New to the forum / coin collecting... Am I nuts?

Hey all,

My dad passed away about 6 months ago and left me with a pretty large coin collection. Most of it (about 35 lbs) is junk silver (That I'm having fun going through w/ a loupe to try and find errors ) and there are some that are pretty nice. I cataloged most of it which took about a month of heavy hours and learned quite a bit along the way.

Recently, I've thought it to be a good idea to get some coins from ebay that I might be able to grade / collect / sell, etc... In the last week, I've won 3 auctions;

http://www.ebay.com/itm/220994116374?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649 - Received the coins yesterday and they are pretty nice. I will most likely be sending 5 of them in for a regrade (the non-common-ish ones). Went to a local dealer and they said "If it were me, I would send them in for a regrade"

http://www.ebay.com/itm/170822752121?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649 - Even if all of the silver coins are ag-g, I got about 3 times the value of what I paid. Pretty excited to see these.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/150789286480?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649 - Excited and worried about this one. The seller seems fairly sure about their estimates but they are what they are.... estimates. If that 1891-CC VAM-3 truly IS a MS66, I don't really understand why they wouldn't send it in for a $15k+ payday. I would be ecstatic if it came back an MS65 and would be kind of disappointed if it came back any lower than that. It looks pretty flawless in the pictures, save for some weird mark above the eagle to the left.

I have been taking WAY too much time looking at coins... My wife isn't too pleased about it . So I figured I'd try and get some feedback as to how I am doing. Trying to figure out the best way to take pictures of these coins but I don't have the best equipment and it's really hard to discern details from high grade (ms64 vs ms65) coins.

Open floor of discussion and I won't take offense if you think my coin choices are dumb! :thumb:

 

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Welcome to CT! :welcome: Wow, you dropped some serious coin on two of the three eBay lots. Congrats on winning them. Looks like you are into Morgans, which is not my area but many here on CT are experts. You should be hearing from them soon. Post pics when you get them in hand. :smile TC

 

Welcome to the neighborhood!

It is extremely important that you exercise caution when buying uncertified coins on SleazeBay. There are plenty of sellers out there who will rip your pants off to get at your wallet.

Chris

 

Grading just takes practice, thats all. The more you do it the more you learn and the more accurate you become. So just keep at it and you will soon learn the difference between a MS64 and a MS65 or MS66 ect.

As for equipment you can make a decent setup nowdays with a $20 digi camera, a $15 home made copystand, and a $5 light.

 

Sounds like my ex...

 

Completely agree. The seller does have a full refund guarantee, though they have had some sketchy feedback in the past (to be fair it was more than a year since his last). Only thing that makes me worried is that I asked him why he wouldn't send in the coins to get graded since he seemed so confident. This was his response "Even though I am a PCGS Platinum member, I rarely send coins in for grading. I like selling nice ungraded collections." However most of his current auctions are for graded coins. It's possible he acquired them that way so who knows. If the one coin grades to a MS65 (1891CC) then the auction pays for itself. Also I think I might take the collection to the local dealer just to make sure they haven't been tampered with before I leave feedback.

One thing I'm starting to notice is that MS64-65 coins (at least morgans) aren't quite as nice as I would expect them to be. Quite a few bag marks and even a planchet flaw or two.

 

Some of the variances in grading is due in part to "market grading", but where the CC's are concerned, they are given much more latitude since the vast majority of them remained in bags for 80+ years. Think how you would look if you were shuttled from one vault to another with 800 lbs. of people sitting on your face.

Chris

 

Going to test my camera / numismaticraphy

1892 + 1902 morgans. If you haven't clicked the links, or even if you have. Guess the grades? Let me know if there is enough light. They really have a nice luster in person!

 

Interesting. I put in the registry number into PCGS and it showed that the coin (1892) was bought from a Heritage auction in 2005. There is a picture there and everything. http://coins.ha.com/c/item.zx?hdnJumpToLot=1&saleNo=398&lotNo=2497&x=0&y=0#Photo

 

#1 Welcome to the CoinTalk forum. I look forward to your posts.

#2 Buying raw coins and even slabbed coins on EBay can be very dangerous. There are counterfeit slabs and coins that can fool experts. Please go slowly and ask questions about prospective lots BEFORE you bid on them. Nobody here is going to be bidding against you in 99.99999998% of EBay sales.

#3 Do you have a copy of the Coin Dealer’s Newsletter (Grey Sheet)? It shows the prices that dealers typically would buy & sell certified coins. These are typically the prices that one might be able to negotiate in a coin sale. The red book, NGC, and PCGS price guides typically list prices that are much higher. These other price lists may cause you to think that a batch of Morgan dollars is worth more than you will ever be able to get for the coins.

#4 Select a couple of the slabbed Morgans you just purchased & see what a local dealer will offer you for them. Perhaps you could use one of the better date coins and one of the more common date coins for the experiment. You don't need to actually sell them but it would be good to see just what the offer is.

There are dozens of things I would like to discuss with you before you spend any more thousands of dollars on coins. If you send me a PM, then I will reply with my cell phone number & we can talk.

#6 Have you ever attended a large coin show? There is much to be learned at a large show.

