Purchasing unslabbed material online auctions...

Carterofmars · 01-22-2006, 11:07 AM

I am confident I can accuratly grade unslabbed stuff I'm seeing in online auctions (provided the scans are good), but It's not always easy to tell if a piece was cleaned.

Question:

Any good tips for detecting CLEANED material in online auctions? What do I look for?

Thanks in advance.

satootoko · 01-22-2006, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carterofmars

(provided the scans are good)

Aye, there's the rub. I would be more confident of my auction picture grading ability if I knew the pictures were

really of the coin being offered
unretouched
properly lighted
of a high enough resolution to allow significant enlargement

With a proper picture, cleaning would be as easy to detect as if the coin were in hand, but what scammer provides that kind of pictures?

Actually for AU and better, the ideal situation would be a scan for detail and a properly lighted photo to show the amount of luster remaining. I'm definately not holding my breath until such auction illustration becomes commonplace.

Carterofmars · 01-22-2006, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by satootoko

Aye, there's the rub. I would be more confident of my auction picture grading ability if I knew the pictures were

really of the coin being offered
unretouched
properly lighted
of a high enough resolution to allow significant enlargement

With a proper picture, cleaning would be as easy to detect as if the coin were in hand, but what scammer provides that kind of pictures?

Actually for AU and better, the ideal situation would be a scan for detail and a properly lighted photo to show the amount of luster remaining. I'm definately not holding my breath until such auction illustration becomes commonplace.

I think I agree with everything you've said. I wonder how reliable feedback is in say "EBAY" for gauging a sellers professionalism? Auction sites such as Heritage and Teletrade have excellent scans, but auction slabbed material.

Question:
Are there any Reputable sellers on Ebay/Yahoo that deal in unslabbed material?

**Speedy** · 01-22-2006, 01:47 PM

A scan is bad....it washes out the luster and makes the coin look dull and lifeless.

The only tip for cleaning I can give....is look, look, look...soon you will get the hang of it...look for coins that the color doesn't look right...or have lots of hairlines....or show dirt and crud in the letters and such but not anywhere else...hands on learning is the best.

Speedy

satootoko · 01-22-2006, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Speedy

A scan is bad....it washes out the luster and makes the coin look dull and lifeless.

But it frequently shows detail better. That's why I consider the ideal to be one of each.

Quote:

look for coins that the color doesn't look right

A useless endeavor when the coin's color is not accurately depicted, and even more useless when you don't know how accurate it is.

Cloudsweeper99 · 01-22-2006, 02:01 PM

I'm not a big fan of online auctions for anything that has a high value. There are too many potential pitfalls as pointed out above. I'd prefer just purchasing the item from a coin shop or reputable online dealer with a return policy unless there was some reason to believe that the coin in the auction was a legitimate bargain or unobtainable from other sources.

**Speedy** · 01-22-2006, 04:07 PM

Quote:

A useless endeavor when the coin's color is not accurately depicted, and even more useless when you don't know how accurate it is.

True...but I would think on most Copper coins even if its not depicted too good you could see if it was cleaned...it would be "redder" than a normal copper coin.

Speedy

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