I just bought an unslabbed Peace $ on Ebay. The surfaces look a bit pebbly to me which raised some suspicions. I weighed it and it came in at 28.5G including the cardboard/plastic holder which I can't remove if I want to return the coin. I then weighed one of my own empty cardboard holders (including 4 staples) to figure out the difference and it weighed 3G. That leaves me with 25G which is underweight by more than a gram. The coin did pass the magnet test. Is my methodology wrong? Are there variances in the weight of these holders? Thanks. Sorry I meant 25.5G
Weigh the actual coin, otherwise you can not know its exact weight. Different cardboard holders might have different density, old ones might swell up due to humidity in environment, for example. Showing here a quality photo of the coin would also help.
It seems the buyer is at a disadvantage if he has to determine authenticity without removing the coin from the 2x2. However, if the "pebbly surfaces" bother you and cast doubt about the coin, by all means send it back.
The 2x2 can be quite easily opened by carefully removing staples and then putting the same ones back into same holes... just a matter of 5 minutes of effort. If the holder is somehow sealed, and seller term for return is unopened holder, then it might indicate something fishy, and returning it would be the best option, if the coin seems fake. Show us a photo before doing anything though.
With all of the coins I have ever purchased, the return privilege is ALWAYS based on the original holder not being opened. Every single one. This is an industry wide standard practice, for rather obvious reasons.
Yeah, too bad some sellers just throw the coin into the envelope without any holder. Sometimes its wrapped in a piece of paper, sometimes, my favorite, glued to a piece of cardboard with sellotape. What can I do, I am after some rare coins often sold by people who know nothing about coins. (By "rare" I mean coins that are quite cheap but offered on eBay few times a year, so standards or not, I got to bid and hope for the best). I still think there will be no harm done if the holder is carefully opened to examine the coin, IF the coin can be returned back without evidence of holder being opened.
But there won't be any good done either, even if he could open it and re-close it with no evidence. Weighing the coin won't prove anything. A great many fakes are of the correct weight. As it is right now, the coin may be light. Scott also thinks the coin has a pebbly surface. So any way you want to look at it Scott will always have questions about this coin and quite probably be unhappy with it. It's not like Peace dollars are hard to find. Return it, and look for another. It's not worth the effort to do anything else. Let alone risk not being able to return it.
It's not like finding it authentic is going to change anything about the concerns of its surface. That alone means, return it.
If any doubts, then by all means return it. One time I bought a key coin froma non ebay auction with a 3 day return policy. Coin came in a bluish colored flip which obscured the coin. Nothing obviously wrong, local dealer thought so too. When I finally cut the coin out of the flip for grading I could see it had been wiped. My key date "bargain" cost me likely $1000. Lesson learned.
Thanks for all the replies. I'm going to send the coin back. I'd rather not post photos because it would compromise the identities of the parties involved. If the coin is a fake, it's possible the seller didn't know. I as the buyer would just rather not take the chance, having been burned before.
If you remove the coin from the holder and find it fake, then eBay customer support will be on your side.
That would be fine if the seller wasn't going to accept the return, but it sounds like he will. Case closed.
