Owner Comments:
Blast White Top Pop coin absolutely Fully Struck. The 1923-S Peace dollar mintage far and away the series' largest for San Francisco, totaling 19 million pieces. Incredibly, however, the 23-S is an extreme rarity at the MS-66 Premium Gem level. PCGS has certified 2 of the 1923-S at MS66 and a single finer coin at MS67. NGC has only graded one 23-S at MS66 with NONE finer. So this specimen represents the Unique NGC Top Pop Coin for 1923 Peace Dollars minted in San Francisco. Clearly, the San Francisco Mint's focus during that time was on quantity, not quality. The typically encountered mint state examples exhibit either excessive, bag marks, and/or terribly poor strikes. This
specimen is Fully struck, which is unique for the issue, with Blast White surfaces that have a mirrored proof like texture. There are minimal mentionable contact marks on either side of the coin and it appears this coin was an early strike of new die sets since this coin does not display the common obverse die cracks and minor surface pebbling near the rims most 23-S coins display which are the products of extended die use and apparent die rust respectively. This Coin is another Unique NGC "Top Pop" at the MS-66 Grade with a Population of One with NONE higher. Only Three coins exist at this grade from both combined Grading Services. This Coin was Pedigreed to the Pamela Henard Peace Dollar Collection in 2018.
Mark Salzberg, NGC Chairman and Grading Finalizer:
Wow, here we go… It can sound repetitive, but you never see this kind of coin. It’s fully struck — you just never see a strike this strong on a ‘23-S, and the luster is amazing. It has a perfectly rounded face. You can’t ask for a better example. The coin I bought at 16 had this same luster, but it also had toning.