Re: 1936 question?

I've always doubted the correctness of the pyx box story. There are 3 dot cents, and in my view, they are all specimen strikes (I've seen and examined them all). One is graded MS-63 by PCGS, but this is the one that was stolen from Pittman's home, and returned in the mail months later, damaged. I've always thought that this coin is an impaired specimen. That's inconsistent with the story of the pyx box, which would have indicated that this was a mint state product. It's also somewhat inconsistent with none of these pieces being owned by the mint, unlike 2 of the dimes (which are on permanent loan from the mint to the Bank of Canada's national currency collection).

Pittman obviously though that there were MS dot cents around, and appears to have actively searched for them, unsuccessfully. In his estate sale there were something like 30 complete rolls of MS 1936 cents, which is why this coin is the most common of the george V cents in high-end MS. His family said at the time that he had looked hard for MS cents, but never found any.

AussieBob, 6/18/2012
CCRS member since: 4/30/2003
Posts: 453

Report Post