transitional variety

[Guest]

Sorry if you're tired of seeing it but it's my favorite since my 1989 RDV-005 was delisted by CONECA.

[Shingpumps]

Is that the one that has the reverse of the 89?

[car10]

Yes it is. ICG MS64RD. The finest of only five known.(so far)

[Shingpumps]

Nice, I'm lookin for it. How did you know to look for it?

[car10]

I had seen it listed on the varietyvista website, started making the designers initials a point of focus on 1988 cents and just got lucky.

[car10]

Looks like Brefos found number six in NC.

[car10]

The history of this variety

It was first discovered by Jeff Snow in Syracuse,NY and attributed by Dr. James Wiles of CONECA in the spring of 2007. An article appeared in the August 27th, 2007 issue of Coin World's Collector's Clearinghouse featuring this variety. A confirming piece was subsequently found by John Stubbs in Southern Maine. That piece was confirmed by Dr. Wiles. I found the third in the Boston area in September of 2007. I sent it to Dr. Wiles for attribution who in turn sent it it ICG for grading and encapsulation. It was returned to me conservatively graded as MS64RD. At about the same time Steven Bingham from Missouri found a similar version of the same variety with a Denver mint mark. Although I'm not aware of this coin being graded, I have seen detailed photos and it appears also to be mint-state or uncirculated. John Stubbs reportedly found a fourth Philadelphia coin. Patrick Gaughan found a fifth in Eastern Pennsylvania. Dr. Wiles confirmed it as a newly reported, second die for this variety. I'm not sure if that piece has been graded. John Stubbs then placed his original find(coin#2) for sale on ebay. It was an AU(about uncirculated) raw(uncertified) coin and sold for $157.55 to a bidder from California(e_kkm). On December 7th, 2007 Brent Foster from North Carolina posted photos of what appears to be a sixth Philadelphia example. From what I understand he has contacted Dr. Wiles concerning the attribution of his coin. In the near future we should find out if it is from the first, second or a new, third die for this variety. I'll update this thread as news updates are received.

[brefos77]

I'm sending mine off to Dr. Wiles in the morning. (Monday, Dec. 10th)
If everything goes well, I would like to get it slabbed. where is the best (and cheapest) place to do it? I've heard Dr. Wiles will probably grade it, but I want it to look something like car10's at the start of the thread.

Any help?

[car10]

ICG and CONECA have teamed up. ICG will slab CONECA attributed coins and will put CONECA's listing number and description on the label. I think Dr. Wiles will only attribute the variety confirming it is what it appears to be. I don't think he will grade the coin. In order to have it graded and encapsulated you would need him to forward it to ICG. The variety is such a recent discovery that it hasn't yet made it into the Cherrypicker's Guide and therefore is not yet recognized by NGC or PCGS. Besides ICG I think your next best alternative would therefore be ANACS. I'm not sure if they would recognize the variety or not. I also am not sure what they would charge to attribute, grade and encapsulate it. I do know that it cost me $41 to have Dr. Wiles attribute the coin, forward it to ICG and have ICG ship it back to me. I did, however, need to fill out and sign an ICG submission form and enclose it with the coin I sent to Dr. Wiles. You can get the form online or you can call ICG and they will mail you one. You can get more info at the following link to the CONECA website. Good Luck!

http://www.conecaonline.org/attribution_services.html

[car10]

I'm sending mine off to Dr. Wiles in the morning. (Monday, Dec. 10th)
If everything goes well, I would like to get it slabbed. where is the best (and cheapest) place to do it? I've heard Dr. Wiles will probably grade it, but I want it to look something like car10's at the start of the thread.

Any help?

bre...what did you decide to do? Did you send it? Areyou having it graded too?

[brefos77]

I sent them to Dr. Wiles on Monday, Dec. 10th. I really can't afford to get it slabbed/graded at the moment, but if it makes it into the cherrypicker's guide or something like that with a good premium, then I'll definitely do it ASAP. No offense to anyone else, but I hope nobody finds anymore, 6 is enough!

[Brad]

I actually think that finding more with raise the price. The more that are found, the more popularity the coin will have. Value is a function of supply and demand. Right now there is a extremely limited supply, but also low demand. Car10 has been doing a lot to popularize the variety, but he cannot do it alone. It will be interesting to see what happen over the next year or two.

[brefos77]

Hmmm, maybe you're right. If people believe they have a chance of finding one, then they may start wanting one, making it a popular coin to hunt down. I'm just glad to own one myself!

[Brad]

There is no doubt that it is better to own one, than not own one. I added 1988 & 1988D to my mental list of modern coins to inspect. That list is getting long... and I haven't found anything yet.

[car10]

Brad is right. We want some more to be found. I've been told by a dealer in California, Sam Luke's Rare Coins, that there are a couple dozen known examples of the famous 1969-S DDO. He has personally sold many of them. We need more than a handful to be found to make it a popular variety. I am fairly confident that it will happen. There have been an average of about one found per month since the initial discovery. I'm liking that rate. If it becomes popular enough maybe we can convince Brad to list it on his top 50. We'll need to work on it though, he still has reservations.