Owner Comments:
S-4001, Marsh 259
Acquired from: Heritage
Means: Auction 61306, Lot 24032
Date: 23 January 2023
Critique: OMG, total disaster! I made a huge mistake buying this turkey, but fortunately not a very expensive mistake. There are significant scratches and dings all over both sides, and a very unsightly discoloration on the reverse that makes it look like the poor horse is vomiting his lunch. I'm embarrassed to have this in my collection. It's absolutely over-graded and aesthetically devoid of any merit whatsoever.
This coin was offered in a special auction of Top and near-Top Pop sovereigns, which seemed to attract quite a number of bidders. But they were mostly spending their money on the Top Pop examples, while ignoring coins like this one that were second and third tier. They were smart to ignore this loser. There were so very many high grade coins available, starting in 1865, that by the time I got way down into the auction list checking out the various items, I began to get lazy and just paid attention to the grade on the holder rather than carefully inspecting the coin itself. And since this company allows you to place bids in advance of the actual sale, I went ahead a made a somewhat low bid just to mark it. Later, when I had more time to examine the coins I was interested in, I was shocked to see that I'd made a bid on a piece of junk like this. Very depressing. I hoped that someone else would be even dumber than me and outbid me during the sale, but no such luck.
There are many more examples of this date and mint graded MS64, and a handful of MS64+, so I should have just waited for something nice to come along. Too late now! Fortunately all of the other bidders were actually paying attention to what they were doing, and they essentially ignored this one, so I ended up paying not too much over melt. And melt is exactly what this thing deserves!
Let this be a warning to all those who participate in online auctions -- pay attention to what you are bidding on! Don't be a blind idiot ...