Owner Comments:
The last piece of the puzzle and the rarest coin in the ENTIRE series.....The fabled 1921-S, has now been added. It is an NGC XF 45, so it is not a mint state example like the rest of my set. HOWEVER, I feel that this piece matches well, in quality, with the rest of my set and, more importantly, it is solid for its assigned grade. I may or may not try to upgrade to AU or even MS, because at this point, I really like this coin. It looks more like an AU 53 to me.
I was underbidder on THREE 1921-S coins before this one: A PCGS MS 62 from the famous Western Reserve set, a PCGS AU 58 CAC and a PCGS AU 55 (this one wound up in the #1 NGC set). All went for money that shot WELL BEYOND THE MOON and, at least, TWO of these set new price records.....
When I saw this piece, it spoke to me, almost immediately. It has, IMHO, great detail and separation-prominent thumb, eagles breast and Liberty's breast are well-defined. Rims are sharp and deep with no dings. Smooth, original, dove-gray surfaces and also traces of mint luster with no spots or deep abrasions. So, after examining it, as quickly and thoroughly as possible, I jumped on it, as I really didn’t think I would find one that would please me more, anytime soon.
Sooooo FEW of these ever trade hands, as they are FAR rarer in XF/AU than in MS and MANY are of very POOR quality. I did an archive search on both Heritage and Great Collections and there’s almost nothing like this. The one or two that did sell are not quite as nice as my coin. I am pleased as punch with this example. To me, It looks like the old XFs, of yesteryear---before gradeflation was rampant, from when I was collecting raw Walkers in XF/AU circa 1994. I couldn't find this particular coin in any of my research or in auction archives. I believe that it may be a discovery piece pulled from circulation, in the late 1920s or early 1930s, as early Walkers were usually worn down to VG/F by the late 1930s and early 1940s and they were slicks by the 1960s. This was a lot of money, back then, so whoever pulled it must have been a man of means.
The quintessential epitome of a classic collector coin.
NGC Census is just 27/152.
PCGS Population is 28/205
Mintage is 548,000