Just got 2 new coins and am wondering what they're really worth. Also do they look ok to you? The half looks like it was dipped and the 20 cent piece in heavily warn and bent. Thanks.
Just for the heck of it, let's try something different. Tell us what you paid for them and why you felt what you paid was fair. Thanks.
I'd pay max 30$ for the top and 10$ for the bottom. But in all truth I wouldn't have bought either of them, not a fan of cleaned coins or coins I cant even really see. Just my 2 cents.
The 20 cents doesn't look much like a coin after what it suffered over the years, personally i would have bought it for under $3. The 50 cents shows a bit of harsh cleaning (area in front of the face/chin), looks like its worth up to $50, IMHO. If it was indeed dipped and that is harsh cleaning marks, then up to $40 top.
Thanks. Well depends how you look at it. I think the half was $55 and the 20 cent piece was $40. Of course over the past month I bought almost $300 dollars worth of stuff of the guy and that included the 1998 close AM Lincoln I posted the other week. I'll admit to it not being the best way to go about it but I know very little about these coin types and just got them to fill holes in my type set. Looks like I didn't do that well with these 2. Taxidermist I think I see what your talking about in the picture of the half but I'm not noticing any "cleaning scratches" on the coin itself. It just appears to have that lifeless dull shine thing going on that makes me think it was dipped.
Both are cleaned and problem coins which I personally stay away from as there value is limited and the collector base for such coins is much more limited as well. I don't think there is anything wrong with these coins for a type set but if you ever decide to sell I think you are potentially going to lose money.
Indeed.....I don't buy cleaned/problem coins. They become your problem when you try to get rid of them.
Personally I would not have bought either coin. The 20 Cent is a cull or at best a hole-filler. I would not have paid more than $10 or $12 for it (and I would have felt bad doing that). The CBH is a better coin but has been harshly cleaned. I would not have paid more than about $40 for it, perhaps a tad more if it is an scarce Overton variety. Many better examples of each coin are available for the prices you paid. Remember the addage - Act in haste; regret at leisure.
At the very least, you will know how to proceed with this fellow in considering any future purchases. I don't suppose he doesn't offer a return policy . Just for your consideration, we do have a classified section on cointalk, and you can post a want add for coins that you need. I'm fairly certain, our members will give you a better shake than the guy at a yard sale. Live and learn. That's what it's all about.
That's right. We learn by doing. And we all learn from our mistakes. (I like to say that's why I know so much. [I've made a LOT of mistakes.]) If you meet a coin collector (or anyone for that matter) who says he has never made a mistake you know either a) he is lying or b) he has never done anything. Don't worry about these purchases. Even if you paid too much and got coins that have problems you are not out a lot of money and you are still able to fill a couple of holes in your type set. Use this experience as a learning lesson. (I wish my biggest mistake buying coins was this small.)
There is a market for every coin. There is nothing wrong with problem coins as long as you pay problem coin prices and expect to sell at problem coin prices. The rub is when you buy too high and expect to sell too high. Since I specialize in early coppers on a budget, there's no way to get around problem coins since they represent the bulk of the coins out there and certainly the majority of affordable ones. You can readily get hit hard buying problem free coins too high. What some dealers do is buy problem free really low from the naive so their risk is virtually eliminated. This is not the business risk spread that is legitimate. It's the buy at $50, sell at $500 transactions. I guess my own view is that coins should by bought by dealers at no lower than half the anticipated return (Marked price minus anticipated discount) to be legitimate. Then smaller margins are the method of competing among the dealers. But I may be naive there as well. From my perspective, I'd like to think I could sell my purchases for at least half what I paid.
