Just bought my first Wheat Cent....

Ok, I just bought my first Wheat Cent that I have ever paid more than face value on. I bought it raw on eBay. The sellers photos were pretty stellar for an eBay listing. The toning is what drew my eye, but the condition seems to be up there as well. It was listed as a "Buy it Now" with or "Best Offer" I submitted an offer and it was accepted. I've never bought a raw coin on eBay before this one. The images below are what the seller had posted on the auction. I guess I'd like to know what you think? What would you have offered? I hope I didn't over pay as it was ungraded. Thanks in advance.

Yay!! This is my 200th post on here!!

 

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IMO, this looks like a "throw away the price guide" coin.

 

I hear you.. When I saw it, I knew I had to have it. I submitted my offer, crossed my fingers, and in about 15 minutes I got notified of my offer being accepted. In all honesty I would have paid asking price. But when you have an opportunity to make an offer, why not? I actually leaped in the air when I had my offer accepted. LOL.. It was love at first sight.

 

very nice, except for the dig on Abe's forehead

 

Is the VDB on Philly coins that same as the VDB on Frisco coins?
I thought the crossbar on the "B" slanted downward.
That doesn't seem to be the case here.

 

Looks like a really cool die clash to the left of the date, coming out from Abe's jacket!

 

Very cool, high-grade, mostly 'red' '09 VDB Wheatie!!!

Of course, retail/market values differ greatly --at times--within grades...so I hope you paid a reasonable price for it.

Regardless, they are ALWAYS great additions to a collection!!

 

jtlee, great coin, although I don't collect pennies...did you take the pictures?

 

You don't start small, do you? Lol. Very nice.

 

@fish4uinmd Those photos are the sellers photo's. I just pulled the trigger on it yesterday. I can't wait to actually have it in hand. I will be taking my own photos of it when it arrives.

@eddiespin The price I paid was in my opinion not very high. I've been looking for a nice example to add to my collection for a few weeks now. I had been mostly looking at slabbed coins in the MS-65 range. Then I decided not to limit myself and go ahead and look for raw as well.

The seller was asking $55.00 plus free shipping. I feel I stole it with my offer of $40.00. The coin is not in hand yet, so you never know what could end up happening. But the seller already marked it as shipped with a tracking number.

My birthday is this weekend, and it hopefully will arrive before then. I'm turning the big 40!! It's a birthday present for myself. LOL

 

That seems like an excellent price for the grade!!! Congratulations!!

And, almost Happy Birthday---if it makes you feel any better, I'm racing towards my 65th birthday YIKES!!

 

Well, depending on the luster, I'd say it's an easy MS65, possibly MS66. Eye appeal and surfaces are both excellent, the obverse looks virtually mark-free and the reverse has only a couple small marks. Strike is good, but not the very best I've seen. I'm tempted to say it makes 65 on eye appeal and surfaces alone.

The only thing I might wonder about is that the lighting in the pic looks a little weird. Portions of the coin (top of Abe's head, V.D.B. area) look really washed out.

I think you did well at $40.

 

Yep, looks like the the top of the T in CENT.

Edit: No... Like the bottom of the E in ONE.

 

What a bargain! send out some pics when you get it! $40.00 for 40 years...what more could a guy ask for?

 

Nice 09 vdb! Yeah I'm leaning towards 65.... BUT, the VDB worries me a lot. The dot between D and B should be centered and the cross bar on the B should slant down and the upper loop of the B should be much smaller than the bottom loop. Take a look at PCGS coinfacts for the 09-s vdb and zoom in on it. The Hub with the VDB on it was the same for both Philly and San Fran issues.

 

Excellent! That's the way to do it. Know what you're looking for, know what you're looking at, go out and get it. You don't need to limit yourself to the slabbed ones. Not when you know what you're doing. Well done, colleague.

 

I assume the VDB is fine (it looks fine, although a little weakly struck), and concerns about it are borne from an optical illusion provided by the photo. Go look at a bunch of Heritage photos and you'll see the same thing. Besides, there's no incentive to add a VDB to a genuine 1909 cent, as there's basically no price difference between a 1909 and 1909 VDB at this grade.

 

Really, there isn't any incentive at that grade. I'll have to look at ours on those dots, but there are over 27-million of these, and different hubs and dies. They're not all exactly the same.

 

Looks good but I suspect the pictures are slightly juiced. For $40, I'd say it was a good deal.

 

Not to be too critical but it kinda looks like the luster has been wiped away. Notice how there are some remnants of brighter color/luster in the periphery fields near the rims. I would assume it looks so spotless and clean in the fields because it was polished/cleaned. However, I am no expert and may be way off. Just throwing it out there