1916 (DDO)

Recently I cherry picked a 1916 Double Die Obverse on eBay! Yes, the big one! The story is long, tense, suspenseful, and yet to be completed, but here is the beginning.

I was trolling eBay looking for picks when I came upon a 1916 buffalo. I look at almost all 1916’s, not because I ever expected to find a 1916 ddo, but to look for a second example of the 1916 possible 3hl that Ron Pope reported. The first feature I saw were the ribbons, much wider than normal and clearly doubled. I expanded the image and looked at the date, and the long feather. I could not believe it. I took the image into an image program, decreased the brightness and enhanced the contrast. Now it clearly was an image of a 1916 ddo in about Fine There were some bothersome marks under the chin and on the reverse, and a greenish tinge to everything, but I could live with them.

Next came the doubts, is this an image of the actual coin for sale? Apparently yes, although I didn’t know how to interpret the seller’s statement: “The date is much better than it appears to be in the picture.”

As usual for me, it was late at night so the coin had been up for about half a day on a seven day listing. The opening price was $4.00. I placed a token bid. I did not want the seller to pull the listing so, foolishly, I placed a second bid. Of course, if anyone else bid even $10 on the coin then the seller would take notice,  and I did not want to draw any attention to the coin, either the seller’s or potential bidders. The wait began.

I consider the first 24 hours and the last 24 to be of the greatest concern. I believe that is when most people first notice a coin. Since I had bid on the coin, I could track whether anyone else was “watching” the coin or not. No one else watched the coin during the first 24 hours. I checked. Frequently.

Then came the long wait until the last day. I only checked the item about twice a day during this wait. Still no one else watched or bid.

The last 24 hours were intense. I checked frequently: No watches and no bids. The last 5 minutes actually were less intense, somewhat anti-climactic. By then I believed no one else would see the coin. I prepared for my usual last second bid, but didn’t expect to place it and didn’t. The clock counted down to zero, I won the coin, I paid for it, and it was mine. Relief. Now it just had to get here.

The $2 shipping fee included Delivery Confirmation (naturally, no insurance on a $4 coin). I tracked the coin as the seller notified USPS, as it left their sorting center, through our sorting center and then Friday morning, “Out for Delivery” appears on the web site. I saw the mail person delivering the mail and went to get my coin. Unfortunately, it wasn’t there! I talked with the mail person, and they could not find the package anywhere in their truck. Of course, they had no idea why the web indicated the package was out for delivery – they didn’t have it. However, I was not too worried. I had seen this situation before and the package always showed up the next day. That evening the web site stated ominously “Delivery status not updated”

Saturday. The mail comes, and again, no coin! Now I’m concerned. Where is my coin? It is the weekend and a long time until Monday.

This suspense finally ended on Monday. The mail person waved a package at me as I was coming out to the mailbox. I forgot to even ask where the package had been found. I went inside the house, opened the package, and this is what I found (if you click on the image it will expand on a new page. Click the new image and it will get even larger).

As you can tell, the coin holder is very old. This coin had been in the holder for many years. There is an extra staple at the top of the holder, suggesting the coin might have been posted on a bid board at some point.

The coin itself is the coin that was imaged on ebay, and it is a 1916 double die obverse. The ribbon ties are extra wide, the date has extra loops visible in the 6, the long feather and the top feather are both doubled. I lowered the coin’s grade to about VG – the tops of some of the letters of LIBERTY are worn in to the rim. The marks in front of the chin are real, unfortunately. However, it is mine And already one of my favorites