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Speaking of slabbed coins...


bobh

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My question was, if any of these are known to have "EB" on the edge.

Mine reads ( B . C ). But there is a lot of unevenness around the first "(". If the "C )" on the coin in the slab had worn off or was poorly stamped, I wonder if it is possible for someone to have misread the first "(" as an E. :confus: It would have looked something like ( B .

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Mine reads ( B . C ). But there is a lot of unevenness around the first "(". If the "C )" on the coin in the slab had worn off or was poorly stamped, I wonder if it is possible for someone to have misread the first "(" as an E. :confus: It would have looked something like ( B .

I hope that the NGC graders would know the difference! :doh:

 

Theoretically, it is certainly possible this could happen because the edging was usually done prior to the striking. Although 50 kopecks with EB on the edge are fairly scarce in comparison to BC, the business strike roubles of 1913 -- while ALL of them are scarce -- have EB and BC fairly evenly distributed among the small number of coins struck. But I find it very strange that none of the references seem to mention this Romanov variety at all, if it exists, which makes me think that something isn't right about it.

 

Besides, there are two known die varieties of this coin: the flat and the embossed varieties. The flat strikes were supposedly done first; they weren't happy with them, so after striking a lesser quantity (but certainly a lot more than the number given by most references), the newer dies were made and a total of about 1,500,000 were struck. Now all (??) of the known flat strikes also have (B.C) on the edge, but THIS coin is an embossed strike. I assume that most if not all of the planchets with EB on the edge, waiting to be struck into roubles, were used up during the striking of the business issue. If there were any more lying around, they would certainly have turned up at least a few times during the striking of the flat variety, IMHO.

 

That is my theory.

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Nothing more than the NGC's typo. Happens very often.

That's what I think it is, too. But it raises an interesting question:

 

NGC, as well as PCGS, offer a grading guarantee of some kind. For example, if the coin is slabbed and later on someone finds out that it isn't genuine, or has been altered in some way, they will refund you the difference in value (or so I hear ... fortunately, I never had a chance to try this out myself!)

 

With this coin, let's assume that it is probably genuine ... a genuine 1913-BC(!) Tercentenary Rouble. Condition of the coin is about right (MS-62). No way they are going to offer a refund here, IMHO, just because of the wrong mintmaster letters. They will probably re-slab it for free and give the "lucky winner" of this coin a few free grading submissions (because "everybody knows" there is no such thing as a 1913-EB Romanov rouble...).

 

The bidders in this auction are going crazy IMHO. With 3 days left to go, it is already at over $300! :shock: Maybe they will get lucky and the seller's reserve will not be met. But what if it goes much higher than this? I'm 100% sure that the ONLY reason bidding is so high is because of the slab. IMHO, if NGC does NOT refund the difference between what a Romanov rouble in MS-62 would normally go for (maybe $150-$200 nowadays?) then the buyer of the coin would be able to sue them for misrepresentation. Assuming, of course, that the eBay seller has posted the standard disclaimer WRT refunds on certified coins.

 

What do others think? Has anyone been unfortunate enough to have to go through this procedure? (good material for Jim Elmen to write about in the intro to his next auction catalog :hysterical: ...)

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I think both NGC and PCGS policy states that they are not responsible for obvious typos on slabs (such as the wrong denomination or the wrong year). I imagine wrong mintmark would also fall under the same condition. In this case, the mint mark appearing only on the edge, perhaps it is not so obvious of a typo and they would have to reimburse something.

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I think both NGC and PCGS policy states that they are not responsible for obvious typos on slabs (such as the wrong denomination or the wrong year). I imagine wrong mintmark would also fall under the same condition. In this case, the mint mark appearing only on the edge, perhaps it is not so obvious of a typo and they would have to reimburse something.

Well, the mintmark, or mintmaster in this case, can be VERY important. I would hate to pay MS-62 money, for example, for an 1884-S Morgan dollar only to find out later that it was 1884-O ... (fortunately, the mint mark for Morgan dollars is not on the edge... :blink: )

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According to the NGC census, there are two dynasty EB coins that have been graded (one is MS 62, apparently the coin in question, and the other is AU55), per 200 BC coins. Are both of them typos? Of course, we simply need to see the edge, otherwise this can go on forever.

Yes, that price for an MS62 BC would be about right. People pay for the certainty.

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Anyone ever hear of this?

 

1913-EB Tercentenary Rouble

 

:confus:

I think it is a time for grading companies to really step in in russian coins grading and first of all - start using russian letters for mints and master initials, at least start learning that :bthumbsup:

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The mystery is solved: the seller wrote back to me with the answer that the mintmaster is BC. This is a new slab so it can be seen. Most likely the second coin graded by NGC displays the same error. Alas, no new variety found :)

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The mystery is solved: the seller wrote back to me with the answer that the mintmaster is BC. This is a new slab so it can be seen. Most likely the second coin graded by NGC displays the same error. Alas, no new variety found :)

Thanks for sharing this with us, altyn! :art:

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no surpize on most common coin,

also with latest slab capsulating process most of its edge is open to view :)

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I think it is a time for grading companies to really step in in russian coins grading and first of all - start using russian letters for mints and master initials, at least start learning that :bthumbsup:

 

I wonder why they have not done this yet. I think the reason is potential problems caused by the fact that coins graded previously (e.g. 1898 AT Russia 5R) and newly graded coins of the same designation (in this case that would be 1898 АГ Russia 5R) would be viewed as belonging to different populations of their coin census, and that may cause some confusion. Of course, to lump AT and АГ coins, or O3 and ФЗ etc., within the same respective populations is a solvable problem, but it is still a hassle and they do not want to bother.

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