Grading and Price Guide on Fugios
Harvey Bastacky
A dealer I know picked up 2 fugio cents and I don't know
where to find a price guide on them or tips on how to grade them.
One looks like an AG and the other looks like a Good, but I am
not familiar with the grading standards on these coins.
Can anyone help me??
Harvey
Bruce Hickmott
To my knowledge, there are no standards published for Fugios. I use old auction catalogs and many years of coin show experience to grade them. And Grade is a very loose term. Fugios come on bad blanks (sometimes cracked prior to striking) are occasionally weakly struck and in short suffer from all the problems of colonial US coins. This effects value more than grade.
The redbook has some pricing data. They list the common varieties. Rare varieties can bring much higher prices.
The above is more a discription of why I can't help much, as opposed to any help. But if you can more of less match it up with a redbook variety and get it for somewhere around what YOU think the coin grades, do it. Club ray coins will be much pricier that pointed rays.
I can refer you to a couple of dealers that handle fugios extensively, if you want more information. Drop me an email if so.
Bruce
Clint Cummins
>|>A dealer I know picked up 2 fugio cents and I don't know
>|>where to find a price guide on them or tips on how to grade them.
>|>One looks like an AG and the other looks like a Good, but I am
>|>not familiar with the grading standards on these coins.
>|>Can anyone help me??
Bruce Hickmott <bru...@lexis-nexis.com> wrote:
>To my knowledge, there are no standards published for Fugios.
>I use old auction catalogs and many years of coin show experience
>to grade them. And Grade is a very loose term. Fugios come on bad
>blanks (sometimes cracked prior to striking) are occasionally weakly
>struck and in short suffer from all the problems of colonial US coins.
>This effects value more than grade. ...
Actually there are grading standards for Fugios, given in Kessler,
and reproduced in Breen's Encyclopedia. However, the grading standards
do not matter much, unless you are trying to use them with a price
guide. For AG and G specimens, just decided what you want to pay,
relative to what similar scanned specimens have sold for on ebay....
Here are the grading standards from Breen, who cites Kessler(1976):
GOOD: Date, FUGIO, and MIND YOUR BUSINESS legible, with enough of
UNITED STATES (any position) to enable identification as to
type.
VERY GOOD: Part of Roman numerals on sundial visible.
FINE: More than half Roman numerals legible.
VERY FINE: All Roman numerals show (unless destroyed by die breakage);
both cinquefoils at UNITED STATES clear.
EXTREMELY FINE: Few tiny isolated rubbed spots; rays should not show more
than minimal blurring even near sun face; all features of sun
face should show.
EXCEPTIONS: 1. Below VF, 1313 [Newman 15-Y; Rev. 8-pointed stars on label]
will show only one 8-pointed star.
2. 1314 [Newman 2-C; 23-ZZ; Musket Butt Rays "Club Rays,
Concave Ends"] is weak at FUGIO.
Have fun,
Clint Cummins