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Sale 5
The Dr. Jon Kardatzke Coin Collection, Parts 2 and 3
| Lot |
Photo |
Description |
Realized |
Lot 1281 |
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1885 $3 Gold. Sharpness of About Uncirculated but carefully repaired, cleaned and retoned. This is an extremely deceptive coin. The devices show little or no wear, and the coin appears normal to the unaided eye, even though the "look" isn't quite right. Careful examination with a loupe discovers micro buffing in the fields in many areas, and delicate microscopic swirl lines can be seen when the coin is placed under a strong lamp. After the buffing was completed, the coin was bathed in a light acid which produced a satiny false luster by etching the surfaces. This work was probably done long ago, as the coin has since been cleaned in the usual manner, and the fields now show some minor hairlines. Retoned with natural appearing gold toning and seductively appealing.
Nevertheless, this is an important date that reports a mintage of just 800 pieces for circulation. Few people would detect the expert work done on this coin, and as such, it would easily fit into a date collection.
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| Realized
$863 |
Lot 1282 |
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1885 $3 Gold. Sharpness of Extremely Fine but cleaned. Better than we make it sound. The surfaces have been cleaned, but the appearance isn't greatly diminished. There are a few areas of dark purplish toning spots on both sides and two on the edge. One for the date collector with only 801 business strikes from the Mint.
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| Realized
$1,035 |
Lot 1283 |
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1886 $3 Gold. AU-50. Semi-prooflike in the fields as the dies never had a chance to wear away the polishing finish from preparation. Mintage of just 1,000 coins, which just isn't quite enough to go around to today's collectors. A few minor handling marks are noted, and quite possibly Liberty's face was delicately smoothed, that or all the bagmarks managed to land only in the fields, but there is no obvious evidence of smoothing on Liberty. Well struck and preserved for the date.
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| Realized
$1,840 |
Lot 1284 |
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1887 $3 Gold. AU-55 Prooflike. Well struck for this date, which has slight doubling on RICA as noted in Breen's Encyclopedia. Mintages climbed to 6,000 in a last gasp for the denomination, the highest in nine years. The fields are hairlined from cleaning, but retoned with lilac-gold near the edges. Scarce.
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| Realized
$1,150 |
Lot 1285 |
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1887 $3 Gold. Sharpness of EF-40 but cleaned. Well struck and with some eye-appeal remaining despite being cleaned. Free of circulation marks or other problems, just hairlined. Mintage of just 6,000 for circulation, a few hundred perhaps survived to today.
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| Realized
$506 |
Lot 1286 |
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1888 $3 Gold. PCGS graded MS-65. Sharply impressed and a lovely gem example of this date. The fields boast full satiny luster and the coin simply glows with mint freshness. A few trivial tick marks are visible with a glass, but this piece is far and away better than virtually all other survivors of its date. Only 5,000 struck and this one of the best. The recent PCGS report shows 54 in this grade, with 17 graded higher.
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| Unsold |
Lot 1287 |
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1889 $3 Gold. PCGS graded Proof 63. Struck in the final year of production for this curious denomination. Only 129 proofs were made for collectors of the day, and Breen notes that as a date, 1889 is much rarer than other dates from 1882-1888.
The fields boast the delightful orange-peel crinkle that the Philadelphia Mint seemed to have perfected on proof gold coinage of this era, which is curious in the fact that while mirrored and reflective, the fields have an irregular surface that looks very much like the peeling of an orange. Nice contrast from the fields to the frosty devices, and toned a delicate orange-gold color. The only complaint are the usual light hairlines, which account for the "choice" grade. A pleasure to view, and no doubt own.
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| Realized
$8,338 |
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