Some questions for fellow slabbed coin buyers.

I wonder if that one is more popular because of the design.
I checked eBay sales and it seems like 69s tend to bring $30 or more over the last few months (outside of one sale that was lower).
There is one listing currently at $10 plus shipping. It will be interesting to see what it ends for.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/364959745034

 

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That's easily a F-VF coin, dependent upon grading date and TPG! JMHO

 

I don't think it would go much above 4 at PCGS or NGC. Maybe a 6 or 8 but I don't see it approaching Fine.

 

Since I refuse to bother with eBay auctions, that doesn’t work. The point is, the grading services have raised their prices and done away with bulk grading to the point where cheap slabs are no longer available. That means that you now have to pay $30 or more, lot more from what I can see, for a $5 coin in a slab instead of $10 to $20 as it was before. The result is I will no longer be able to keep my type sets at 100% complete.

 

Many coins in MS-60 to 62 holders are over graded. They are often AUs that got a bump. With grade-flation, it's only gotten worse.

If the coin has a CAC sticker, someone will buy it and probably pay a premium. CAC has that much of a hold on some people. Over graded coins in the holder can sell for discounts under the listed price, but usually for more than the next grade down, unless there is no price spread between the grades. In other words, someone will always believe the grade on an NGC or PCGS graded coin. As you go down the pecking order of slabbers, the number of people who take the grade at face value also goes down.

I don't collect P-L Morgans, or actually Morgan Dollars at except for some historical pieces. The trouble with Proof and P-L coins is that every mark on them is magnified in appearance. Dealers might try to get more money for semi-P-L, but unless it's a better date that often comes ugly, like the 1895-O, most collectors don't care.

Unless it's a cheap coin, if you go to the trouble to break out of the holder, the only smart thing to do is to send it in for a re-grade. A coin that looks undergraded in the holder is usually easier to sell, sometimes for a little premium. You only crack out coins for an upgrade, unless you want them for an album.

Yes. It's sitting in my collection.

This Bechtler dollar is in a PCGS EF-40 holder with a gold CAC sticker. PCGS got it right, and CAC got it wrong with the gold sticker. The coin has been lightly brushed and does not deserve a grade beyond EF-40.

I bought this no long after CAC went national and got caught up in the hype.

 

First of all, John, I would like to thank you for taking the time to answer all of the questions. Second, that Bechtler dollar looks overly awesome - I've never seen one before!

With those dollars, I'm not sure how to grade ones with only letters, as most pieces such as California gold $2.50-$50 had a design on at least one side with details rising seemingly higher than others, but are often found in AU grades or below.

All I can say is: if you've got that in your collection, then buddy, you must have a lot of exciting things. I definitely hope that there are more of these out there so people like me can continue to learn about them.

 

The Bechtler dollar was one of my goof ups with respect to price. At the time I bought that piece, the price in EF was, in round numbers, $1,000. In AU, it was $5,000. The Gold CAC sticker implies that the coin is under graded and might qualify for the next grade up. Therefore I paid much closer to $5,000 than $1,000. In retrospect, the coin grades closer to EF than AU because of lighthairing.

Some people would have paid over the AU price because of the gold CAC sticker. The view it the sticker as a great rarity. I think that is irrational.

As for grading such coins, it’s done by surfaces. If you have a talent, and for most of us, it you look at many thousands of coins over many years, you see that the surfaces of coins in given grades have a certain look if they have not been altered.

Some people can never learn to grade coins, even if they study the grading books intently. Many collectors become pretty good at it over time. Some get better than “pretty good.” You need to learn how to grade well if you are to survive as a dealer.

I am a coin nerd. When I was in college, in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, I studied the Photograde book as intently as I did some of my college textbooks. Before that, I have studied the Brown and Dunn grading book. Neither of those works were perfect, but they got me started.

As for the Bechtcher dollar, it was the first gold dollar that was made in The United States. It inspired the Federal Government to issue the coin, which makes it an interesting little piece of history.

 

For those curious, this 2021 PCGS PR 69 DCAM quarter ended at $20.58 plus $4 shipping.