Rode my moped other there, was hoping I could get a job. I went to Xavier coins, and the man there (Gary) I used to see every week at the scottsdale coin show (elks lodge) with my friend dennis before I moved. Dennis taught me alot about coins, he was a good friend...its too bad I moved. I asked if they had any openings and what it takes to work there, they said they didn't. I then talked to gary and asked him and he said just have to be honest to work in a coin shop... I asked him if he graded all of the coins because my grading skills are pretty bad. He said he did...he didn't seem too interested in talking to me, instead he was talking to some other people (Not sure who) about his dogs on the computer. They had a good selection of gold, lots of silver, ancient coins, and plenty of books. They also have a website... They had one 1836 classic head $2.50...I asked to see it. It was in a cardboard 2x2 and it said "Lib $2.50" on it, and was priced at $225. It looked XF to me...I thought that was cheap for the grade but he said he graded it Fine. I was way off in terms of grading..he was most likely right, it probably was fine. It didn't look cleaned to me, or at least it didn't have that 'shiny' washed out look but it didn't look totally crusty either like some of crustycoins classic heads. I checked the numismedia value on it at Fine and its $270...so that did indeed seem like a good price. www.xaviercoins.com
I did not see the quarter eagle on his website. Price wise it sounds like a pretty good deal even for a cleaned classic head. They go for more on e-bay. Wish I could afford to stock up on bullion and have them all classic heads.
Thanks, I've always been really honest. Even if it hurts me.. I hope I find a job in a coin shop too...most of the ones I've been to are not very friendly. My transportation is a bit limited right now, I'm working to get a car, then I can go anywhere. It's tempting to sell my NGC MS64 saint (Which I paid around $700 for a couple years ago) for $1500+ and buy a car..but I just love it too much and it's my only 20 dollar piece. But it is tempting..I do need a car. I think my counterfeit skills are up to par (besides alterations), but my grading is very poor. In the example there I thought the coin was XF (it's a small coin) but he said it was fine, most likely he was right. I'm also thinking he priced it wrong, I checked numismedia value for a fine classic head and it's $270...the other reason I think it's priced wrong is because it said "Lib" or "liberty" on it which refers to the coronet liberty (1840 and beyond)...this would seem like an ideal price for a liberty, definitely not a classic head. I even pointed it out to him that it's a classic head, he acknowledged me but to my knowledge didn't correct it..I guess he knew. On a side note a little over a year ago I went to Action Coin trader, another coin shop nearby. I took my classic head $2.50 I bought and just asked what he thought about it (which wasn't really necessary, but I did it anyways), and just for kicks I asked him what it was worth. He looked in a book and said it was worth $15,000. Dumbfounded, I checked where he was looking and he was looking at the series of coin right before the classic head, the capped head, which is pre 1834 gold and because of its higher gold content was hoarded, and the vast majority melted, this is the early gold that is very rare. By the way alot of the inventory they have on their website isn't in the shop...they had a nice assortment of silver, gold bullion and numismatic gold, lots of books, and watches. It was a nice shop...
Did you read also that it was most likely fine condition, not XF? Or even VF? Most likely I was wrong with the grade...
Gold coins are hard to grade. Especially the smaller ones. In my experience, some dealers will grade right on the money and others will always try to grade something one grade higher. They will almost never under grade and cost themselves profit. They aren't selling anything to lose money. At least you have a coin shop around to go to. We don't have anything within a 50 mile radius anymore. Just antique stores with shady dealers.
