Slabbed coins for prosperity sake.

Hey, you've been to this auction too? Yes what you say is true of this particular auction but I am going for two reasons-

1. It gets me out of having to go to Costco with my wife, she goes while I am there.
2. They have an 1890 CC MS64 NGC that I think will go way too high but I can't resist the temptation!

Also, I don't live far from it so it's not much trouble to go.

 

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When I first got into this hobby, 5 or 6 years ago, I bought on Ebay all the time. Now, not so much. Maybe I am old-school, but I prefer to see the coin in hand and do the deal in person. Now, for me, I stick to local shops and large national shows (of which I am fortunate to live in Chicagoland - where there are a couple big shows per year). After getting to know some local shop owners, I was surprised at seeing the coins and value they can provide. Besides, nothing beats getting first shot at a fresh collection that just came across the counter.

 

Here's how the auction went-

Me to some random guy behind me who was really studying an '83 CC: "Didn't that CC look cleaned to you?"
Him: "Oh yeah it was polished up right nicely. My buddy told me the low on this coin is $110"
Me: "Yeah but that's in AU condition and that one is far from AU."
Him: "I agree but the polishing makes it look Almost Uncirculated."
Me: "It should go for $70 tops(just throwing out a number there), but I bet it goes for over $200 and it shouldn't."
Him: " I agree."
Coin ended at $240!!!! And guess who bought it... Yep, THAT guy!

Commons went for $80!! I have seen bad at auctions but this one takes the cake!

 

As a seller, would you rather negotiate with one or a frenzied mass all competing against each other, each with own particular neurosis?

 

...horticulture!

 

Wouldn't that be HORSE-iculture???

 

I agree with GDJMSP about Ebay. I do a lot of buying off the site, but you have to be disciplined with pricing. I too primarily buy Morgans, and the BIN's are usually 10-20+% over retail. When participating in the auction, determine what your max is and don't go over.

I also buy at the following auction houses: Heritage, GC Collections, Stack's and Legend & Morphy. Just need to be careful with the BP. Figure it in your price when bidding. 17.5% is a lot when your bidding at $1K +.

Matt: thanks for posting that list. I've bought from a few of them, but it's always nice to know of other reputable places.

I only buy NGC or PCGS. The other TPG's will not garner full market value when you go to sell. My last piece of advice when buying slabbed coins is buy the coin, not the label. Not all MS65's are the same. Learn the basics of grading and apply it to slabbed coins.

Joe

 

It is not Ebay that you had a problem with. Your problem was buying raw coins over the internet. Raw coins really need to be seen in hand before purchasing, otherwise you are at the mercy of the sellers opinion on grade or condition. This is why third party graders really caught on. It provided a safer way to buy coins over the internet, without having to rely on the sellers opinion.

You are wise to choose only PCGS or NGC, as their grading standards are generally accepted as the tightest and most consistant compared to others. Although, if you are looking at Morgan VAMS, you may want to consider some of the older ANACS slabs, as ANACS was the only company that slabbed VAMS for the first few years. (just remember they may cross to PCGS or NGC a point or two lower in grade).

Heritage is a great alternative to Ebay for the higher grade Morgans. The final selling prices are generally lower than you will get from Ebay "buy it now" listings. Keep in mind, there is a steep buyer's premium added that may make purchases of lower priced coins less than feasible.

I am a big fan of Ebay (the term flea-bay always rubs me the wrong way, as I feel it is a completely undeserved term.....but that is a different conversation). I have bought a lot of coins from ebay sellers over the years, and as long as the purchase is for PCGS or NGC coins, everything turns out fine. The best prices usually can be achieved in their auction listings, as opposed to the BIN listings. Ebay has done a great job cleaning up their site from bad sellers over the last few years. Just stay away from purchasing coins raw over the internet.

 

I'm also a big fan of eBay for purchasing slabbed coins. You need to know how to grade from a photo, understand the census for the coin(s) you're looking at and understand what market prices are at the time you purchase. Heritage Auctions has a huge (free) database of past auction archives. Use this along with the posted retail prices on NGC and PCGS' websites and you'll have a good feel for pricing. Toned coins are altogether different, but that's for another day. As Sonoran Monsoon mentioned, buying raw coins without seeing them in hand is a crap shoot at best. Telltale cleaning lines are easy to hide in pictures.

I'll never forget what one dealer said to me at my first coin show. It pertained to Morgans. He said that almost all grade-able Morgans have already been sent to a TPG for grading.

 

Interesting quote, but seems to make sense.

I have been on Ebay for many years now buying and selling about anything you can think of. I appreciate the avenue that it has given me to sell things that I would have otherwise not been able to. Having said that, I must respectively disagree with Sonoran Monsoons statement that Ebay has done a great job cleaning up their site. I think it's getting worse. Up until this year I never had a "bad buyer", but just this year I have had 8 winning bidders refuse to pay and for no reason at all. I think the counterfeiters are getting worse too, IMHO.

At any rate, I will continue to buy from Ebay now that I have decided on purchasing only the slabbed Morgans. Thanks everyone for the great input!

 

I was mainly focusing on the bad sellers, when I said the site has improved. I agree with you about buyers. It does seem to be worse from that standpoint. Silly returns and non payers has definitely not been reduced for me either.

Your point about counterfeiters is well taken. I had not considered that. It definitely is becoming an increasing problem for all selling platforms, ebay is no exception.

 

What's scary about the counterfeiters is they are now perfecting the PCGS slabs. I'm no slab expert, so it would be difficult for me to immediately tell the difference. There have been numerous threads on another website that have highlighted these fake slabs.