A Tragedy And A Fake?

[strick]

I don't think he showed the sides of the nickel that was mated to the silvers. Salt water finds I'm assuming...Yea dry ground preferably with lots of sand is kind to coins it seems. This coin I found about 20 yards from where the three that were mated together at the begging of this thred were found.  It was by itself deep... sniffed out with the CTX. There are areas on this site where the coins are toast due to the differences in soil composition. 

strick 

[GB_Amateur]

4 minutes ago, strick said:

This coin I found about 20 yards from where the three that were mated together at the begging of this thred were found.  It was by itself deep... sniffed out with the CTX.

I'm coronating you the king of the Standing Liberty Quarter scarce and rare dates.  What a beautiful low wear example of the type 1, and with an -S mintmark to just add to its loftiness.  But your 18/17-S -- one of my all time favorite coins -- I challenge you to top that (and you probably will..., if you haven't already).

[strick]

8 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

I'm coronating you the king of the Standing Liberty Quarter scarce and rare dates.  What a beautiful low wear example of the type 1, and with an -S mintmark to just add to its loftiness.  But your 18/17-S -- one of my all time favorite coins -- I challenge you to top that (and you probably will..., if you haven't already).

Well Thanks GB thats  great Christmas gift...I found that coin several yers ago...Heres another Pic of the same coin better light...(I know you like studying coins) ...it was after my first Rye Patch trip..I have @Gerry in Idaho to thank for putting me on the gold.

Merry Christmas

strick 

[GB_Amateur]

1 hour ago, strick said:

I found that coin several yers ago...Heres another Pic of the same coin better light...

That coin comes very close (and maybe it passes the tests) for a Full Head strike.  The beads around the rim are strong; the beads around the shield are strong; the right knee is strong, the hair details are strong.  The crest on the shield seems a bit light, though.  I cannot count count the toes but to be a classic FH it's supposed to show all 10.  I also think (but not sure) that to grade FH the coin needs to be uncirculated.  Still, whatever its grade (high XF if not AU), only a fraction (about 1%) in that grade will show this much detail.  Just a remarkable find.

One thing the earliest date+MM of a series suffer from is that people (especially non-numistmatists) would take them out of circulation early on due to their uniqueness.  I don't think yours fits that category since it was likely dropped/lost early on.  Often later years with higher mintages will carry more value in the high grades for this reason -- the novelty wore off and few were snared and put away in their highest grades.  For the SLQ's, the 1916 was such a low mintage that few people saw this new design until the 1917's were distributed.  And the Type 1's (such as yours) came out first, of course.  So it likely saw a higher fraction being salted away in drawers, etc.  On the flipside, since only the 1916 and early 1917's at the three mints were Type 1, any type collector has to have one of the four (and most likely one of the 1917's due to the absolute rarity of the 1916.)