This coin is advertised as a 1901-FZ rouble, Choice UNC, PCGS MS-64 and is already at over $500 with about 12 hours left in the auction. It is also showing up here in the forum's eBay ad "right now on eBay" at the bottom of the screen.

I find it hard to believe that PCGS would grade this coin as high as MS-64 considering the scratch on the obverse, the obvious rub on the crown and other high points on the reverse, and the general lack of mint luster. I asked the seller at least three days ago if he could post a picture of the slab or at least send me the certification number. As yet, still no response...however, the seller seems to be above board since the feedback score is very high.

Of course, 1901 is a better year, but not all that scarce. It has the first obverse (thanks to RW Julian, I was able to see this easily) which is somewhat more scarce according to Kazakov (but nowhere as scarce as 1901-AR). What am I missing here? Is it just a case of buying the slab and not the coin? Some of the bidders are even known as Russian coin dealers. I'm very willing to be educated!

Hi Bob,

I know the guy giving the highest bid now in person. He's just crazy if he wants any coin, he puts insane prices. Others said he did not pay many times, however, I did not have any problems with him. Thus, I believe, it is the reason I also think this coin is far away from MS-64

The uneven and mottled toning suggest a cleaning agent was applied sometime in the past.

Good day, everyone.

Let me defend this coin. I do not see anything "crazy" of it's price right now. On the contrary, I am pretty sure the price will go higher ($503 now). I believe PCGS promptly graded this one, and I do not see any bad scratches anywhere on the coin. Mottled toning in this case I believe is not evidence of cleaning in the past, but is due to previous storage in paper envelope and therefore the coin was never cleaned or dipped. This coin looks quite choice to me and never messed with.

This is just my own opinion, we'll see where the price will go. Similar pieces in MS-64 worth up to $800-900 in Russia.

WCO

Now do you see the scratch?

bobh, thank you for showing it.

Most likely you are right and it is a scratch that I missed, it is not in a focal area of the coin, so have little impact on overall appearance and grade. Little time left to see what will be the final price.


WCO

If that scratch is on the coin itself and not on the holder -- it is severely overgraded. (IMXO)

Final price $1,125. Now it is "insane".

WCO

The scratch is on the coin, unfortunately. Someone has a bigger wallet and not very good eyesight.

To me, that isn't hard to believe, it's just typical of PCGS. I've seen too any AU58 Morgans in PCGS MS63 slabs to take that overhyped grading service seriously. Any TPG service that would assign MS grades to chopmarked US Trade Dollars isn't worthy of serious regard in my opinion. Your mileage may vary, of course.

As to insane prices in the bidding war, I struggled for a few months with a very poor monitor which I didn't realize was failing to display pics properly. I bought a few real dogs on ebay, going by pics that showed apparent discrepancies from the stated grades. Maybe the bidders all have failing monitors like my old one. ;-)