Your thoughts on this Peace Dollar auction.

I wasn't able to watch the video with sound but don't plan to. Many coins have been cleaned and if it's done properly it can benefit the coin. NGC I believe offers a conservation service which does essentially this and then slabs the coin. Many ancient coins have been cleaned or "conserved" I think the term is.

There are certain types of cleaning which are a "no no" for modern coins. The topic is complex and it may take years to learn. I've also avoided EBay as of the 3 coins I've bought there every one I had to return.

My practice is to call and get the seller's (or auctioneer's) opinion of the piece verbally. I'd guess that by looking at a fixed picture there's no way to tell for sure. This is why Heritage has video of some of their more expensive coins showing how the light moves across the coin's surfaces as it's rotated. You can view these on-line for free and it'd give you a better idea on grading.

For lower value coins you could try local shows, however there you have to be careful. The last time I went to a show, they had 100 dealers, not a single decent gold piece of ANY country nor any coin that I could collect: other than scrap silver.

There was one guy who had some sort of 1890 era 2.5D Lib in 61 priced at $900. A quick check showed that he bought the exact same coin out of a Heritage auction earlier that same year for $400. Not that I really looking for a quarter eagle in 61 but this was clearly not an honest offering.

 

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Watched the video by PCGS, um, no gloves ? Just saying.

 

IMHO: $200+ is too much for me to spend without seeing the coin in person or it being graded.

 

Your point? Gloves are a waste of money and increase the risk to a coin

 

In what way do gloves pose a threat?

 

The major one is loss of dexterity making you more likely to drop a coin as well as more likely not to feel you're touching the faces of the coin.

And yes I know one of the retorts is going to be surgeons wear gloves so graders should too. Except that surgeons wear gloves to protect themselves from contact with bodily fluid not the patient or because they work better.

Most of these older coins have been around for many many years before surgical gloves were ever invented they'll be just fine being handled by the rims with bare hands just like they have been countless times already.

 

I guess they do now, but in the old days, it was to protect the patient from infection. Gloves are a lot easier to sterilize than bare hands.

Coins don't require that precaution. They have robust immune systems.

 

I fundamentally disagree. I personally feel that today, the glove of choice is latex gloves, which do not lose dexterity. In fact, one can actually touch the surface of the coin with a powderless latex glove and it will leave no trace.

The idea of cotton gloves is the tradition in Numismatics and it was a bad thing. Cotton gloves transfer dirt from one coin to another, and are in fact ever-so abrasive to surfaces.

But that’s mid 20th century technology and this is the 21st century.

 

You do lose dexterity with latex gloves. Anything covering your hand is impedement to dexterity. There’s times when it’s a positive such a batting gloves so you don’t throw the bat but you have the most control of a coin with a bare hand.

There’s just simply no need for gloves either. Anything circulated has been touched before, any of the older coins have been touched before. Grab a coin by the rim and it’s fine

 

You can touch the surface of your phone with such a glove and it, too, will leave no trace. Not even the function you desired it to perform.

Nope. No gloves. Not now, not ever.

 

Well in a way I've opened up the proverbial can of worms.I made the mention of gloves because I wear them and always have. I didn't think it would be that much of an issue and I understand some will wear them and some won't.
I wear them because I'm concerned about sweat from my hands and oils that could come from that. I hope everyone understands.

 

Nothing wrong if you want to use them, I only mentioned it was unnecessary because some people use the lack of gloves to attack the TPGs

 

Thanks I thought buying cloth gloves to handle coins was always the thing to do. Interesting that many experts feel the opposite of that. I guess I'll use up what I have and not worry from here on out.

 

Sometimes happens. Every once in awhile you may come upon an spectacular appearing key item 'unholdered'......

 

If I had one I'd donate the peace offering to you. You are 100% correct that NFL banter doesn't belong on this site. My apologies!