Rant: Buying coins Cheap.

Actually I have a story about this kind of knowledge. In book auctions sometimes books come up from personal libraries of experienced collectors. A friend of mine is really into a certain series. I won't name it, (not sure my friend wants this known), so lets pretend its half dimes, and it was the Valentine book, but owned by the owner of the best half dime collection in history. For a WELL WORN book, (reading copy, binding coming loose, covers frayed, etc), he paid about 6 times what a brand new copy goes for. When I asked why, he showed it to me, and it was full of notes, listing different varieties, personal knowledge of errors the author made, etc etc by each date. My friend paid about $600 for a $100 book, but said his bid was set at $8,000, and he would have been happy to pay that for it. He said he had already made thousands using its insights, and he carries it with him always.

There are reasons these books from famous collectors sell high. Knowledge is the most precious, most valuable commodity in collecting. The best way to acquire this knowledge is personally, but stumbling acrossed it like he did is also great, and he is smart enough to know that. There is a dealer in Byzantine coins that has his Sears book in literal tatters. He said he needs to copy over all of his notes every few years into a new copy to keep it from falling apart. I asked him if he would like to sell me his old one when he does that, he just smiled at me and said it was not for sale at any price, and he personally tears it apart, burns it, and destroys the ashes and flushes them. Knowledge is a powerful thing, and the best in this hobby know that and guards it like the crown jewels. I am not talking general knowledge that we all share here, but specific knowledge like where books have it wrong.

 

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Sounds you and the Red Book are attached at the hip. Like what everyone pointed out, isn't it about fulfilling a need that's more important than coming in under retail prices? The Red Book is just a third party pricing source, by no means are they an authority on the marketplace.

 

True. If you always go by redbook prices, you will overpay for common items, and never be able to buy good items. I collected SL halves strongly in the 90's, and own about 75 of them. Most are XF/AU. However, I was paying 65 for a really nice VF back then, so if the Redbook only lists them for that now, I think its out of line.

Btw, if its a 1958 make sure you check for the doubled die variety. You see it clearest by counting her fingers. I got the WB book hot off the press and was able to find 4 of these for cheap before anyone else really knew about them.

Chris

 

I am buyer of seated coinage. in the past 6mo the prices have jumped. why Coin World did a write up last fall on all seated 1/2Dime thur Dollars.
:devil:Culls are easy too find!!!!!
but a good gradable 10c-$1.00 type 1,2,3 is very hard and can cost more than red books or grey sheet,
One thing is to take your time hunting.
take your time and make sure you can have the coin graded if you want too.
For seat 1/2Dime & Dimes Die Variety's are listed @ link
http://www.seateddimevarieties.com/pictorial_index.htm

 

Possibly because of lower values, I see relatively few graded, seated half-dollars as compared to Morgans. But there certainly seem to be plenty of them for sale in the mid and lower grades on Ebay. Dealers seem to have more of the key dates, etc. I recently sold five assorted date coins (1858 to 1861) in VF to AU condition and got pretty decent money for them (I have re-adjusted my collection to focus on Carson City mint coins so I've sold a lot of other things). I got a lot of hits and many bids, so there seems to be a lot of people looking for them. I don't understand the OP in regards to difficulty finding them - is some particular date or mint sought?

 

Perhaps to an uneducated collector or buyer. Most seasoned collectors know not to buy the slab but the coin.

Perhaps for those wanting the fuzzy warm feeling on their investment or addition to their collection, but I'm not one of those people who buys slabbed coins. I buy all of mine raw for the most part. If I do buy slabbed, I make my purchase price not including the slab or the grade the slapped on it, I can judge the grade for myself.

 

Yep. In 1995 I was paying $65 or more for an uncleaned, good VF. I simply cannot imagine they are the same price now. I bet the redbook is averaging in all of the crummy, overdipped, scratched coins out there in their pricing.

 

hmm - I sold an 1861 O last month - what I thought would pass for VF 20 or 30 - for $53. I guess the bidders thought it was only fine - too bad he or she didn't bid on it

 

Many collectros who are just getting into coins like the seated designs always wonder why they are "overpriced" compared to price guides. In my experience you will seldom ever pay price guide for these coins, even for wholesale, as long as they are nice original coins. To me originality is HUGE, and it takes some time to find nice original seated coins that I like (I'm picky though). Some may view buying these coins for above price guides as crazy, but in reality that is where the market is at. JMHO

 

Yes - and I love the pictures they use - very helpful.

 

...I asked him if he would like to sell me his old one when he does that, he just smiled at me and said it was not for sale at any price, and he personally tears it apart, burns it, and destroys the ashes and flushes them.

Sounds a little twisted to me. I'd move along.
Lance.

 

I don't blame him really. You ever notice when you burn something that you can still read it? The Sogdian Letters, our best insight into 7th century Sogdiana culture, is a group of letter that had been burnt but academics can still read the contents.