srh11293

This is my first post and I was hoping someone can answer few questions related to this coin. I purchased this Laurel in Paris about 10 years ago. But really never closely looked at it. I know it's kinda silly, but I love the coin, so I bought it, and put it away. Recently, I pulled it out of the safe and was thinking about getting it slabbed by NCG. After doing some research on the web, I found 2 almost identical Laurels. As far as I understand, there were 5 different busts and (about) 5 different mint marks. Also, within the 'same' bust style and within the same mint marks, there are differences in inscription (FRA vs FRAN, HI vs HIB, etc.). Description: "James I, Gold Laurel, third coinage (1619-1625), fourth laureate and draped bust left, straight ties at back of head, value behind, within beaded circle, initial mark trefoil (1624-1625) both sides, iacobvs d g ma bri fran et hib rex, pellet stops, rev crowned quartered shield of arms, on long cross fourchée, beaded circle surrounding, facia m eos in gentem vnam, no stops, (Schneider -; N 2114; S 2638B)" Also, this particular coin is very very double struck, especially on reverse - you can see two rows of beads near 8 o'clock and 1 o'clock. You can see the the tips of the cross are not (way off) aligned with arms of the cross, etc. Also, obverse and reverse are 90% off - the top of the crown matches up with "D" in "JACOBUS D G MA" I would love to hear comments on this coin, but I have two particular questions: 1) Should this coin be graded as "MINT ERROR"? (I believe so, since it's obviously double struck and rotated) 2) How would one go about assigning a grading to a coins like this? Would a second strike to the reverse flatten out the obverse? From what I have seen, these coins were known to be weak struck which might explain the flatness of the bust, yet the letters in the inscription around the perimeter are nice and sharp. Thank you in advance, Vlad

I do not plan on selling this coin anytime soon, nor do I consider it to be an investment (not UNC, not rare --> not enough value to consider as an investment). To me, this UK coin is a memory of pleasant trip to Paris ...yes I do see the irony in what I just said. Besides storage and ease of handling, slabbing also has a benefit of association of that coin with me, if it ever gets stolen, at least it can be reported as such, with an identifying number. Few years ago some of my coins were stolen, luckily, most of the coins over few hundred dollars were not at my house (including this one).

Thank you very mich for the replies. I'm used to US coins (19th century), so the double strike on this coins was very pronounced to me. As far as to why I was thinking about getting it slabbed, I like vacuum sealled packages. They seem to offer very good protection for the coins. I agree, in this case, slabbing is probably not that important. Since I live in Texas, NGC or PCGS are more familiar to me than CGS. Vlad