AU with Scratches?

You must go to my local coin shop, he's always telling me my coins are melt at best. usually sell on ebay & still make more even with fees

 

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NGC US Coin census has prices of coins sold in recent auctions. good site

 

Spot on explanation, just like GEM

 

The fact that he offered melt shows that he is a decent dealer. Most will offer 3-5% back of melt and charge around 3-5% over melt. As for the $1440 number, was that for an AU details of a common date or an MS-64?

 

I didn't save my search results, but I think it was an AU.

 

What Years did they use the roman numeral for the gold coins.

 

1907 HR and UHR exclusively

 

1907 pf-69 has sold twice over a mil each time...………... but I was told or read maybe here that 1986-ish to 91 Roman Numeral... Jus startin this gold rush so I am curious..

 

They also used them on the 1916 octagonal and round Pan-Pac $50 gold coins.

 

Are there any no motto ones other than 1907 and 1908. I'd get the 2009 copy of the high relief one if it didn't have the motto on it. Motto spoils the design.

 

Different question. Why would anyone sell a "cleaned" 1908 St-G double eagle for the melt value or only $10 over melt? Here is one: https://www.apmex.com/product/75783/1908-20-saint-gaudens-gold-double-eagle-w-motto-cleaned

 

These coins are similar to many date and mint mark combinations of Morgan silver dollars. Once they fall below Mint State, the values plummet. People might buy a silver dollar for more than melt if the price is $20 or less. For a gold coin that is going to cost you over $1,000 because it contains almost an ounce of gold, the “casual purchase” segment of the market evaporates. Hence, a seemingly better date sells for melt.

 

But I can't imagine that the value would plummet below melt. If nothing else, you could sell them for melt value to a jeweler for making jewelry --- though I haven't tried to do that. I can't imagine how good a coin it would be by any standard if APMEX is selling it for $10 over melt.

 

The “melt value” is not a floor because it costs money to recover the metal. In other words, the aggregate demand for the coin itself is not enough to take it beyond what could be called “scrape value” which is below “melt value.” It’s hard to believe that there are that many lower grade double eagles out there, but I guess there are. I have seen this before, but the situation did not last for that long.

 

I certainly haven't see many lower grade double eagles, in the sense of coins that are worn from circulation and use, until you get to the 1850-1866 Liberty no mottos. Almost all of the St Gaudens I've seen have looked pretty good from that standpoint. Sure, they have scratches and the high points are a little worn. But just looking at them without a high powered magnifying glass, they look pretty good.

"Scrape value," as in scraping the bottom of the barrel?