COIN OF THE MONTH #1, OCTOBER 2008

COIN OF THE MONTH #1, OCTOBER 2008

Which Ike to celebrate as the first Coin of the Month? There was only one, no question, hands down. Here it is:

$C:\Users\Owner\Pictures\IKE BRIANS 74-D SILVER PLANCHET MACRO 23 SEPT 08\DSC_0432-1.JPG$

WOW!! What an Ike!! PCGS just up-graded it from MS60 to MS61!!

OK, OK, it’s not exactly beautiful, but it’s worth around $3,500.

That’s right, it’s a Denver 1974 Ike struck on a silver planchet. By 1974 the San Francisco Mint was in the second year of striking CuNi-clad Proof (CP) Ikes: rejected CP planchets were shipped to Denver for their production line rather than being scrapped. Somehow a few silver planchets got thrown into such a shipment in 1974 and went through the Denver production line. Most of the estimated 15-20 such wound up on Las Vegas where they were pretty badly beaten up before being recognized as strange because of their bell-like ring when dropped on a hard surface, their silver-colored rims and Morgan dollar silver appearance.

The owner of this specimen had it stored in a safe place but recently pulled it out just to hold it in his hands and decided to send it into PCGS for a possible upgrade from NGC MS 60. When he got it back in its new PCGS MS61 holder, he was stunned to see that it was a die-clashed Ike with a peg leg. Looking closer, he notices other strange features and shipped it to the IKE GROUP for our opinion.

Here’s what we found from our microscopic examination:

$C:\Users\Owner\Pictures\IKE BRIANS 74-D SILVER 5 SEPT 08\DSCN7517.JPG$

It is indeed a classic 74-D CB “Major peg leg”.

$C:\Users\Owner\Pictures\IKE BRIANS 74-D SILVER 5 SEPT 08\DSCN7521.JPG$

It is also a “Tight Double Talon Head” that almost looks like a bunch of carrots!

$C:\Users\Owner\Pictures\IKE BRIANS 74-D SILVER 5 SEPT 08\DSCN7523.JPG$

The nose and eye region is severely abraded.

$C:\Users\Owner\Pictures\IKE BRIANS 74-D SILVER 5 SEPT 08\DSCN7526.JPG$

The “E” is “Clipped” from die abrading used to remove the “UDU”.

$C:\Users\Owner\Pictures\IKE BRIANS 74-D SILVER 5 SEPT 08\DSCN7530.JPG$

The crotch of the Eagle’s right wing shows “Eye-Clash” residua.

$C:\Users\Owner\Pictures\IKE BRIANS 74-D SILVER 5 SEPT 08\DSCN7546.JPG$

Heavily abraded Jaw Line image, possibly two lower jaw lines?

$C:\Users\Owner\Pictures\IKE BRIANS 74-D SILVER 5 SEPT 08\DSCN7542.JPG$

Heavy MDD on both sides (Machine Doubling Damage).

$C:\Users\Owner\Pictures\IKE BRIANS 74-D SILVER 5 SEPT 08\DSCN7536.JPG$

$C:\Users\Owner\Pictures\IKE BRIANS 74-D SILVER 5 SEPT 08\DSCN7539.JPG$

ABOVE, the “L” from DOLLAR - BELOW, “E” from LIBERTY

Last but not least there was a mysterious image on Ikes brow, an alien beetle invisible to all but Gasparro, LOL!

$C:\Users\Owner\Pictures\IKE BRIANS 74-D SILVER 5 SEPT 08\DSCN7555.JPG$ $C:\Users\Owner\Pictures\IKE BRIANS 74-D SILVER 5 SEPT 08\DSCN7556.JPG$

$C:\Users\Owner\Pictures\IKE BRIANS 74-D SILVER 5 SEPT 08\DSCN7557.JPG$

Sorry, I got carried away, the “beetle” is just a clash image from the tip of the 4^th wing tip, Eagle’s right wing, counting from out to in.

Now if you’re really sharp, you will remember that this Ike is encased in PCGS plastic, so you would correctly ask, “How can you be sure it is the 4^th wing tip and not the 3^rd of the 5^thwithout cracking the coin out of the plastic?”

Well, here is the next chapter of the story. IKE GROUP supporter Lee Lydston happened to mention just recently that he had just purchased an interesting die-clashed raw 74-D CB with a peg leg and a monster Double Talon Head. OMG, could it be the same die?

As we’ll demonstrate in the next section of this article, not only is it the same die pair but it has much the same grease splatters so these two Ikes may have been struck within seconds of each other.

I wonder what a comparison could teach us???

To be continued. . .