Why aren't they Graded ?

I could see it going XF-AU, and it appears genuine, but it is very obviously cleaned. I've never bought from Denver Coins Co, but I've seen a bunch of their listings and it seems to be, and I'm certain is, too good to be true.

I could be paranoid but I think the first suspicion is that they start at $0.99.... while it can be good to increase popularity with more bids, they are also taking a HUGE risk on something like a 16-D, as even in P-1 it is still a good $500 coin.

$2475 is not that bad of a price for that coin, but it still has 5 days to go and will likely become an element of unobtanium by the end.

 

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This recent thread might be the one you guys are thinking of. @ddddd sleuthed out the GC sale of a Details 1902-S $1 that was cracked out by this seller and resold. https://www.cointalk.com/threads/question-for-experienced-coin-graders.420878/#post-26649199

 

A Raw 1916-D should have 20 pictures in the listing.
That's one of those coins that you should buy graded authenticated.
This company has a certain business model that plays on buyers emotion.
Results speak for themselves if you look at the sold listings.

 

Here's another one. They have been selling a lot in cardboard holders with red markings to accent the "deal". I think old holders often have rusty staples.
What ya think? Ps..look at "sellers other items"
https://www.ebay.com/itm/397536953159?_skw=1916+d+mercury+dime+pcgs&itmmeta=01KG28T1EBA9RC767JXZK2D3YW&hash=item5c8f0c8347:g:RqEAAeSwq~ppdvOm&itmprp=enc:AQALAAAA8O7PUuNWmJ++UShgI9tQz/pHQmX9WdGpU/rYsl/vnOAKA88va2bYOwjqc5CauL0ztQEFVZxAwuHhx9Tun4asKw/BfDcYxHGyKEFhGJpupioFbyz8lWkjx/VHd46wmyqKGLFCuCUHS9uytzpsxQcaxX8ENqEsTETPg7/Gsxr3g6QatcfFHhgL7ZdOw6UN+dvtYDTzmeVS6HFT0tQTVZm6UVA7+iyFAli9EB1DpTw4Xhzo/V3JGsPmH4gWc5QexftutiWe9fxySiBgAMDUHwYxgjRVxzlqlGjjmmYQwp0uog9UofG4phFAKDzprDxA78dkGA==|tkp:BFBMqpfoyIBn

 

Yeah polished beyond recognition.

 

Hum, so someone cuts a detail coin out of a holder (after purchasing it, say for 1000) Then modifies it and puts it on e b y. Now suppose the highest bidder is 900 at 1 minute to go. Here's when the seller has one of his buddies bid 1100. Seller gets the coin back and his buddy gets his 1100 back. Seller is out a few bucks that e b y keeps and possibly taxes. But if the bidding goes to 2000. Sick.

 

If you look at the other discussion I linked above, they bought it for $461, cracked it, juiced some photos and sold it for $900. Quite a racket.

 

Yes, a few years back when I was pretty new to this. Got gulled by a Great Southern Coins juiced photo of a raw capped bust dime that turned out to be harshly cleaned. Photo was designed to completely hide it. Lesson learned. I kept the coin to remind me of the lesson and had it graded by NGC last year - came back AU-Cleaned. Sold it at Great Collections and got about half what I paid for it.

I haven't seen anything since about Great Southern Coins or GSC to tell me anything has changed with these outlets. I simply won't do business with them.

 

Bought that colorful 1926s Merc from Great Southern Coins.
After I did I sent the link to a coin dealer in the area wanting to know if he sends coins for grading to PCGS. On the phone he told me he was looking at the link and said Great Southern Coins was good at making "pretty" photos of their coins. Never got to the PGCS question. Ended up thinking the guy was a Jerk, not very nice to an INEXPERIENCED coin collector / buyer like me. Well looking back he was correct though could have had a better attitude, but correct he was.

 

I hate that. Of course you never know if a person may have already been having a rough day. But it is all of our jobs to make sure the we are patient with new collectors.

 

I don't always buy high-value key-date coins based on photos. But when I do, I make sure the photos are so overexposed that it's impossible to see any details in the fields.

I suppose the buyer might be planning to display the coin under airplane landing lights, or maybe a big old magnifying glass concentrating sunlight onto it...

 

I use a japanese magnifying glass in some of my photos. The only way to really light the coin is to cover the coin with blaring light and then you have to do dramatic changes to the settings. If done right it will bring up all the details of the coin. Or the actual skin. It is hard to do.