Question about Littleton

I aquired 9 (3 from San, Philly, and Denver) morgan dollars in these nice velvet cases. They are from Littleton, and come with a certificate saying they are uncirculated.

Is there any reason I should wonder that they are not uncirculated? Or is Littleton reputable in their grading? If so, I will post some pics for grading.

Also, some beatiful toning happening from these cases as well.

Here is one set:

 

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It's been my experience that Littleton is accurate in their grading. That San Fran set looks nice, by the way......
Paul

 

they are uncirculated. they just exzibit toning. they reject lots of coins that don't meet their standards and sometimes even undergrade so you get what you pay for.
but they tend to be VERY overpriced.

 

For the record, I paid $250 for the group. So about $28 a piece. There was also the Carson City set, but that was beyond my price threshold.

 

Littleton in my opinion is very overpriced. You can get a VF 1914-D Lincoln cent for about $450-$500. They sell them for $630. As long as you know what the coin is going for, you shouldn't have much of a problem. But if your a novice collector, you can over-pay on a coin and you would never know. It's always good to study how much coins go for, great way to prevent from losing money when the time comes to start selling. I love that Unc set of Morgans.

 

I will agree Littleton does do a good job grading the problem is they charge way to much for what you
Get this goes for coin,s and notes, in my earlier years as a collector i bought from them several
Times was even on there automatic shipment plan until i got educated and realized i was paying
Way to much!

 

But for the OP question, I believe everyone would say their grading is good. I personally love to buy Littleton coins off of the people who bought them from Littleton.

 

Yep ! You had better move those coins into a Holder. NGC now offers a Three coin holder for these, which I would strongly urge you to invest in.

 

Well I'm going to dissent. I have seen some of their items, which clearly were over-graded, and over priced . For the most part though, they are not the worst either.

 

I posted all of the images here:
http://www.cointalk.com/t140656/

let me know what you think

 

Littleton's Pricing

Littleton's pricing is fine. You get what you pay for.

Anyone can build a computer -- and many people do... and those who do think you got cheated by HP or Apple who charge rip-off prices for a pretty plastic wrapper. The US Mint sells 1 to 2 million Mint and Proof sets each year. But only 100,000 people subscribe to Coin World, and only 35,000 belong to the ANA. Like the computer nerd who builds his own, you are a coin geek. Not everyone is. Littleton serves that wider market well.

They do not buy problem coins. When their buyers travel around the country visting dealers, they take only the best coins and pay the best prices for them. Ask a dealer who has sold to Littleton. (Where else do you think they get coins from? They don't make them.) So, when you buy a VF Indian Head Cent, that is what you get, not an impaired XF or a cleaned coin with VF details.

Second, as a result of the first, their catalogs and website offer positive choices. You do not have to sift through junk to find the gems.

That 2nd point bears on the overwhelming cost burden of a hobby: we love driving 30 minutes to a coin store, 30 minutes home, spending 2 hours in the store looking at junk to find the gem, and then asking for a lower price. It's fun! ... but it is expensive, a hidden cost that we do not tally. So, when you pay a few dollars more for a Littleton coin, it is because you saved on the cost of purchase.

Realize though, that with Littleton, you still have to look through a lot of stuff to see what you want, so the shopping experience still awaits, except that you are at Nieman Marcus, not the recyclers.

When you say you can get it for "less" realize that dealers sell to you at Greysheet because they paid even less than that. Someone got soaked and you think when you buy at Greysheet, you will sell at Red Book -- and you might; it's part of the fun of the hobby. But, generally, the great bulk of all numismatic material tends to sell for one-fourth of retail. If you do better than that, it is because you are in the stream, one of the cool guys. So, enjoy that, but do not heap scorn on the retail buyer who just wants to enjoy a nice coin.

 

Technically speaking not an accurate statement ...I agree that the coins will indeed continue to tone/tarnish in those holders and Doug is correct about the need for removal but I don't believe they will actually corrode

Silver (Chemical symbol Ag) is a brilliant gray white metal that is quite soft and malleable. It is quite resistant to corrosion and does not oxidize easily, although it readily forms a surface tarnish of silver sulfide.

http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/MatSelect/corrsilver.htm

 

I believe the coins came from a location where heavy tobacco smokers were present.
I have seen and smelled coins that look similar, I don’t want to start a conversation
about cleaning, but I would find someone who would professionally drip them.

DE

 

The top layer of black silver sulfide in not considered corrosion by anyone that I know but from a technical standpoint I agree it could be considered corrosion. Rust would be more accurate form of corrosion but we all know that silver does not rust. Have you seen 2,000 year old coins pulled out of the ground? How could that be if silver truly corroded in the pure sense of the word becuase after 2000 years there would be nothing left. I see your point but I don't know anyone in the coin world who calls toning on silver coins corrosion other than perhaps ricko on the PCGS forums or perhaps Weimer White ...they call it toning or tarnish.

Definition of Corrosion is the disintegration of an engineered material into its constituent atoms due to chemical reactions with its surroundings. I don't see silver coins desintegrating but you could consider that top layer of metal to be oxidized or desentigrated. Perhaps you should get a better handle on the use of the term corrosion in as it relates to Silver vs asking me to reevalute my beliefs which are based on facts as well?

 

I have seen thousands of corroded silver coins from the ground. It is common and the reason why well preserved silver coins are valuable. True, silver is less corrosive than copper, therefor silver may survive where copper may disappear completely, but silver will corrode. Gold will not, but all other coins do. Ask a metal detectorist in Britain about the condition of silver coins they find that were not protected in a pot or something what they look like when dug up.

I am with Doug that silver will go through its natural phases of toning ending up in a glossy black as a color. When the black turns matte, then that is corrosion and starts eating the surface of the coin. I have dipped glossy black coins and matte black coins, usually glossy black ones are ok underneath, but matte black ones almost always are corroded.

 

Ill dip the 1883 tonite and post the results!

 

You make me shudder !

 

:::grabbing a bucket of popcorn:::