That's not much of a picture upon which to base plunking down $500. The word "steal" is relative. I once owned a Chain AMERI. that was a bit better than this. it was my first Chain Cent. I sold it when I bought another that turned out to be a counterfeit. The bad piece came from a well known dealer. This was many years ago. What I'm saying is that counterfeits were made of these coins back when some of the books said were there few counterfeits of large cents. Now there are many of them. When you get to put some "wear" and "damage" on a piece, and sell it, you can hide alot of sins. That's one of the ways that counterfeiters have been able to get counterfeit coins into genuine PCGS and NGC holders.
The real question is why would you buy a coin that rare, valuable and highly counterfeited without third party confirmation?
Because some people, like the buyer, are highly knowledgeable in their specialties and are very confident in their ability to authenticate high-value coins. The buyer does not shy away from raw 5-figure coins.
Yes, but only if you are buying in person, not from photos. In this case, the photos on the eBay site were next to useless. The consignor could not even take out of a 2X2. That should be a red flag.
Maybe, maybe not. I had no qualms dropping several hundred dollars on this with the bad pics below from an international seller. This deal had all the red flags in it, but I would have missed out on an $800 profit had I passed it up. (Yes, it was later certified genuine by NGC). I’m careful with the risks I take
It’s a lot easier to see an off-center strike of a circulated coin than to guess the grade of a damaged Chain Cent in a 2X2 with reflections. But you know that.
S-3 On series I know well, Yes. As for buying from images, so far ebay and paypal still pretty much have the buyers back, so risk is low. Although you may have to do a SNAD claim for the protection.
I guess I should no longer feel bad about having paid roughly twice as much as the OP coin for this one (in 1987).
Why? It's not like you'd be able to spend it then. On the other hand, if you did, I'd happily offer to double your money...