Bought coin...good value?

So i just recently purchased a coin and it was pretty spontaneous. I'm very new to coin collecting. Not sure if I got a good deal or not, to be honest I think i didn't. Can you please look at this coin and tell me what you think it's worth? Much appreciated, thank you!


P.S. i also bought a few indian head coins which i thought looked really cool, most i bought for around $2-3 but spent about $10 on a 1863 one that looks in decent condition. Is that also a good value? If not, please let me know asap so i can change my game and become a little bit more knowledgable...thanks again

 

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I'm no coin grader, and I'm not nearly as knowledgeable as some of the folks around here, but I'd say we'll need to see a better photo before we can say anything.

 

Unfortunately that's the best photo i've got so far because it was an online auction. I can post them once i recieve it! I paid 6 for it, which isn't much but i'm all about principle here. I just wanna know if it's worth anything around that

 

Since it's been graded, someone's probably got more than that into it.

 

Very true! But i read somewhere that they try to scam the grades with faulty markings and such from non legitimate sources, no clue on this one

 

I hate to say it, but SGS does have a pretty bad reputation as a grader... But that doesn't mean it's a bad coin.

 

If you paid $6 for it, you probably did okay. Having said that, SGS is not a very well respected grading service and their grades always seem to be high by a point or two. Take some time to learn a bit about respected third party graders (usually referred to as TPG on this forum) and enjoy collecting.

 

The more coins that you get that are gradable the more confidence you will get in your own skills. This all tends to say
that you may not need to slab everything to believe you are close enough.

zeke

 

A grade by SGS means absolutely nothing. A good rule of thumb is "Don't buy coins in SGS holders." (That is unless you are able to grade the coin yourself.)

 

Yeah, I heard that SGS is not a real third party grading company.. there had been plenty of negative feedback about them so probably it's not really of good value when coming from SGS.. beware of fraud next time.. just a little advice ...

 

I wouldn't neccessarily run away from a coin in a SGS holder. I would essentially treat it as I would a coin in a 2x2 that was graded by the person selling it. e.g. "This is what I, as the person who will profit from selling this coin, think it is worth."

AnnaPie - Don't sweat it too much. It's only $6 and you won't know if it was a good deal or not until you have the coin in hand and can take a closer look at it.

 

I can tell you right now, that SGS overgrades everything and use the MS/PR 70 with no standards whatsoever.

 

SGS is a basement slabber. Their scale, while it uses the same numbers, is NOT the Sheldon scale. They only grade coins MS/PR60-70, and anything that's not impaired will grade as a 70.
So they maintain that they do not overgrade, since it's not the same scale. However, it's incredibly deceiving at best, and utterly dishonest at worst.

Anyway, 5 bucks or so is probably the most you should have paid. The proof is worth a few dollars, and it is in plastic, so add a buck or so for the protective holder.

 

Don't buy coins slabbed by SGS (Star Grading Service) unless the price is the same as a raw coin. They grade every coin MS 70 or PR 70. They sell on eBay, who only recognizes NGC and PCGS as reliable grading services.

 

Point or two? More like a point or five or six in most cases. At $6 she is not going to be buried, so at the very least this could be a good lesson. Chances are its an okay coin.. just nowhere near a 70.

 

Considering that PCGS has a PR70 CAM listed at $3,900 for the clad and $2,750 for the silver, I'm thinking the grade is way off.

Edit: Oops, that was for DCAM. Nevermind.

 

Anna, If you are looking for direct criticism on you purchase, do not ever buy from SGS, only PCGS, NGC and ANACS. With that said, you purchase is only as good as the reason you purchased it. If it was purchased to resell down the line, then you could have done better. If you purchased it for you personal collection because you were drawn to the coin, then who's to tell you that you overspent? I pay the emotional buying game all the time (just dont do it too much ). If you like it, buy it. Always remember that even though a coin is in a plastic case with a given number on it does not mean it is that given number. That number was given to the coin by another human, capable of error or deceit, that number is not set in stone (although it will be very close if off). So when buying coins that are encapsulated, use the number on the front as a reference rather then a price guide! Hope I have helped.

 

Since it is a modern proof, I suspect that the coin is a legitimate PR-68 or PR-69. I don't really think that a modern proof would get a PR-64 unless it has some real problems. I know that someone is going to say they have a modern PR-64, my answer to that is...Go spend it.

 

A 76 Proof Half sells for $1-$3 routinely on ebay. I have several raw examples from proof sets I broke open that are very cameo I'd sell for $2/ea gladly. Don't worry about mistakes early on in collecting your overpayment of a few bucks for a common coin is great training and will help you from losing big money too often once you get hooked to this, which you will!

 

Unfortunately, it is very easy for a "modern" proof to go below 65, if grade at all. Keep in mind that there are tons of these floating around in 2x2's, in albums, whatever and at one time or another have been mishandled. Of course it is possible her coin is 68-69, but to think it likely is a coin toss at best. For every genuinely nice coin residing in these so-called "slabs", there is another barely deserving of a flip. That said, I hope you are right and the OPs coin is one of the nice ones.