Buying a 1916-D Mercury. Certified or not?

No.

 

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My mother saved my Lincoln penny collection from when I was a boy. After her death in 1984 going through her stuff we found my Whitman folder. It contained my 09-S VDB. Even though I bought a better certified one later that coin is one I would never sell. I remember back in the early 50's trading my friend Billy 25 other Lincolns for that 09-S VDB. We never though about the value of the coin but being able to fill your folder and going around the neighborhood bragging about it. Never did fill mine but got that one. Wish those times could come back. The top guy in the neighborhood had the 1950-D Jefferson.

 

Maybe I look in the wrong places, but most uncertified 16-Ds I see are AG-G and priced at or over book values. If you did find a nice one raw and sent it in for certification, would the costs out way the risk of getting it 3 weeks later in a body bag?

 

You had better know if the 1916-D Mercury Dime you are buying raw is genuine. According to the Grey Sheet, the coin is worth $685 in Good. How much of discount you get because you are buying raw is a good question. People don't give good coins away.

Let's say it's 20% off. That would be about $550. If you get one with a glued on mint mark, that piece is worth $1 melt. If you get a Chinese counterfeit that is made out of "Chinese silver" (some sort of alloy that resembles toned silver), you got nothing.

If you are an expert who can spot counterfeits, go ahead. But be advised that part of the $135 you save on the purchase will be eaten up with postage both ways and a grading fee.

It doesn't sound like a great deal to me, unless you are 100% certain that what you bought it genuine. Even then the savings are not that great.

 

As many have said already in this thread, I would only buy a 16-D certified. There are actually more fakes than there are genuine coins as this coin is sought after by many different collecting interests.

Although I don’t have a personal rule on a dollar amount that requires certification, I think that TOUGHcoins is right that you should learn the coin so that you can pick up raw specimens for under market value, but that does involve risk.

You have enough budget to buy a nice solid G in a top tier slab. I would find a really nice one for the grade.

 

With guide prices like those, I’d stick to a slabbed coin. That’s too much money to risk.

 

Unless I was an expert on this particular date and mint mark, given the cost I'd buy it slabbed and not risk shelling out many hundreds of dollars for a fake. If I'm buying a coin like this for my Dansco album I'd still buy a slabbed one and crack it out. Now if I wanted to take the time to learn how to authenticate a 16-D then I'd reconsider buying a raw one.

 

i like the one I got in 1958- from circulation. Today, go to a slab!

 

I love to hear stories like this, when kids of the 50s and 60s traded coins like baseball cards.

 

For authentic 16-D Mercs there are plenty of high res photos, such as TrueView, available for reference. However, there aren't many detailed photos of fakes. So here's one I got on Etsy for educational purposes and to temporarily fill the slot in my Dansco. Not all fakes are created equal, though. Still, maybe it can be of some help to you.

 

Growing up in rural Pennsylvania in the 50s, Ike, I had only my brother to trade coins with. And all of our coins came from Mom & Dad. Baseball cards were a different story, I had thousands of them.

My most cherished card was an autographed 1956 Bill Mazerowski, signed at a game in Forbes Field on Memorial Day of 1956 which, of course, was transferred from my shoebox to my wallet after the 1960 World Series. I can't remember whether it was the (Brooklyn) Dodgers or the (New York) Giants that year, but both teams played the Pirates during the family's annual trek to Pittsburgh on Memorial Day.

 

That "1916-D Mercury Dime" is an obvious fake to those who are familiar with the artwork on the real thing @Ike Skywalker, but to less experienced collectors, it might look just fine. Add to that the factor that the piece is small, and those who might not be handy with a magnifier might miss all the problems.

The color looks good, and since it’s worn, some people might think that makes okay. Crooks know about that attitude. They even rough up their fakes to get “details grades.” That’s one of the ways that they have gotten their products into NGC and PCGS slabs.

I don’t want to scare people away from the hobby, but you need to know what all of us are up against.

 

For all you certified types, what makes you think NGC or PCGS can do it any better than we can? Oh, here we go, "They're the professionals!" As if to suggest that canned reply isn't as predictable as it is nonresponsive to the question. And then, what do you think we did before the TPGs? "Got burned!" Another very brilliant, predictable reply. "Confirmation bias," and I'll save you the bother of looking it up: "It's true because you want it to be."

The fact is, as @ToughCOINS suggests, the TPGs go on the same, exact studies out there that are available to anybody, even schmucks like us. Why certification, then? Money. Are you all hearing this? In those slabs, they're marketable. That's it. Done.

 

Not only are they more marketable, but they are more liquid. They are more easily turned into cash quickly, and most often for more cash than raw. Of course there are always exceptions, but as a rule.

 

Yeah and we don't need the FDA either...

 

no way should anyone buy a 16D without it being slabbed.

 

I thought the Fake Dime Administration was a myth.

 

Certified only.

 

If you are going to buy one wouldn't you have it authenticated?

Why wait until then to find out you have a counterfeit.

Buy one already certified or authenticated..........why go through the hassle?

 

Simple, price