, as the reverse die bears distinctive pitting on the underside of the banner carrying the Latin motto—LM-18 it is. That’s where things got really fun.

The vast majority of half dime attributions made at NGC turn out to be common varieties. This is true because submitters tend to seek attribution for high grade coins alone, the ones most likely to be of common varieties (when rare varieties are knowingly submitted they often fail to qualify for numeric grading, and coins given Details Grading alone don’t appear in our census). As this coin had already been graded MS-64 by the first NGC grader who had seen it, I was expecting yet another type coin issue. Instead, I was pleased at just how scarce this variety is in high grades. The Logan/McCloskey reference implies that the finest known is an About Uncirculated coin seen in a 1991 auction. Since their book was published more than ten years ago, could it be possible that this information was obsolete?

I then started reading backwards in past issues of The John Reich Journal until I found what I was seeking—the most recent survey of notable half dime collections (May 2008). Here was confirmation of this R-5 variety’s rarity in high grades—the best coins known among the top collections were three entries grading AU-58. As soon as this newly discovered specimen was finalized and encapsulated by NGC as MS-64, I notified the delighted owner, who was unaware of its significance until then and wishes to remain anonymous.

This coin is well struck from a slightly earlier die state than that of the plate coin in Logan/McCloskey. The die crack that connects stars 3-4 to the rim at two places is less developed, though all other features are similar to the plate coin. It has light, milky toning overall, with flecks of gold within the reverse legend and steel gray toning on both rims.

Starting September 1, 2009, NGC will begin encapsulating coins with detrimental surface conditions using details grades and descriptions of their impairments. This service will be provided automatically for all NGC grading tier submissions at no additional service charge. The authenticity of details graded coins will be covered by the updated NGC Coin Grading Guarantee, and coins graded under this program will be encapsulated with a distinctive purple NGC Details Grading label.

Coins that previously would have been returned ungraded by NGC, as so-called “No Grades,” will now be assigned a details grade that accords with their level of surface wear, such as VG DETAILS or XF DETAILS, when submitted for grading. Coins that have no wear but still display a problem surface condition will be labeled as UNC DETAILS or, in the case of Proof coins, simply PROOF. Following the details grade will be a description of the noteworthy surface condition, including, for example, Improperly Cleaned, Artificial Color, Environmental Damage and Tooled. A detailed guidebook available in hard copy and on NGC’s Web site called Understanding NGC Details Grading will define all the terms used by NGC to describe these surface conditions.

“NGC Details Grading allows us to provide the best experience possible for our submitters. Now as many coins as possible will be returned certified and encapsulated, meaning that they are covered by the NGC Guarantee. NGC Details Grading also provides comprehensive descriptive information for coins with surface problems, making them easier to buy and sell,” comments Rick Montgomery, President of NGC.

Once this service option begins on September 1, 2009, coins submitted to NGC will be graded either numerically (if they have acceptable surfaces) or with Details Grading, at the discretion of NGC’s grading team. It is not necessary for the submitter to declare which service is desired, as this will be determined automatically by NGC. While new NGC submission forms will permit submitters to opt out of Details Grading in favor of simply having the coin returned unholdered, NGC believes that its Details Grading certifications will find broad acceptance in the coin market. This opt-out feature is available on a submission-by-submission basis by checking the appropriate box on the submission form, or an account holder may arrange to make this opt-out feature automatically applied to all submissions on his account. (more…)