August 9, 2010: "Rattle Me This"

Author:
D. Wnuck

Concept:
I think it’s best that we begin this week’s explanation with an apology, for coming up with a caption that must seem pretty bizarre to most observers (as it does to us).

"Rattle me this" (for those who have not yet figured it out) is a play on the famous "Riddle me this" line from the old Batman TV shows in which Frank Gorshin (as the "Riddler") would test Batman with some very obscure clues (while wearing an extremely tight green leotard with question marks all over it).

But we thought it was also an interesting way to highlight the fact that this gem Seated Quarter is in a really old PCGS Rattler holder. Which is significant to us since it confirms that this coin has not been cleaned, conserved or so much as touched by anyone in the last 20+ years (a significant thing in our opinion, since there has been an undeniable acceleration of doctoring activities during that period), and that it is stable in appearance.

Captions that didn’t make the cut:
We considered some extremely direct mainstream alternatives this week, including "Untouched since it was graded more than two decades ago.", but that seemed too pedestrian in comparison, and we decided it was better to have people see the ad and wonder what the heck it meant, than to read an extremely boring caption and then nod off.

Time will tell if we made the right call.