I am thinking about purchasing a roll of Walking Liberty Halves (20 coins). I am new to coins and I am unsure the best way to go about it. I read a lot of negative things about buying coins on eBay. APMEX has them for $270.52 in average circulated condition: http://www.apmex.com/Product/5293/10_Walking_Liberty_Halves___90_Silver_20_Coin_Roll_Avg_Circ.aspx Do any other reputable dealers sell these for less? Is APMEX good to deal with?
That's not a bad price... less than $2.00 over melt. Not sure what shipping cost is, that has to be considered.
From their site What are the U.S. shipping, handling and insurance charges? $12.95 (USD) for orders of $50.00 - $249.99 (USD) $19.95 (USD) for orders of $250.00 - $999.99 (USD) $24.95 (USD) for orders of $1000.00 - $24999.99 (USD) Free for orders of $25,000 (USD) and over
To the contrary, I'd say this is exactly the sort of thing that's best bought on eBay. Buyer Protection has your back, and with a bit of patience you can do better on the price (although you have to be VERY patient to get them below melt). You can probably get them for $250-260 shipped.
My biggest concern with eBay is fakes. I've read that some of the fakes are so good that it's difficult for an expert to determine if they're fake. The coins I'm interested in are peace dollars, walking liberty halves, and mercury dimes. I'm not looking for rare dates or anything special. Should I be concerned about fakes of these coins? What should I look for?
If you're buying circulated common-date coins, mainly for silver value, I'd think a simple weight-and-dimension check would suffice. I've only had one person try to pass off a convincing fake on me on eBay (as far as I know ), and it was significantly underweight. I've taken quite a bit of the stuff I've bought on eBay and sold it at local coin shows, so far without incident. My impression is that the really good fakes still mostly target more valuable coins. I haven't heard of rolls of fakes on eBay. Note, though, that I'm not a dealer.
boy thats a good deal. you only have to spend 25k bucks to get the free shipping. I wouldnt worry about common date mercury dimes being fake.
what you need to do is get a few of each coin from a LCS that you know are good and study/handle them so you can get a feel for the real deal. fake average junk silver is not at all common. not enough profit in it.
With shipping that puts them at about 30x face value. Is that about normal for silver coins? Do Walkers bring a bit more because they are Walkers? Sorry for all the questions. Trying to learn this part of the hobby.
with spot at $30.30 (23.1X) you should be able to find some for 25X or a bit less. at my LCS they are 23.5X.
Cheap Fakes Are Easily Detected I don't believe you need be concerned about fake half dollars, as they are easily detected by a rare earth magnet, and the coin edge is abnormally obvious to the naked eye of an average viewer. The weight of "copies" generally would vary enough from the 12.5 gram specification that they could be detected with an inexpensive electronic scale. I personally haven't viewed, nor heard of, any copy common silver half dollars or dimes. The inexpensive copy Silver dollars can be easily detected as previously stated because they are generally produced from inexpensive ferrous metal composition. The 90% copies of semi-key and key dates are sold at multiples of "junk Silver" coin cost, because they are worth at least the Silver content, and are usually quality replicas. I've a large collection of the 90% Silver dollar struck (versus cast) replicas, having personally examined same in depth, doubting that the average collector would detect a difference. Modern replicating technology, the fact that copies are often struck on the surplus impact machinery originally used for U.S. production, material being melted scrap coins, generally precludes counterfeit determination. Even a submission of a "copy" coin to a "Top Tier TPG" may result in a "Questionable Authenticity" return response. JMHO :thumb:
What kind of accuracy would you want to look for in an inexpensive electronic scale? I've started building a stack recently and this is one of the items I know I need to get and I'm wondering how many decimal places of accuracy it would be a good idea to get for my scale.... or even better, if there are any particular models/brands that might be recommended.
I just recently got these for $242 w/ship. The deals are still out there. Funny how I call it a deal now. I remember when you could get them for face.
The problem with that ad is the condition "average circulated", which is a euphamizm for extremely worn and nothing like the pic shown. eBay is the better alternative, probably a better price and pics of each coin in the roll - should be able to get at least F to VF coins and maybe some XF's.
An Inexpensive Scale I believe you'll find that an inexpensive scale as in this link will adequately serve your needs: http://www.ebay.com/itm/500-x-0-01g-Digital-Pocket-Scale-Gram-Grain-Jewelry-Coin-Reload-Counting-DS-16-/111000704360?pt=US_Pocket_Digital_Scales&hash=item19d8285568#ht_1305wt_901 The accuracy on this scale is 1/100 gram which represents .4% of a 2.5 gram nominal weight Silver dime, or approximately .3% of a 3.11 gram nominal weight Copper cent. This 500 gram scale will still allow weighing of an entire small denomination coin roll, and has 10 times the accuracy of most higher capacity scales (e.g. 1/10 gram) which accept the greater weights. JMHO :thumb:
An Extraordinary Price!! That is a great price for a roll of Walking Liberty G/VG halves, as I'm consistently being outbid at 25+ times face for G/better rolls of W.L. coins without free S/H. Last weeks "Grey Sheet" Dealer to Dealer "Ask" price was $270/roll of "Good" condition Walking Liberty halves when Silver was at $30.42/Oz. base price, almost $2/Oz. lower than the current ask price. I'm offering large lots of VG/better Halves (loss leaders), Quarters, Dimes (20%, 20%, 60%) at 25 x face, having dealers calling inquiring about Halves at that price. Can't Do!! If one searches long enough, there's a "good deal" to be found. JMHO :thumb:
IDK about online, but at a decent show you should be able to get them cheaper. Heck, for that price you should be able to pick throw a couple of hundred and pick out the 20 you want. WL halves used to carry premiums when silver was $4, I haven't seen them carry premiums for a while. I had a chance to buy a roll of XF WL halves for 2x face over spot a few months ago. I thought about that one........
A dealer at last weekend's show was selling them at $12.50 each. I picked a borderline good 1918-D and S; the later, more common dates ranged up to F/VF. Perhaps I should've snagged more. (I had to move them, halfway through the bin, to let the dealer open the display case I had set them on; I have a nagging fear that I lost track of which bin was which, and sorted through half the bin twice.)
Thanks for the link! I bought one similar to this, and thought I was getting a good deal because it went up to 300g; most only went to 200g. The extra capacity would be handy at times (although it still couldn't quite handle a roll of silver dollars...)
