The following is taken from the Subscriber Correspondence section of the June 2008 E-Gobrecht, the electronic newsletter skillfully published monthly by LIBERTY SEATED COLLECTORS CLUB and its editor Bill Bugert. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the LSCC or E-Gobrecht in particular, CoinLink would strongly recommend that you visit their site and subscribe. A finer group of serious collectors can not be found who freely diseminate their content for the benefit of all.

From Charles Sullivan: In the May “Auction News” by Jim Gray, he states “An 1873-CC seated dollar in AU-58 with album toning on well struck surfaces went up to $48,875 despite a dark spot below the eagle’s beak. A lightly toned, unmolested 1878-CC trade dollar, AU-58 and quite attractive, sold for $11,500.” In the same issue, David Lange cites coins being “subjected to multiple cleanings and poor storage” during the 1950’s and 1960’s, coins that “have been dipped, albeit more skillfully than the more common bleach jobs that are such an eyesore,” coins “dipped again and again in an attempt to remove the PVC residue” (post-1970’s), and, in the present day, coins dipped “just before [they are sent} to the grading services” as submitters have failed to rinse them properly. David fails to mention a prominent slabhouse has even set up an extra-charge cleaning service for ugly specimens, thus reinforcing the notion “every coin can be made better.”

As a group, we collectors STILL do not possess the maturity and vision to leave seated liberty coins alone for the guardians who will purchase, inherit, and conserve these wonderful specimens of history in the decades and centuries ahead.

Jim is more right than he knows, for it IS disappointing to buy a $50,000 coin and have a dark spot under the eagle’s beak. Without the dark spot, would the coin have sold for $60,000? At some point, this lady will be messed with, will be subjected to the sophisticated tampering David refers to. For the truth is we do not wish to pay big money for ugly coins (nor read about ugly spots when we consign our collection to Heritage). Within the next 10-50 years, someone will crack the slab and make that dark spot under the eagle’s beak disappear for one or both of two reasons: either to increase the coin’s commercial value or to enhance the aesthetic appeal.

As collectors, we scoff at the “crude” preservation techniques of yesteryear’s collectors. However, we aren’t much better ourselves. We pay a premium price for a white coin with uniform services, knowing full well the coin has been skillfully doctored within the last 10 years. We denigrate an otherwise rare and desirable coin because of a sole dark spot. Too soon we forget only 2,300 1873-CC seated dollars were struck on a single day at a fortress mint in a six-shooter town with mud streets and that most collectors can never afford to own a specimen in any grade.

And let’s consider Jim’s second depiction, the lightly toned, unmolested 1878-CC trade dollar. I seriously doubt that this young lady has been totally unmolested after130 years but I have no doubt some collector in future years will want to “untone” her through dipping or other chemical means. After all, shouldn’t a $12,000 coin with AU-58 wear look almost “brand new?”

It is my belief the percentage of seated liberty coins in all states of wear, without doctoring or mutilation or “album toning” or environmental damage or repair of any sort after 120-170 years, is less than 10% of the surviving population by date and denomination.

An original, unmessed-with seated liberty coin is a true condition rarity. The irony is the less the wear on the coin, the more likely it will be that this coin will fail to please us. An AU-58 with a blemish will not stay that way for long.

Related posts:

1. Coin Collecting: Condition Rarity vs. Absolute Rarity
2. Guide Prices Can Understate True Rarity Value
3. Three 1876-CC Twenty Cent Coins Sell in Spring 2009; Less than Twenty are Known! (Part 2 – Rarity, Quality & Condition Rankings)
4. Stanford Coins and Bullion Sells Rare 1870-S Seated Liberty Dollar for $1.3 Million
5. DGS Slabs Barbieri Cache of “Smoking Liberty” Seated Quarters
6. Coin Rarities & Related Topics: The Malibu Collection of Proof Liberty Seated Quarters, with information for beginning and intermediate collectors
7. Collecting Date Sets of Liberty Seated Coinage Part 2: Quarters through Half Dimes
8. Coin Rarities & Related Topics: 1796 quarter, San Francisco Liberty Seated Dimes, 1931 Denver Mint $20 gold coin
9. Collecting Date Sets of Liberty Seated Coinage – Part 1: Dollars and Half Dollars
10. Too Good to be True