Has anyone ever bought a coin cheap either on eBay, or somewhere else, because of a poor photo? If so, what kind of deals did you get? Usually coins with poor photos don't bring much, so I assume sometimes one can get a really good deal.
Usually, when I see a poor photo and buy, it is usually a poor coin. With the exception of one, a nice 1937 mercury dime:
I've gotten some good deals on ebay because the photos were really bad. Asking the seller a specific question or two sometimes gives you an edge, unless they post the answer on the listing! I have been stuck with some dogs, but usually I do OK. Most times it's like buying a lottery ticket.
I got a 1832 Half Dime for what I thought was a great price. Mintage 965,000 First pic is the ebay pic (very blurry) I think it would grade XF to AU but my camera does not take the greatest pics.
I bought a collection from eBay one time that had a link to photos of every coin, stored in three-ring sheets. As it turned out, one of the photos cropped out the top row, which included three Walkers and this lady: Lately I've been buying batches of V-nickels from one particular seller. Previously, the seller laboriously laid out each lot on a scanner and imaged both sides of each coin; lately, they've been getting lazy and just dumping them in a pile on the scanner. The lots that show an 1885 or a reverse with an S get higher bids, but the winning bids on the rest of the lots have been steadily creeping up as well -- these lots appear to be truly unsearched, and apparently the people who have been bidding on them feel like they're getting more than their money's worth. I haven't come across any really high-dollar surprises yet, but I'm thinking of staying in the game a bit longer. (Still not sure what to do with the big pile of commons and the smaller pile of culls, though.)
Detecto, My avatar is a picture of my boss at the company Christmas party. I like to think of it as job security. Actually, it is a newly discovered specie of fish aptly named "the blob fish"
