I bought this and a 1904 $5 gold piece for both about $330 each on ebay. No mint marks on either both around XF-45 condition. Fair price, steal, what do you guys think? (I don't have greysheet)
The ones with no mintmarks are the ones most likely to be counterfeited. So I hope you know how to recognize good fakes. I would stick to buying slabbed ones. Especially if you need to ask us if it was a good deal.
Because most of them are decent enough to pass as real unless you're well studied in the series and can notice the very subtle defects. People think all fakes are blatantly obvious. When most of them are not. Fakes have characteristics that I'd bet 98% of the people on this forum don't know to look for. From what I've seen, most people, even people buying gold, feel they have nothing to fear. People are very care free buying stuff on ebay. Despite the fact that there are thousands, millions, of fakes floating around out there, both modern and contemporary. And they feel there's no possible way THEY could buy a fake. Most have not purchased or read books on how to spot one before buying. If it looks anywhere close to real, many people will be fooled. Even dealers are fooled from time to time. It's become a real problem in this hobby and you better be very educated before purchasing loose anything these days. Otherwise you're just gambling with no way to know the odds.
What intrigues me about the counterfeiting is the amount of effort it takes to produce a coin that will pass as genuine. There are some definite costs in time, equipment and marketing associated with doing this. How does it make business sense? What is the incentive for someone to produce a fake for what admittedly is a small number of collectors? While I can appreciate these things are being done in countries where labor costs are lower, I still scratch my head wondering how someone could possibly think this would work.
I guess there are a lot of fakes out there, just not in the coins I buy. Although it seems if one is buying that series of coin they should learn how to spot the fakes in it or buy graded coins!
Aye it takes time to produce a good fake, but that is about it. the materials used are cheap and affordable. they then turn around sell it for a couple hundred. if it is a good fake then they could make a thousand for a few hours of work and cheap material. I would never buy raw gold coins unless i knew the seller personally. to many people out there ripping. more so now with the price of gold being what it is. it hit another new high today. I hope you got your investment out of it (i doubt it). i would do a magnet check as soon as i got them. It is worth the time and the extra money to buy coins from a certified dealer or exchange. you then know the quality of the product and that it is genuine. I wish i knew what the real value of my 1910 ms 62 Indian is right now. not the dealer price. such a great looking coin.
Geeze, what a bunch of useless replies, thanks for trashing my thread. I didn't ask for an education on fakes, I've already studied about that, I will have my jeweler confirm if it's real gold, and I have a sensitive scale. Mods would you delete OT posts?
kingplaya4, You posted on a forum, and it's a forum where you are new. Maybe ppl were just trying to help you, I don't know. I do know that alot of new ppl come on this forum and take stuff way too seriously. Don't worry about it amigo. When you get your gold you can post pics if you want. Heck maybe you got a really good deal. Nobody knows until they see your coin. good luck
Nice way to be defensive against people that you asked an opinion for. If you are going to ask for someone's opinion and then trash it because you don't like what they have to say then why ask? Here is the problem. You are asking for pricing on a coins that not only you but everyone else has little information on. You bought them raw and ungraded. for all we know you bought 330 in junk. You can't tell buy a picture if it is real because pictures can be faked. so none of these posts are off topic. in fact they are quite on topic. So far from what i have seen the prices that you paid on the coins is very low. the 1898 $5 eagle at xf45 alone taking that it is a liberty is at over 400 the same goes for th 1904 according to numismedia. they don't list the xf45 but have the xf40 at 370 for both. so you are looking at anywhere from 800-1000 dollars in coins that you got for 330 bucks. something seems a bit fishy there. if they are real then you got a bargain. buying raw coins more so on ebay is dangerous as you have 0 recourse if they are fake. if you buy them raw locally then at least you can have some recourse such as calling the police. you can see a lot of threads on here where people bought ebay coins for hundreds of dollars and they were fakes.
Your post was helpful thank you. I know I'm new here, but seriously I get one post which says your coin is very likely a fake and you should buy slabs, and then a bunch of posts talking about fakes. I'm a member of some forums with all kinds of flaming etc. but that's one of the worst OT turns I've seen. Each coin was about $330 (I'm including rebates) not both together. If all I got was 8 grams of gold than obviously not a good deal. I will link auctions. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390107999738&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220507758382&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT
Your OP was very confusing then. if you paid $330 bucks a piece then that is close to the estimated value. they could be real. you broke even if that. most dealers or auctions you won't get much more than that for them. if you take it to a dealer then you are going to get about 300-350 if you are lucky depending on the dealer. dealer usually pay 30-40% less the value of the coin. so if one is worth 450 a dealer will give you 315 for it on the generous side 270 on the worse case. your going to have to hang onto them a while. if they are for collecting purposes then if they are real you did ok.
Yeah, I don't know much about those Liberty golds but I'm sure you will get plenty of comments tomorrow. I like them but I just haven't bought one yet. If I had to pick one to choose as best, I would go with the top one.
I'm a collector, although I'll probably sell coins I don't like or ones that I get tired of later. I've bought a few mint CC Morgans, but mostly I'm staying off the famous coins, too poor. I do hope I got a fair deal as I probably didn't buy at the best with the wild gold prices these days.
