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Ugly Coin Picture Thread


Guest Stujoe

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I got a Charles II 1670s gold half guinea Trantor that looks like that! A dealer even refused to buy it off of me for £20 (say $40) because he thought it was just unsellable. He said even £20 would be a push.

 

So it's been jingling around in my pocket for about a year since, it's probably not even gonna be worth that now.

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Guest Stujoe
I've been wondering whether to use it as a pocket piece or something. Makes a good paper weight though.

 

Hard to tell from what is probably a scan? but that one might be similar to me using an early hammered coin as a washer because I don't care for their typical look. :ninja: Is the Morgan 'flat' in person? or is there life to the surfaces?

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Hard to tell from what is probably a scan? but that one might be similar to me using an early hammered coin as a washer because I don't care for their typical look. :ninja: Is the Morgan 'flat' in person? or is there life to the surfaces?

 

 

Oy what you on about Stu? I really like Morgan Dollars! The Morgan dollar must be one of my favourite US silver coins.

 

 

It's just this one has been artificially toned, and we're talking rather nastily too.

 

I've been wondering whether or not to dip it, but for what it's worth the dip would be juat as bad since it'd be just as damaging to the collectorbility as the fake tone is. Albeit the coin might already have been cleaned before it was ATed. The grade on the pice ain't bad though.

 

The reverse is quite nasty, a furry brown look it it. Not nice.

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Guest Stujoe
Oy what you on about Stu? I really like Morgan Dollars! The Morgan dollar must be one of my favourite US silver coins.

 

I was referring more to the areas of colorful toning which I know you don't usually care much for, IIRC, and not the design. :ninja: I can't tell AT or NT from the scan but you have it in hand so I will defer on that. If it was NT and not flat looking in person, it would be a shame to treat it as a junk pocket piece as it appears to have some interesting colors in between the darkness. If you are thinking of selling it for junk Morgan value, let me know...

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I was referring more to the areas of colorful toning which I know you don't usually care much for, IIRC, and not the design.  :ninja: I can't tell AT or NT from the scan but you have it in hand so I will defer on that. If it was NT and not flat looking in person, it would be a shame to treat it as a junk pocket piece as it appears to have some interesting colors in between the darkness. If you are thinking of selling it for junk Morgan value, let me know...

 

 

I asked members on a few boards and the general consensus toward me was;

 

"That is so obviously AT, even a monkey could spot that one seven miles off, you stupid, stupid man" well they didn't say i was stupid but the way they put it when they replied (especially on RCC) kinda put the point across in terms that it could not be refuted. ;) So who am i to argue? (I can't tell the difference between AT and NT, that's why i avoid them).

 

So there you go, i mean if you want it then you can have it Stujoe.

 

Minus the tone which looks yes flat and slapped on top, there looks to be alot of natural lustre shining away underneath, so whoever did this to this coin ruined a good one.

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Guest Stujoe
I asked members on a few boards and the general consensus toward me was;

 

"That is so obviously AT, even a monkey could spot that one seven miles off, you stupid, stupid man" well they didn't say i was stupid but the way they put it when they replied (especially on RCC) kinda put the point across in terms that it could not be refuted.  ;)  So who am i to argue? (I can't tell the difference between AT and NT, that's why i avoid them).

 

I have a hard time with AT and NT too. Some people look at a scan, though, and think that is exactly what the coin looks like, and render thier opinions as such, when scans do not often flatter a coin in many areas, especially color and luser. I have seen many a person call a coin a piece of junk (worn, AT, no luster, etc) based upon a scan in an auction when the coin in hand ended up being something quite different.

 

Anyway, how's this for a Beauty:

 

898511.jpg

 

:ninja:

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Nothing can match the Churchill Crown for hideousness.

 

I can think of a few US coins that i'd throw up against it as nearly as bad but very few US members agree with me. Since the two are perhaps the most popular 20th century US coin designs going. Hint one is gold and one is nickel. And no it's not Jefferson.

