Buy 2010 America the Beautiful 5 Ounce Silver 5 Piece Set at Close-to-Spot Price?

Well my set made first delivery attempt just 8 business days after I bought them off the flee bay.
I'm no fan of UPS allowing senders to restrict people from doing distribution center pickups or of a seller that foists that upon those of us that actually work for a living.
Still, this set looks nice. Honestly, I don't know what to look for though. I don't have a loop...they shine and don't have obvious scratches. I'm happy.

 

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Disappointment

Just a caution flag to those who are still trying to purchase. The MTB coins I received are not collector grade. They are okay as just bullion pieces, so I have no case for a return. Four out of five coins have been cleaned on the Washington Portrait side (reverse). The hairlines follow a pattern vertically through all surfaces of the coin. Only one of the five does not have this problem. The Yellowstone Coin is a disaster. Much heavier cleaning on both sides but more prevalent on the design side (obverse). If this would have been a Mint purchase, they would have been sent back already, bullion or not. I know I'm tough on grading, but these are definitely left overs. Just a heads up to all those interested.

 

Is it possible that they're polish lines? Even some NGC 69s I got have some strong polish lines.

 

Hey, the ATB's I got from Jack Hunt have the same "lines" on them. I really am starting to think that the coins are NOT the problem here and they were NOT cleaned......... Must be the dies....... I just dont see these companies actually cleaning them before they ship them out.... and we know all the problems the mint had making these........ but I could be wrong......

 

Are the lines raise or do they dig into the coin?

 

The hair lines are definitely problems with the coins as I have had several of them come through. Just crappy production process I think.

 

There are definate problems with the coins but we are talking about how the "line" got there, mint or post mint. I can't really tell because they are so minute...... On mine you have to turn them in the light to see the lines. It just looks like polish lines or something that were on the dies.... and it is only on the obverse...... If the dealers had cleaned them, the lines would be on both sides I would think.......

 

I received a set from A-mark a while back. They were PCGS-slabbed and in reasonably good shape, with a few minor defects. I sold them about a week later to Modern Coin Mart for a nice profit because I just didn't like the look of the coins. The best description of the coins would be York Peppermint Pattie foil-ish or cartoonish. The finish is consistently shiny, with no frosted devices. The images on the actual quarters are much nicer and sharper, with attractive frosted devices, although the coins themselves are obviously much smaller.

From a bullion and possible future value perspective, of course, it is a no-brainer to obtain a set, if you can find it in the $1,000.00 range. If you are looking for eye-appeal, though, they are probably not near the top of the list. It will be interesting to see how different the collector's coins are from the bullion version. I guess we'll know in a couple of weeks.

 

In the POST AN IKE thread, someone has a similar problem on one of his coins and referred to them roller lines. He stated they were caused by the mechanical feed of the blank into the die press. I asked him how he identifies these from hairlines. I'm waiting for a reply.

 

Well I just got back from the back who has my money order staged and ready to go for monday morning

 

I'll have to look into that. Because if you're selling on eBay, you only get Seller Protection if you can prove that the package was delivered to the buyer's eBay registered address. If the package gets rerouted somewhere else -- or, presumably, if it gets picked up at the distribution center -- you're out of luck.

This is a sore subject for me, because I nearly lost a $1600 camera through this scam. We sent it to the registered address, but UPS reported it as "recipient moved -- rerouting to new address". PayPal and eBay confirmed that if it was delivered to an unregistered address -- even though we'd sent it to the registered address, and even though it was redirected without our approval -- we had no protection at all. We had to recall the shipment.

If there's a way to tell UPS not to allow redirection or pickup, I'd definitely specify it for high-value sales. Otherwise, you're just begging to be scammed.

 

The reply I received on roller lines vs hairlines was the roller lines run the entire length of the coin, run in one direction only and are found in the deep crevasses of the devices. If this is the case, I think you should be able to trace one continuous line from rim to rim and there should be no multiple intersecting lines. A scratch would not be visible in the low portion of the devices. But if they are roller lines, they would be present on the blank before it was stuck and would be in the deeper crevasses.

Has anyone seen or have, any of the graded coins in higher grades? I would be interested if they have these conditions. Another thought I had about the roller lines is, these are 5 oz. blanks, they may need greater roller pressure to move them and therefor the lines are more prevalent. (Unless the roller are just gravity driven) Hope this helps all.

 

Thanks for the info saltysam! That pretty well describes a few of the ATB's I have. gotta be roller lines.

 

Seems like a good reason to use that 'feature' to me. Ebay is the devil you know...along with PayPal...but some of us still deal with the devil!

 

my coins from jack hunt look exactly the same, with these hairlines everyone is referring to. mine also had a few scratches on them. one does have a sheen on it like it was cleaned with something. luckily silver has kept rising so i am up from what i paid for these big hunks of metal. i wont be buying anymore thats for sure

 

I have finally finished grading my MTB coins and they tallied as follows: (2) MS67 (1) MS66 (2) MS65. I reduced all of them by one grade because of the loss of eye appeal caused by the so called "roller lines". How does this compare with the rest of you?

 

This is a photo of roller lines created in the planchet manufacturing process. And on the reverse side of the coin, the marks are identical in direction. You can see how they move seamlessly from the fields to the devices and in all high and low points and in a perfectly straight and parallel set of lines.

I have never seen this on the five ounce silver coins. I have seen ATB coins have die polishing scratches, specifically in the fields of the coin. These die polishing marks are very visible on a coin that is 3 inches in diameter. I have not seen a ATB coin with scratches in the devices / design of the coin...only the flat fields.

If someone has a photo that appears like roller lines on an ATB silver coin, please post.

 

This is my problem. I don't know if it's typical because I have nothing for comparison, except the other four coins which are identical.

 

Wow...have not seen one that scratched before. To me, that looks like the packaging completed by MTB (I think I saw your other post said that was the AP), included a wipe with rag prior to placing in the airtite. Almost like they were trying to remove smudges, fingerprints, or other stuff by using a rag. Is it similar on the other side? I have noticed that most AP's have scarred the Obverse (Washington) side more than the Reverse. Like they set the coins obverse side down on hard surfaces as part of the packaging process so that side has the majority of problems.

 

Yes, it is a problem on the the side with Washington's portrait and not so with the other. Being bullion dealers, I don't think they use any more precaution in the handling these pieces differently. That's not their concern. I agree totally with your assessment.