Do you ever buy "details" coins?

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Look at the dark reverse image. Note that in one orientation - all of a sudden - there is a bright, silver-white "band of light" near the rim around 8:30 through the first letters of the motto and just into the "U" of "United."

 

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Case Study #4

So far I have posted a worn 1917 SLQ, a reference to a "cleaned" 1924 SLQ, and an in-depth set of 1917 Walking Liberty photos.

This fourth example is a 1911-D Lincoln. I have one that I got when I first started collecting again. It's embarrassing because it is cleaned and polished. I didn't know enough to recognize it then, and send it back.


I bought another from eBay that was even worse. I did send this one back.

So I was looking for something better and came across this at the same time I found the 1917 Walker. It was only $45 but would be an upgrade - and I save nearly all my Lincolns raw so the Details holder wouldn't be saved anyway.

As I mentioned earlier, this also came from David Lawrence Rare Coins, and other bidders shied away from the Details grade. These are their photos.



I figured it would be face up in the display, and the front is spectacular, so why spend more? Here are my photos.




This is a coin I could see flaws on, but in the context of what I wanted it seemed the color and obverse condition outweighed all other factors. Plus, as I said earlier, if it is already "Details" it can't do any worse if it gets regraded. And, you get a $250 obverse for $45.

Feel free to make observations on whether I am brilliant or a moron! I'm predisposed to like this Details coin just fine.

 

The 11-D has a very bad corrosion spot removal on the reverse.

 

First off, God Bless your Mother. What'd you say, 107??? Ok, 102. Still amazingWow. The things she would have seen, huh? I'd love to meet her and talk to her.

That's really cool of you to make another set. Very unfortunate what happened t.c o the other set.
I dont really know much about details coin, yet. Lol
Get it done for her. I couldnt imagine how excited and impressed she will be when you present it to her. Just dont pay too much.
God bless,,,,,,, Foo

 

Thank you so much for your kind words.

 

My best coin is a Details coin, but that is because there was no providence to show that it was a shipwreck coin.

 

I have bought details coins I thought would straight grade before. I'm fairly successful when it comes to QC/AT. The other reason I might buy a details coin is if the coin is so scarce I might never see another one. I got unlucky once and bought a raw half cent I thought would grade MS and it came back AU details, cleaned, because I missed a moderate sized patch of hairlines in the fields.

Other than that, I see little reason to buy details coins for my own collection. I collect by type, so I have the flexibility to pass up "hole fillers" in favor of non-problem coins.

BTW @RonSanderson, had I seen that 1917 half, I would have also bought it at the price you paid. I don't quite understand why that relatively minor bit of damage is enough to kill 90% of the coin's value. If it were me, I'd either keep it or try to resell it for triple the price you paid, because I think it's worth at least that.

 

Ive been eyeballing this 1804 cent for a while. Its the only way I could afford one within my budget.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1804-US-Large-Cent/254332560853?hash=item3b3766e5d5:g:MC8AAOSwVGtdVxpZ

 

How do you know it's not a restrike worth $20?
Not being a wise guy, it's a serious question.

1804 P Mintage 96,500
1804 P Unoffical Restrike of 1860 Mintage unknown

 

man sweet coin....
That would fill a hole here.....

 

I try to avoid details coins. They’ll be a pain for me to unload and even more so if someone else gets stuck with that task.

 

I used to buy them a lot. But then I became more selective as “problem” coins bothered me more and more.

Here is a successful “details” coin I bought.

 

Got the pictures of my DETAILS coin.
Besides what the label says I wouldn't be surprised if "CLEANED" could be added.

 

The only labelled Details coin I purposely bought. It came in under my per coin budget by a dollar. I am trying to collect all the die pairs for 1852. For my purpose, with this collection, the better the strike, the better I am able to present the variety. This is probably as close as I get to having an uncirculated coin in this collection.

 

Yes selectively. Usually cleaning qc or environment damage coins that really shouldn’t get nuked. I’ve had quite a few straight grade on a resubmission the best was a ms 65 seated dime I bought in a reverse cleaned details slab. Someone bought it in a 65 holder tried to crack and upgrade and it failed. I bought it as I couldn’t see any cleaning and it had thick crusty toning. It came back 65 which was actually near the top pop census. I made $1k

 

A restrike, even in that condition, would be worth way more than $20. Also, the reverse on the restrike is that of a later type (matron head I believe) and there is severe die rust and a major crack on the obverse. The coin in question does not have either of these attributes

 

What does detail mean. I'm not getting it. What makes it different. Please reply

 

Bravo. Love the good news

 

The third-party grading services will assign a “Details” grade to coins with problems. The two graded coin pictures I showed earlier in the thread show how the labels look from NGC and PCGS.

These grading services list many categories of Details coins, from environmental damage to graffiti. You can find the categories listed on their web sites.

The catchall term for all these different ungraded coins is usually “details” and some sellers go so far as to say it even for raw coins that have corrosion, scratches, harsh cleaning, or questionable color.

But sometimes the TPG’s are stricter than I am, and pretty nice coins can be had for less money.

 

@gronnh20- That's gotta be the most beautiful cleaned coin I've ever seen!.....no less copper!