#7 Do you own a copy of the Morgan Red Book or any book that specifically describes the nuances of Morgan dollar collecting? I trust that you understand that most Morgan dates are available in EF-AU for about $25 each.

BTW, I am having trouble posting & getting Email notifications from CT right now so if you don’t hear back from me immediately it is only because of this current computer trouble at my side.

Your new coins look like they would be a lot of fun. Have fun.

 

Hmm.... I am a graphic designer, let's see if some photoshop work helps the detail + lighting. Please note that on the reverse, some of the visible markings are actually on the slab. IE: fogginess, 'gash' on the T in states and scratch under the eagle's beak.



Overall I think this gives it a more realistic look. On the obverse, near the cheek / jawline there is a gouge that the dealer mentioned was a "planchet flaw"? Would that keep this from grading higher if I sent it in for a regrade? Thanks!

 

I looked-up the Grey Sheet price for the 1892 in MS64. Bid is $875 and ask is $950. In MS63 the price is about 1/2 and in MS65 the price is about 4x. Nice coin.

There are several good books describing Morgan coin grading. The books describe things like primary focal areas and other considerations of grading. There is no substitute for viewing many certified coins and seeing how the TPG(s) graded them.

If you do a search at CT for "photography" you will find many threads describing good photographic techniques. Looking at your photos here it is obvious that you know how to take a good photo. It is important to make the photo look like the coin in hand. Please post lots of photos :smile .

 

Hello again Jblade00,

I added up the Grey sheet "ask price" for all the slabbed Morgans in MS64 and it totaled $2,209. You got the lot for $2,025. If you're interested, here is the math:

Date / Ask Price
1879-s 78
1882 120
1882-0 120
1882-s 90
1885-0 78
1886 78
1887 78
1888 78
1889 78
1892 950
1898-0 80
1900 78
1901-0 85
1902 140
1902-0 78
Total = $2,209

I'm curious if you inspected this seller's feedback & history before you purchased. Yours is the largest sale for which this seller has ever been involved. It is always wise to scrutinize the seller especially if you are going to drop $2k.

There is no way to grade the raw Morgans from the seller's photos (or anyone's photos for that matter). However, there are apparently some scratches on the 1887 & 1897 obverses. Perhaps the scratches on the plastic but you should closely inspect all the raw Morgans. There appear to be some nice coins in the collection but for the $4k price tag, you should have a grading expert review them all.

 

You're right that it was the first lot of that size that the seller sold. They also had another lot of coins (MANY more coins, but less valuable) that I was originally more interested in. I had a feeling this person didn't really know what they had, which is more what I want to find. I like the idea of "treasure hunting" in much the same way I did when I first got my dad's coins. I was in contact with the seller and had setup a deal for $3200 for EVERYTHING they had left (basically both auctions) if they didn't get bid on. The lot I won didn't get bid on originally and was relisted, I wasn't really worried about it at first. However, the 15 morgans lot ended first and got a bid or two on it with like 30 mins left. This made me worried that I would miss out on the entire lot. I wasn't wanting to spend more than $3500-3600 for EVERYTHING so it would mean that the other lot wouldn't be able to get any bidders either (it was starting at $1500 with no bidders and about 2 hours left). I sniped the morgans lot at 2k, which I wasn't really comfortable with but figured it would even out once I got the other lot. There were more graded morgans in the other lot (greysheet $1000 for 5 morgans) with a TON of other stuff. With about 30 minutes left in the second auction, it started getting action. I waited until the very end and it was sitting at $1700. I put in a bid of $2100 as my MAX with 5 seconds left. Needless to say I lost it, with 1 second left... for $25. I was FUMING since this was really the auction that I wanted. I know I would have ended up ahead after going through everything, after adding just the main stuff up it greysheeted for $2500-3000+, then there were piles of things that they didn't list out that I could see some of in the pictures plus some other stuff.

Moral of the story is I didn't get what I wanted originally and am hoping that a few of these upgrade! If the 1892 upgrades, I will have doubled my money from one coin and the rest is gravy

As for the 4k auction, if the estimates are even close I will have done alright. And if that 1891CC is a 65 I'll be even, if it's a 66 (as claimed, which I HIGHLY doubt) then I'll be eating confetti!

 

Very rarely will you find true treasure on ebay without having to pay for it. Sometimes yes you could possibly find some 'treasure' if your lucky, but nowadays if something is valuable the price and bids will generally reflect it and if it's a BIN it will disappear within seconds of being posted. One thing I've learned using ebay is that buying raw coins off ebay is a gamble that usually ends with the house winning.

 

Thats a nice lot of Morgan dollars and some other stuff. Before you get anymore Morgans (if you still want) you should probably get the book on Morgans. Read up on them and find out more about the history and condition of them. Then decide if you still want to continue. But I'm guessing if you dropped close to 7k on them you're probably aiming on getting all the mint marks.

Also the auction with the raw Morgans, you should inspect all the coins and make sure none are problem coins. Especially the key and semi key date coins.

 

You got some nice Morgans there, I'm Jealous.

 

Wanted to post some more pictures with different (LED) lighting. Have some control coins as well to show different in grades.

 

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