Ebay: KEY DATE 1901 S BARBER QUARTER - G-VG EMBEDDED Item number: 130053948745 This one took me a minute to figure out, current bid is $1,025.00. What is wrong with this coin? Hint: It is NOT that it is embedded in lucite, although that does seem stupid, esp for an '01S quarter, they do disclose that in the description. Nope, there is something else that will probably tell you that there is a strong likelihood that the coin is possibly bogus. Till later. Frank
Here is a link http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...W0QQcatrefZC6QQfromZR4QQsacatZ11116_W0QQfviZ1 I'm just glad that the coin is in that holder---the Lucite shouldn't have hurt the coin---even thought this coin might be fake---I don't know enought about Barber Quarters... Speedy
In no particular order of significance Red flag #1 - First ever sale transaction is a high value item Red flag #2 - Photos designed to provide no information Red flag #3 - Hidden bidder identities Red flag #4 -Only prior EBay transaction is a <$5 purchase Red flag #5 - No reserve and low start on a supposed key date
Although I agree with the first 4, I don't see # 5 as a red flag. As a former ebay seller, my experience was that a low start with no reserve brought higher hammer prices almost always.
I can't tell from the picture whether the claimed "block of lucite" is really one of the three coin holders he bought last month, or not.
Can anyone definitively see the mint mark? My eyes must be bad all I see is a mark that could be anything.
Red flag: The mintmark (which is about the same size as a half dollar mint mark) is on the obverse (right-hand side) below one of the stars.
This is why I would never buy a key date coin unless it was in a N.G.C. or P.C.G.S. holder just to much money to put down the drain on a fake coin.
Just to make myself clear I am not saying this coin is fake just that I would not buy a key date coin unless the top tpg graded it.
Good catch, I missed that one, and that star does look like an S. No, I have had these holders in the past, and the quarters are recessed into the holder, with space above and below the coin. I believe that there are two coins in the case, one 1901 and an S mintmark showing for the reverse. Anyone agree?
I would say it is impossible to tell if there are two coins or not, unless the block was destroyed and the coin extracted. But if I were to either keep or sell this coin, the first thing I would want to do is break it out, it looks horrible in its present state, and I can only imagine people would pay more for a 1901-S they can actually see properly. Who's really bidding? We'll never know.
THe two coin has my attention. Look at the pictures. a Quarter would recess in the holder one side or the other..Unless of course the center (black) spacer was a custom depth to match the quarter. Now how many people would not try and find a way to get that out of the lucite and into a TPG? its a 7K+ coin for goodness sake.
Jim, Maybe they dod not know what they had don't even know how hard it would be to get that puppy out.
