i am currently deployed to Afghanistan and bored out of my friggin' mind so for the last few days I've been on ebay looking at coins. I was second bidder on 4 different coins before I finally won this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/140810887563?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649 It is an 1828 Half Cent. I suck at grading and bid on it assuming it's no better than Good, which FMV puts at 54.00 I paid about 5-10 dollars more than I wanted but I'm happy with it. My question is why does FMV have this so much higher than what it sold for? I didn't even look it up until after I bought it because I just wanted to finally not be outbid, and from the looks of things I paid right around market price. But why is true market so different than what the FMV website has it at? Typically FMV is extremely close to what stuff on ebay is going for. In case you are curious what I lost out on, here is the one I SHOULD have went a bit higher on. http://www.ebay.com/itm/140803020054?ssPageName=STRK:MEDWX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1435.l2649 1939 D Mercury in BU I was ****ed to lose out on that when I'd have probably gone another 10.00 just because it's so pretty..... The new plan is to buy 1 coin per week with a budget around 25-35 dollars. I will have them all shipped to the wife, who will scan them and send me scans to verify I got what I paid for, then they'll go in my coin drawer until I get home to play with them with my 6 year old.
I never grow tired of hearing people say thanks, especially while out here in the arm pit of the world I appreciate it. I'll be home in February.
Welcome mike, look up theconsignmenthub on eBay, I've had good luck with their mercs. I'm a mercury guy myself, after reading this I'll say I have a merc that I recently ungraded. It's raw and a tad darker than what the rest of my collection is. It's in au/bu condition. I'd be more than happy to send it your way. Anyway, welcome, sounds like you have a fun goal started.
Welcome to the forum, and thank you for your service. In reg. to the half cent you purchased. Usually the FMV price guide is for problem free coins, and should be considered a guide, not the last say. That being said, the coin you won seems to me like it may have some corrosion, and would not make it into the problem free category.
If you have an iPad with you, Coin World has a great App (free) with a good section on grading. You can look at pictures of most US coins in each grade and really do a good comparison. I usually have it open nect to me as I am on my desktop. Not perfect, but can help you avoid grossly overpaying for an item. I have noticed both extremes, people either way over-bidding, or something really cheap that appears to be too good to be true. Enjoy Asscrackistan...I was there in 07, and will be there again next year.
No Ipad and wont be getting one. New USPS rules say we cant have anything shipped to us that has lithium batteries in it. Not sure why or why now but that includes pretty much everything computer related. I'm not too worried about the grade. I truly like the coin and I was GOING to win it but I'm curious of opinions as to whether or not I overpaid. Thanks for the heads up on the app though Kevin. I hope your deployment next year goes better than ours is. Where we are there is a water shortage and they just shut down all of our crappers and we have mandatory 5 minute combat showers now. The FOB is massively overpopulated and it's only going to get worse in the coming months. Thankfully I'm scheduled to go back to Kuwait for at least a while in September before jumping back over here and probably ending up on another FOB.
Welcome to the forum and stay safe out there. I think you may have overpaid a bit but not much. As another early copper fan I would really encourage you to consider condition more then grade on these. Coins with nice non-corroded surfaces may cost a little more to get into, but if/when you sell they are much easier to sell and more likely to return the money.