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Guest Stujoe
:ninja: Yes, indeed, the Buffalo/IHC was almost certainly not intended to be a 'pretty' design by the sculpter. The obverse is much more realistic than most of the 'prettified' US Indian coinage designs. And the Bison, while I think it is an impressive creature to say the least, has never been referred to as 'pretty' by me. The design is also rather uniquely USian from a historical standpoint.
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You know i wouldn't mind the Indian Head gold if it wasn't incuse! I've seen one in person and i've got to say i just don't like it. The design ain't the problem the fact it's not in relief is! I mean you know i like the $10 indian gold coins, the designs are not dissimilar (reverse wise anyhow) and i find that fine.

 

The Buffalo nickel, the major disagreement i have with that coin is the proportions, the reason i dislike it is the reason why i thought you would have disliked it. I remember you saying long ago Stu that the thing you liked most on coins was the contrast between the flat fields and the boldness of the design played off against one another, and this is why you didn't like hammered coins.

 

Well the buffalo nickel doesn't do the contrast between design and field either, why? Because the design is out of proportion to the size of the coin, so the fields are few and far between. If the coin was bigger but the design was the same size then perhaps i'd not give it as much rap. I agree whole heartedly with Charles Barber on the oversized design features.

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Guest Stujoe
The Buffalo nickel, the major disagreement i have with that coin is the proportions, the reason i dislike it is the reason why i thought you would have disliked it. I remember you saying long ago Stu that the thing you liked most on coins was the contrast between the flat fields and the boldness of the design played off against one another, and this is why you didn't like hammered coins.

 

I think I also referred to the intricacy of the design elements (swirls, twists, turns, etc) in that context as well as the overall crudeness of the engravings from that period (technology was just not up to snuff, I think).

 

The buffalo nickel is actually a very simple design with only two, well defined elements (one on each side) which stand out against the fileds of the coin even if they do mostly fill them up. On a lot of that older stuff, there are no real fields at all...just the insides of the interwoven design elements. I can absolutely appreciate the history of that kind of coin but do not see 'pretty' wen I look at it. But, I don't think I would ever refer to the Buffalo nickel as a 'pretty' design either. Maybe ruggedly handsome. :ninja:

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Guest Stujoe

Another example on the US side, for me, is the Fugio cent. I think the design is too crude and poor for me to ever see it as 'pretty' but it is still the top coin on my dream sheet. And, I see it as a very historical design (and historical coin too, of course).

 

Coins like the SLQ or Walker are just drop dead Pretty to me.

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I don't mind Fugio's, but i'm quite tolerant to early copper coins, believe it or not.

 

Walkers i wasn't too bothered about until i actually got one, they look far better in person than they do in pictures.

 

Peace Dollars... surprisingly my attitude to those has softened a bit. Even if the poor dear on the obverse looks a bit gormless, she has a certain charm. Can't put my finger on it.

 

I still think Saints are way overrated though. Nice coins they sure are but 'the best' US coins ever? Nahhh, ain't no Liberty Nickel. :ninja:

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Guest Stujoe
Peace Dollars... surprisingly my attitude to those has softened a bit.

 

 

Here is one I think is pretty (although I no longer own this example)

890078.jpg

 

The Mercury dime is one that I can say that I have warmed up to a lot over the last few years, although I never considered them 'ugly', after I got ahold of a nice one or two.

 

(Pardon the not so good pic...it was on my old camera and through a slab...)

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Ah the Mercury Dime!

 

I usually leave that one out for a very good reason. When i first saw that design i just took to it, like a duck takes to water. They have a real charm about them and i certainly do not know what it is.

 

It's not like the obverse is all that pretty, i mean look at the stuck out chin! But regardless of the fact that i don't think they are beautiful, i still love 'em and i'd still happily collect them.

 

I've got about a few dozen of them somewhere and i won't part with them.

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