Collectors Corner^SM: The Collectibles Marketplace

1932 Washington Quarter with vivid toning. Click image to enlarge.

There is an art to appreciation. While many coins might not “be for me,” so to speak, I can appreciate eye appeal with most coins in virtually all grades. Remember: circulation wear symbolizes history! Possibly the most important aspect of eye appeal is that we are free to like what we like.

If you have experience searching for rare coins, finding that right coin can be confusing. While I will always recommend you spend your numismatic dollars on PCGS-graded coins, the question is what is the “right” coin in a PCGS holder?

Why do some things appeal to us, while others fail to garner any interest? Sure, there’s the matter of personal taste, but I’m more curious about how we quantify “appeal.” Indeed, how do we measure the strength of the appeal, at least in the numismatic sense?

PCGS revolutionized the coin authentication and grading sector by quantifying grading standards, thus standardizing the third-party-graded coin market. Dealers knew what they had and what they were either buying or selling. It was a no-brainer!

But, what about eye appeal? Indeed, rare coin dealers have always paid more for “pretty” coins. As a young collector, I was always trying to buy colorful U.S. Commemorative Half Dollars. I quickly realized these pretty coins have always been in high demand. Many of the issues are known to have colorful toning. The more attractive the toning, the larger the premium. Conversely, what about “blast white” brilliant cartwheel luster?

During decades of rare coin sales, I had dozens of want lists that specified “brilliant only” or “no toning.” Isn’t stunning luster appealing, too? You bet! And that is the beauty of numismatics – that maybe it’s surface quality that makes you go “WOW!”... Or, perhaps it’s an unusually lustrous example with an amazing strike. It may even be a coin kissed with every color in the spectrum that makes you open your pocketbook.

Pragmatically speaking, many dealers promoted “brilliant only” coins because they could both have a larger potential supply of a particular coin, as well as having a relatively homogeneous product that was visually appealing. Pretty, toned coins are difficult to locate, while brilliant coins are not so much… At least that’s the situation in most cases. Some coins are not available in bright-white brilliant condition in all grades. A good example is the highly sought-after 1932 Washington Quarter, a firstyear issue that is most often toned when original.

Regardless, I like both toned and brilliant coins. Yet, in either case we must ask a couple of questions before making the purchase. The first question I ask is, “What does the coin grade?” Then I’ll ponder if the toning is natural (for colorful coins) or if the coin was dipped (if it’s blast-white). Prior to the advent of PCGS, these questions were harder to ascertain answers for. Consider that it was once common practice for a “slider” (About Uncirculated) coin to be artificially toned and sold as a higher eye-appeal uncirculated coin. PCGS grading eliminated much of this unscrupulousness by weeding out artificial toning and denoting wear on the labels of encapsulated coins, but the appeal of the pretty toning wasn’t the culprit. Coins were often dipped to mimic uncirculated luster on AU coins, too.

When all is said and done, eye appeal is just that. A coin with eye appeal invites the numismatist to enjoy the allure of a truly lovely example.