What is the Value of a "Details" Graded Coin

And here, ladies and gentlemen, is the problem I mentioned above.

 

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Not a problem for me. You buy what you like and pay what you think is fair. I do the same. Why is that a problem?

 

The value is in the eye of the beholder really. I think if it still has good eye appeal, then I personally may go higher, but usually I personally am willing to go 50% value. But a lot of it depends on what your plans are. If you plan to sell it down the road you need to consider that. If you plan to keep it and let your heirs deal with this, then I would base it on what you feel it is worth and how bad you want it.

 

Many replies above illustrate the problem of DETAILS grading. YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT THE COIN AND NOT THE LABEL! Of course, that's true of straight graded coins as well.

Early copper coins sold at Goldbergs and Heritage (but not Stacks-Bowers for some reason) generally carry EAC net grades. Those point to a real value for the coin, whereas the slab details grade offers essentially no useful information. People who collect coins other than half cents and large cents are on their own when looking at coins in details holders.

In the end we all have to decide what a particular coin is worth to us, not what some unspecified coin in a generic details graded slab ought to be worth.

 

Here is an example of one I would have gone over my 50% rule. Luckly it was an auction so I did not need to. But it was one on my bucket list per say. So I really wanted it.




(The pictures don't do it justice, it is much nicer in hand)

 

1. I start by determining how much a non-Details coin would sell for.
And if the slab says AU-Details I price an AU-50.

2. Then I cut that price in half.

3. Then I modify that half price according to the type of damage.
-- Cleaned - If I can't see it (often with dipped coins) I stick to the 50%
-- Cleaned - If I can see it (such as abrasively cleaned) I subtract some amount from the 50% price
-- Other damage - All depends on the type of damage and its appearance.
3a. Factored into this price determination is how much I want the coin.
If it's particularly desirable to me I may add to the 50%.

4. When I arrive at a price I can live with AND if it's an auction, I then subtract 20% for the buyer's fee and S&H.
The important part is once you've determined a price you're will to pay, stick with it.

I own a number of Details coins.
One is a R-5+ which is a hole-filler.
One is a high value coin (5-figures if not damaged) that I will live with.
There's a bunch that are raw that belong to a die marriage set of 120+ coins; I have about 75 of them. This is a set that I toy with.

 

Because you are blindly relegating coins to “junk” status because a particular set of graders at a particular time agreed that it wasn’t market acceptable. The quarter I posted above was objectively borderline and calling it “details” was harsh, but you would have still treated it as a “junk” coin. Therein lies the problem.

 

BEAUTIFULLY stated! The coin is the coin -- is the coin -- is ... Grade is just somebody's OPINION of that coin. Buy the COIN, not the GRADE. These two coins may be 'graded' the same, but one is a FAR better 'coin' than the other. Judge the coin by what you see, not by a TPG 'grade'.

 

Intuitively, I think this is correct, but so far, my anecdotal experience has shown me otherwise.

I bought this Barber Half raw for AU money thinking I might be getting a deal on an uncirculated coin with poor photos (scans actually). Once I had it in hand, I knew it had been whizzed, but sent it in for grading anyway to use as a teaching tool for whizzing. A few years later I sold it for AU53 money in a matter of days on E-Bay. I lost the cost of the grading fee and selling fees in the process.




Then you take a coin like this Barber Quarter that simply has two little lines in the right obverse field, probably from swipe with a cloth. I paid AU58 money for this as it is basically an MS62/63 with a rather minor problem for half price. When it came time to sell, it languished in my inventory, and in the end, I could only get AU53 money for it.




Despite my experiences with problem Barbers, my opinion pretty much mirrors what you and everyone else are saying. The market for details graded coins is unpredictable and range of resale value is all over the place, but attractive coins with lesser problems perform better overall.

 

Not at all. You are putting words in my mouth. The truth is I just don't like coins that grade details. They do not fit into my collection. It's that simple.

 

I used to own a slabbed details coin. I got rid of the slab, kept the coin. Now I don't own any "details" coins.

 

I have two examples where, if you are lucky to find it, a Details grade leads to a huge bargain. I have posted these both before.

First is this 1924 SLQ that was graded “cleaned”. None of the members here could definitively say where the cleaning was, if any. This came in at about 1/4 of book value if it is an MS64, and about 1/10 if it’s MS65 FH. The seller did not expect a details grade when he sent it in.


This has a details grade because of a small mark from a coin wrapping machine. It usually takes some time to find it! Here it is at the 8:00 position on the reverse. The animation lets you see how the light has to be just right to pick it up along the rim. Again, the price may be about 1/10 of book price, because the “details” in the listing scared off other bidders.


I have at least one other coin marked Details that has a “wheel mark” designation. Again, that is hard enough to see that I recall that only @Insider was able to find it.
In all these cases, I treat some Details graded coins like I do high-end AU58 grades. They may be a great bargain and it is really possible I cannot tell the difference, or for the right price, just really not care.

 

Which coin do you like better? Or should I say, which slab do you like better?

 

It's the same coin

 

I inherited most of the coins in my collection, none had been graded and I decided not to have any of them graded because I was new to the hobby. I bought two raw gold coins from a dealer. He took them to a coin show to have NGC grade them, at my request. One was a Liberty $10 coin and the other a $20 Liberty. The Liberty $10 came back MS-61 and the Liberty $20 came back UNC DETAILS: Obverse Scratched. Being new, I wasn't sure what that meant. Anyway, I thought both of them were beautiful and I kept them "as is".

 

Exactly. In the first slab, it wouldn’t fit in your collection, but in the second slab it would. See the issue here?

 

Yes I do see the issue. It's my collection and only I determine what goes in it. The details label does fit into my collection and it would be an odd ball.

 

Hey, I know some dealers who use that strategy as their business model. But seriously, sometimes the details slab belongs in the trash.

 

I’d rather have this “junk” cleaned Morgan in my collection over a “problem-free” MS-63 any day.