Buying a high value raw coin on eBay? (1943 Ireland Florin)

It looks genuine to me. I don't see any distorted or missing design or anything else suspect. I hope it works out well for you.

 

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The 3 looks a bit off from the ones I see on PCGS since the bottom loop is bigger, but then looking at the ones that sold on HA, one of them had a 3 that looked like that.

Who knows, we'll see what PCGS says I guess. If there's a even a 20% chance it's real it's worth temporarily tying up the money and losing $200 to PCGS to me.

 

Do you know how many obverse dies were made for 1943?

 

The only thing I know is that the London Mint (early Irish coins were made in London even after independence) delivered one bag of 1000 of these coins to Ireland but due to the war and increased silver price they didn't want them and they were intended to be destroyed but inadvertently some were released into circulation and about 35 are thought to exist.

Based on that it seems weird there are a bunch of obverse dies, but looking at the 4 sales on Heritage Auctions, one of the 3's looks (to me at least) different from the other examples.

The population report for PCGS is 9, NCG is 6, ANACS is 1 and ICG shows 0 so if the estimate of 35 is correct about half are presumed to be raw. Then again I have no idea how they came up with the 35 number.

 

Good luck, they say no risk no glory and I've taken plenty of risks on ebay but never for anything close to that amount. We'll see but since it's so rare, I think there's a high probability it's legit!

 

Thanks! I'm absolutely awful at spotting fakes but nobody here seems to think it's quite obviously fake so that's good enough for me to risk it. eBay is pretty good about their buyer protection so while I think there's a very good chance this doesn't work out, I feel confident I'll get refunded everything but grading fees if it doesn't.

I'll definitely update this once I find out.

 

Yes, keep us posted and you never know, if you need to get a refund, this thread may help your case!

 

If you really wanted it then as we say over here "who dares wins".

 

The tail of the 3 looks like it might have taken a hit. dang, dang, dang, I hope it is real...the only things I have ever contested on e-bay, the seller just said "keep it"

 

Yeah the more I look at that bottom half of the 3 the more I wonder. The closet one I found that looks like that is this on one HA linked below, but it doesn't seem to be as open or thin.

https://coins.ha.com/itm/ireland/ir...3033-23327.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515

 

The bottom half of that 3 doesn't concern me that much as the difference can be from anything. The harp and the geometric designs on it, they look deeper on the graded coin above than the one that was for sale, if anything looks mushy to me it would be those designs. That said, we sit, we wonder and we wait, it's not over till the fat lady sings and I haven't seen her around for quite a while.

 

I can't believe I didn't see this before...

 

Yeah that's less encouraging. I didn't notice the red lined orientation until you pointed it out as I'm very bad at recognizing things like that, but the 3 looks pretty significantly different.

 

I've seen a few 1943 Florins listed on Etsy really cheap $7, $15, £4.99 etc
They are described as "Restrikes"

That is a word to get around "Copy" or "Counterfeit"

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/433...7d:LTa907ac228c55241fbbc2e288967f150ee49bd087

 

Oooops, sorry folks, fumbling fingers in the early AM.

 

Yeah, the $150 service claims to have a 5 day turnaround time and eBay gives you 30 days.

Granted the $150 service plus fees plus shipping both ways will end up being like $225 so this is probably going to be a fair bit of wasted money.

 

Yeah that's what it has. Most of the prececimal set isn't too bad. Finding the Dansco albums was tougher than filling them. I have the 1943 Halfcrown as a PCGS 15 so it's not a great example but it's certainly a lot cheaper than the Florin from the same year. I've also got the complete decimal set other than the 3 1986 coins, but those aren't that hard to find as the mint sets go for about $500. I haven't really got around to the Irish Euro sets but those are easy enough and I have almost every Irish Euro commemorative coin. Going back further I have a phase 2 and 3 Hiberno-Norse penny and about half of the siege coins (gun money, Ormonde money, Limerick money) so that's why I was so motivated to get this Florin but it's all but impossible to find at any price.