From blurry pics to in-hand - wrong denomination, but I'm happy!

Took a gamble on a coin presented with very blurry photos and described as an 1830 Bolivia 4 soles. I couldn't make out much, but had a feeling that it may be a very nice high grade coin.

Seller pics:


Fast forward a week and I receive it... a very nice coin indeed, but the smaller 2 soles instead of 4 as described. I'm quite happy about this though, as the 1830 2 soles is less common than the 4 (which itself is probably the most common date/denom bearing this design). I'm also very happy that the coin is relatively well struck for this normally weak type and retains some cartwheel luster around the outer legends and fields.
Another point of interest is that the coins weighs 6.74 grams, which is in line with the higher silver content pieces minted up until 1825. The pieces of 1830 were debased and lighter than their predecessors, but looks like higher weight pieces are known. Coinfactswiki lists a similar example that is nearly 7 grams.

Anyone else take a chance on terrible pictures and were glad that you did?

In hand:

 

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Ooooof to that seller

 

Doubled die too nice find

 

Looks like it for sure, but I believe it may just be repunched letters. These coins were not made to very high quality standards

 

Hard to believe someone would even try to list an item for sale with photos like that.

 

Where did this oooof garbage come from? Everyone at my High School seems to know what this is.

 

I wonder this all the time. Why even bother posting a photo if no one can make out what you're selling. And I've seen even worse ones than this! The one thing I do like is the challenge and occasional opportunity to get a good buy, though I've also been burned a few times.

It came from some video games. People seem to use it in conjunction with "RIP".

 

Good deal! These seem to be prone to toning, probably due to the environment of where they came, but often ugly and undesirable toning. Your coin is a stunner indeed

 

Had to google the guy, but you're right, a lot of close resemblance in those mugs.

Unfortunately there aren't many ways left to get good deals from eBay auctions which don't require a bit of a "shot in the dark"

 

There we go
(Image from Wildwinds)

 

There is one coin that came in a junk Russian copper lot. I probably retold this story so many times in other thread.

This was when Russian coin prices started to skyrocket maybe around 2007 ish. For some reason I decided to join the frenzy. Believe the lot was a kilo of Imperial Russian coins. The photos were quite accurate to describe how bad they were - bent, corroded, holed, damaged, low grade etc. The seller also did kindly mention that it was stored in a damp environment. Against all wisdom, the lot ended up higher than 100 dollars. For melt value, that's certainly too high.

When I received it, I couldn't hide my disappointment. In fact I thought I blew it. In the next two weeks, I was trying to identify them and sell the duplicates to minimize loss. There were some that were completely gone.

There were a couple of rotated error coins that I identified as I was photographing them to be sold. It was another two weeks that it took me to get my heads around a really low grade coin as I tried to put a year to it. It was this one coin that made the difference and it is quite scarce in any condition. Price wise, who knows what it may sell for but in better condition it seems to command a strong four figure in previous auction records. So far I haven't seen one for offer.

Sometimes its only one coin that can make a difference

 

Good question let me ask my advisory board

 

Nice coin…

I have taken quite a few chances with bad seller pics, and have had some very nice outcomes... Of course, I have ended up with some clunkers too.

I would say I have done better than broke even on the “Great coin to Junk coin” ratio, but I usually don’t take the chance on High-end stuff.

 

Thanks!

 

Wow, that's one heck of a grab. Congrats.

I've taken a risk with bad photos, mainly blurry "satellite" photos & when they have arrived, been pleasantly surprised and cheap to boot cause no one else took the chance.