And I'm still disappointed. I decided to try a simple dime. Nothing fancy, a vf 1934 large D. Reason is that I wanted to see if I could distinguish the mintmark variety and grade online. After some searching I found one, bought it for 9 dollars, and it arrived today. Conclusion: still not happy. I'll stick with the dealer. I don't care if it takes my dealer five years to help me fill in the random missing holes in my album I would rather rely on him than the pics on Ebay. Here's the pics of the dime. My thinking is that the pic didn't truly match up from the online version. The coin I recieved is indeed the coin, but it has unnatural fields to me...very shiney (hard to picture on the camera but you can definately tell the bright white field from the very dark areas around the lettering). I'm not sure if that is indicative of being cleaned, dipped, polished but it seems this coin is very bright and reflective for the detail that is presented. Oh well, live and let learn for 9 dollars.
Are these that scarce? I have never heard of them, but remember picking out micro S's out of junk boxes for years. I did it just to pass the time and see how many I could buy for the whole $.35 they were setting me back. Have you tried digging through junk boxes for them?
It looks like a problem coin from the images you posted especially what looks to be corrosion around the date....are these your images or were these the sellers?
eBay offers excellent variety of coins, often for unbelievable prices. You can get great items if you do things right: verify the seller is trusted, contact before bidding asking for more images etc. And no one forces you to buy something you are not sure about, it is not sellers fault if you did not like the coin (unless you got scammed and saw "fixed" item images). One bad coin is not a reason to decide to avoid it, IMHO.
Well - you can check some online dealers also. I really do not blame you - at least with a local dealer (or at a coin show) you can see the coins in hand. While I don't dismiss ebay, and I do search it, very seldom do I even find one to bid on. There are a few really good sellers on ebay.
Bid from 100% Positive Feedback sellers, with an acceptable (To you) return policy. I have met some GREAT people on eBay since joining them in the summer of '98! Steve