Is this auction a good deal if I can get it for 5000 or less? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260455863314
That eBayer has sold 17 1909-S VDB Lincolns, MS63 and above, all red or red-brown. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Does it look counterfeit to anyone here? I guess the worse I could do it not pay when I win and take a strike against me rather than paying 4grand for a fake coin.
It doesn't look like a doctored coin BUT I can't justify the MS65 grading for that coin at all!! Comparing to others I've looked at, it's not in their league!!!! Everyone thinks PCGS is the holy grail of grading but I've seen and own some poor specimens of gradings by them!!
I would pass on this one price is to high and I'm a little skeptical on whether it's MS65. Heritage Sold a PCGS MS65 and an NGC MS65 in July at FUN and both brought in $3450 including buyers premium.
I would also pass because of the spot on the back, but where are you getting your prices. Heritage has not sold a 65 red for less than $4000 since before 2006, their last 10 averaged 5100+, and none of the last 10 went for less than $4887.
Why would you even think of buying an important key date coin like this without seeing it in hand? I guess I'll never understand you guys that do that. There's NO WAY I'd ever spend that kind of money without seeing a coin in hand.
Maybe not quite $5k, but that is not that far off. BTW I will take all the 65 RED's you can find for $3500.
Usually the coins in old holders sell for more than newer holder, that one might go over $5k. I believe people are buying $10k plus coins sight unseen at Heritage and other auctions
If you are going to spend that much on a coin pay the extra flight costs and view some live at the next auction. Seems like a lot to spend on a fairly common coin you can't see in hand. Common meaning it would not be any work to wait for a better one.
I can't afford big dollar coins, but I see more than half of Heritage bidders that won coins over $100k came from the internet, only about 10% of last Los Angeles lots that went over $70 went to live bidders. I do wonder how does those bidders pay for their lots. My only 1909-s vdb is a cleaned coin, I do consider $5k too much to pay for a relatively common coin. But it does seem to be good investment though, prices have went up a lot over the years.
It is scarce only due to demand and the cent is one of the most collected series ever so it's a pretty good bet that high end SVDB's will not go bankrupt. I know many big players for those 100K auctions that view the lots a week before the auction and then place their bids later. They may also have a trusted dealer check them out before hand to make sure they are up to snuff.
I think $5k is a great price on a very nice 1909-S VDB in PCGS MS65RD... just not sure the coin here is one of the very nice examples. The pics aren't good enough to buy a $5k coin off of in my opinion and there's definitely a carbon spot or other discoloration to the right of the top of the right wheat ear that significantly decreases the coins value at the 65RD level. 65RD SVDBs are plentiful and you should be patient in trying to find a nice one. It's a coin that I wouldn't want to buy on eBay unless there were several awesome pics and the price was right. This is where finding a dealer who knows the look of coin that you like would be of assistance as there are lots of really nice 65RDs out there, but there are also a bunch of bad ones. For reference, I bought my 65RD in my 1909 Set (linked in my sig line) for $6k last year from Eagle Eye while the market was a bit hotter, but I still think I got it at a bargain price at the time since other nice examples were going for $7k and above at the time. Good luck
