A big thank you everyone for the heads-up. I recently purchased some BU coins from a mail order company not listed here. You can bet I will be checking ALL of them out with a microscope.
Opinion invited..shocked at comments about skyline, et al So surprised to read the negative comments about some of the ads in Coin World...boy, did I trust this mag. How do they stay in existence? Anyhow, Coast to Coast advertises 10 oz. silver bar for $132.75. Assume that's troy ounce? I saw on this web site an ad for Northwest Territorial for a 10 oz. troy bar for $13 and change with a 3 month waiting period. Are they legit? Also, are all silver bars troy ounces? When you see the daily value for silver is that troy also? Many thanks....
dough45 - Welcome to Coin Talk - glad you're here. While you are mad, at least you are able to cut your losses. Try and look at this experience as tuition. We all pay to educate ourselves and you just made an investment! I'm sure every member on this board has made mistakes in buying coins. Don't beat yourself up too hard.
I am glad to find that the old saying,"A deal too good to be true probably is" can still apply today. I thought I was maybe overpaying at my local coin dealer all these years. I started looking at today's [over]grading standards, and reading other people's mail order experiences. Now I have to beg him to never retire!
The hook of HSN A very old post / quote. I'm sure I've seen these guys from " Coin Vault " recently. I flip to whatever shopping channel they are on during commercials. There's no mistaking the pitchmen. They gush on and on about spectacular rarities availible exclusively through their store. Sometimes they do hawk nice coins but they are so overpriced it's comical. Denis
There is something to be said for learning how they sell. They were very good at pitching the material and they sold coins, perhaps more than most of the dealers here. Ruben
Reminds me how I got started Buying from the "mass-merchandisers" actually got me started in coin collecting. Years ago, I answered an ad (I believe an insert from a credit card bill) for 4 "premium" Silvers Dollars for roughly $100. They showed up in an air-tite wooden case in air tite plastic holders. Nice coins I thought (at the time) and put them aside. A few days later while walking around the city at lunch I stumbled upon a coin shop and went inside. To make o long story short, I found out that I recieved common dates Morgans that were AU - BU60 at best that were way overpriced. I sent them back and was able to get a refund (eventually). I then started to frequent the same coin shop and that is how my coin addiction began.
Thanks for saving me time and hassel and money!! I won't mention any names in this email, but I was looking at one of these advertisers mentioned and was going to call and perhaps order an 1932-D brilliant uncirculated Washington quarter for about $1,000.00 and an 1909-S VDB for about $1,749.00. Now I wont even consider calling one of these advertisers. May the buyer beware, and thankful am I for this forum. Respectfully saving my money for when I see the coin and see it in the slab!-Pitbulldoggie
Some of the dealers in Coin World have extensive inventories of hard to obtain items. L & C Coins, for example, has scarce coins such as 1880 dimes. Lately, I have been bidding at Heritage Auctions, but what they have up for auction can only be so extensive.
It depends on what you buy from these advertisers. I've learned the hard way that the coins they say are Brilliant Uncirculated are mostly dipped and sometimes have wear, but not all. It's a real mixed bag. I've bought rolls of modern halves and quarters that looked original, but I've also gotten silver dollars obviously overgraded. But I also buy the American Eagles from them..... didn't they just buy them from the Mint? I think a lot of the worn coins are OK, such as copper cents in Fine or Morgans in AU and advertised as such. You just have to be a smart buyer. But in my experience, I wouldn't buy any of the silver dollars from them advertised as BU. But I've bought Mexican pesos in BU that were frosty original. They can't sell all junk, or no one would buy anymore. But they do seem to unload a lot of dipped coins. I am a bit surprised that the major coin publications continue to give them ads, but they do bring in a lot of money. Like I said, they sell a mixed bag. Just my experience.
Years ago, I bought a few coins (two and three cent pieces, copper nickel Indian cents) from some of those Coin World advertisers we have been discussing, that were advertised as 'Choice BU', had them graded by a grading service, and got back grades around of AU-50 or AU-53 (odd grade, in itself) from the grading services. Price considered, they were not that bad of a buy, but very decidely not what they were advertised to be. You get what you pay for, if your are wise and/or fortunate. I once owned a very nice looking 1857 Flying Indian Cent that had been whizzed, that a grading servide returned to me as a VF-35, and have also owned a lovely 1928 Standing Liberty Quarter with PVC damage that the grading services body-bagged. You get burnt, now and then.
How can you tell if a coins been dipped? I just bought a few buffalos they advertised as premium quality brilliant unc. From skyline before I stumbled upon this thread. Ill see if I can get pics up later to see if someone can tell me I've been duped
bought some peace dollars from them onetime. supposedly "premium quality brilliant uncirculated", they had grafitti carved in them!!!!!! returned them and they sent me back some nice dipped xf. never went back to them.
