Owner Comments:
S-3853, Marsh 53, Die #28
Acquired from: The Coin Cabinet, London
Means: Auction 79, lot 41
Date: 4 April 2023
Critique: Although technically graded AU58, the obverse of this coin is a total disaster to look at. Normally I avoid dogs like this, but in this rare case I made an exception. The only reason I bid on this was because I was intrigued by the very strange looking crossbar on the first letter A in GRATIA. All of the pictures on the auction site, as well as NGC site, are so low res and grainy that there was no possible way to make out what is happening. There should be two parallel lines for this bar, but the blurry images show three. It could just be an illusion caused by the camera angle -- I've been fooled like that a few times before. But I was so curious that I just had to get a chance to see this thing in my own hands.
Since it's such a common date, and in relatively low grade, I knew it would sell cheap. So it was a very low risk gamble. As expected, nobody had much interest in this pathetic loser, and I ended up getting it for just US$125 over melt value. Since I didn't already have an 1869 coin in my collection, it can always serve as a "filler" until something nice comes along. But if it truly is some form of bizarre double crossbar as it appears, it will be a fun item to add to my collection of freaks and oddities.
UPDATE: Finally received this coin from the auction company in late May, and in the hand the crossbar of the A does not look very strange at all. Some indication of a large A punched over a smaller one, but not very unusual. So... another failed gamble. But it was cheap, so not much of a financial disaster. Maybe I'll get lucky, and die #28 will turn out to be very rare! Yeah, right....