A Lesson Learned - Don't Make My Mistake

Been receiving catalogs from an outfit named Gold Standard Auctions. By all appearances they were peddling some decent coins. However slightly out of focus photography and glitzy packaging did a good enough job of hiding reality that I took a dive. Results are below.

I'll preface this by saying that I should have seen the forest through the trees. The first auction they sent me advertised a two cent pattern dated 1863. What I didn't know and thankfully @Tall Paul clued me into is that the motto on that pattern should read "God Our Trust". The photography was just fuzzy enough to make the motto unreadable. I sent a note to the auction house asking for a better shot of the motto. They didn't respond.

Now the auction I took place in, I bid for ten coins and won seven. Coincidentally all seven were won at my max secret bid. What a coincidence, huh?

I had high hopes for the twenty cent coin. But as you can see, the twenty cent, twenty five cent and half dime all are polished like an old Buick bumper. That was not apparent in the auction photography. The half dollar isn't quite as bad however the reverse rim ding was obscured by the fuzzy photography. The other coins I won were slabbed and alright. Still yet, they happened to all run up to my max secret bid.

I am posting this so that if you should receive the glitzy Gold Standard Auction catalog, be very very wary and don't dive into a pile of problem coins like I did.......

 

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Oh, that sucks... those are all polished pretty bad. Thanks for the warning. This is like GSC on Ebay!

 

I always call coins like that "skinned". Sorry. James

 

I wish they had "nuts" button. Thanks for the info.

 

Polished is the pits, happy you're letting us know!

 

I’ve never heard of them and best that I haven’t. Sorry you got hosed.

 

Did you request the catalogues or did they start showing up unexpectedly? Once they ignored my request for better pictures, I wouldn't have bid a single cent.

 

I been active in local auctions and that seemed to open the door for junk mail from every auction house in the nation. And heck, I look looking at coins so I didn’t mind the added junk mail so much….. And yes, I do deserve the dunce cap for bidding after the auction house didn’t respond to me. Big time.

 

In the past I've bought a few coins from GSA auctions. I primarily deal in IHCs and should have known better. Since they use some funky grading terms for their raw coins that should have been the first clue. If you want some raw coins to fill in a date set and don't care about details coins, then they probably have something for you. They do sell some PCGS and NGC slabbed coins but most are typically so-so grades. In the past GSA came up in this forum and the reviews weren't that good. Don't fall for their gimmicky auction titles, like, Railroad Tycoon collection or some other ridiculous ones to make it sound like some new collection made it to the market; it's just gimmick!

 

I have seen GSA come up here before.... Why, oh why did my brain not tie that up with Gold Standard Auctions?? They do have some funky terms, "closely uncirculated" or "nicely circulated"..... Where did they dream those up from?

 

I see two reviews on google where they were told that in order to get a return, they had to submit the coin for grading. One a fake 1877 TD and the other a 3 coin purchase where the coins were all scratched and cleaned. So probably nobody is going to go to the expense of submitting, and even if they did, GSA gets a slabbed coin back? The reviews are also interesting because the one-star people seem to know what they're talking about, and the five-star people sound like they'll never have any idea that they were duped. What a country.

 

@Randy Abercrombie I'm sorry to see this lot that you picked up. I've bought three coins from them at auction over the past 4 years or so. In fact, this one is pretty special: it was the final Capped Bust half dime marriage, 1835 LM-2, that I needed to complete all marriages (not all REmarriages; that is a taller order). But this is a broadstruck railroad rim coin. And someone (perhaps an error coin enthusiast, or maybe a shill for the auction company) bumped me up to a pretty high price, relative to the condition of the coin. But there's an error guy who has already asked me to sell it to him if I ever sell. It seems that Capped Bust errors are scarce. Anyway, I avoid their coins that are described as "CLOSELY UNCIRCULATED" or "NICELY CIRCULATED," as those are complete nonsense terms. (The other two I bought, not pictured here, include a low-grade cud coin that is an R5, and a scarce 1832 half dime in a PCGS MS61 holder that went for a price that I considered fair). Net net, I had to wade through a LOT of yuk coins to find three that I like... but I still like 'em. PS. They called me once to tell me they had some new coins posted. I told 'em, politely, "don't call me.. I'll call you."

 

When I see "GSA" here, I think of silver dollars sold in the 1970s by the Government Services Administration.

I wasn't aware of this other... entity... until you posted your cautionary tales. For which, again, thanks!

 

From my perspective, you are a wonderful contributor here. Looking out for the community is greatly appreciated!

it’s not uncommon to relearn old lessons either. I’m sorry that you are taking a bit of a financial bite, but rest assured that other members here have relearned the same lesson but have kept that to themselves. Looking out for the community here is greatly appreciated, even as a reminder.

 

I have had a firm "fuzzy pictures" no bid attitude for a long long time. I got hit on ebay with a severely scratched coin where photos were clearly misleading. I also asked to return it for a refund and was hit with a vulgar email. Filed a complaint with ebay and gave him a negative review - then more profane emails (which to me were funny). Ebay rejected my claim and from that point forward me and my father went forward purchasing with paypal and using the credit card option for the extra protection. With the credit card my father never lost a complaint - as a matter of fact twice ebay told him to keep the coin and refunded him the money.

 

As David Bowers once said --and I paraphrase-- if you can't accept that once in a while you will be taken advantage of, you'll never be able to really enjoy the hobby. Back in the pre-slab days, there was a flip side to that: A coin ordered as choice BU from an advertisement in World Coin News, that arrived in superb gem BU and many years later graded as finest known. Didn't happen often, but when it did what a treat!

 

*Sorry - Double tapped...

 

Me too. I have a firm policy. If the pictures are bad, I don't even consider bidding. Taking decent, but not necessarily great, pictures of coins is not that hard, especially when the coins are raw. Bad pictures of coins for sale are often posted on the Internet for someone’s advantage, and it is almost never is for the benefit of the buyer.

You also have to be very careful with raw (unslabbed) coins. Quite often they are not slabbed for a reason, once more not for the benefit of the buyer.

 

I've never purchased from them. ALL of them are cleaned? That's a great heads up! Their photos are always all washed out.

 

I think you are 100% correct. The exception is an individual seller with a small finite inventory they are selling off. Probably passed down to them. There is some treasure out there, but you have to be willing to hunt for it.